Entry 2

Sunday, May 19th

First, I got breakfast at Yugo and then I went to San Bruno Church. I noticed there was a lot more singing involved and people knew the sayings by heart rather than reading them off of a book. Also, I saw a few women wearing veils in a similar style to how nuns wear veils. Then, I decided to visit several places for the scavenger hunt, starting with Parque del Retiro. On my way there, I saw what could be described as a motorcycle parade where hundreds of people rode motorcycles on Calle de Alfonso XII.

Then, I entered Parque del Retiro and it was spectacular. There were numerous fountains and areas to just sit down and relax.

As I passed through, I saw a big pool where people were rowing boats. I also saw people pretending to be statues.

Then, I reached El Palacio de Cristal, another location on the scavenger hunt. Unfortunately, it was closed due to maintenance.

Then, I visited the statue of El Ángel Caído. There were some protesters there and the statue was surrounded by protective fencing.

Then I went through a nice garden area and exited the park.

Later, I went to Puerta del Sol on my way to Palacio de Las Cortes Españolas. It was very busy with a few large advertisement billboards.

I saw a few restaurants which I may look at later, like Museo de Jamón and El Gaucho.

At Palacio de Las Cortes Españolas, I was told by my professor to put my hand in one of the bronze lion’s mouths if the police would let me. But, given that there were barriers and a guard with a weapon, I decided to just take a picture instead.

Then, I took the bus to the resting place of Francisco Goya, one of the best Spanish painters of the 18th and 19th centuries. Goya rests in a building called Real Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida, which looks very similar to the building next to it. The employee at the entrance told me not to take any pictures inside of the building. Inside the resting place, the body was placed in front of Jesus on the cross and directly underneath angels painted on the ceiling, so that Jesus and numerous angels are looking down on Goya’s body.

Then, I got on the bus to go to Chocolatería San Ginés. On my way there, the bus passed La Puerta de Alcalá and I managed to get a fantastic picture of it.

At San Ginés, I ordered the typical serving of six churros and a cup of chocolate. They tasted great and I am thinking about going back again.

Then, I went back to Puerta del Sol and stepped on Kilometer 0, which serves as a starting point to keep track of the radial distance someone is from this spot.

Then, I went to the statues of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in Plaza de España where I grabbed the leg of Rocinante, Don Quixote’s horse.

At 8pm, I decided it was time to head back to Yugo. As soon as I got there, I had dinner and went straight to bed.

Monday, May 20th

Today, I went to the Accent center by metro. The lecture that the professor gave was very interesting. It covered Spanish history from prehistoric times until the Spanish Inquisition. I found it interesting that many Latin names for Spanish cities have remained almost unchanged over time. I also learned about the symbolism in the coat of arms of the unified Castilla y León and Aragón and how even the letters of Yugo and Fletcha matched up with Ysabel and Fernando. I also learned that Granada means pomegranate and if a pomegranate is on the coat of arms of Spain, then this represents Spain after the reconquest of Granada. After that, we visited Plaza Mayor, Plaza de España, and other places in the general area.

After class, we went to Templo de Debod and the rose garden.

Then, some of my classmates and I had torrijas, which I felt were underwhelming.

Later, I went to Plaza de Paja for the second-to-last scavenger hunt location.

After that, I took the bus to the Accent center for the language exchange. The Spanish speakers were much better at speaking English than we were at speaking spanish. It has reminded me that I need to practice more Spanish and becoming fluent in Spanish is going to take a lot of work. Next, I took the metro back to Yugo, had some dinner, and went to bed.

Tuesday, May 21st

Today, we went to Segovia and the surrounding area. Three people from my group couldn’t join us because they had food poisoning that morning. We took a 1-hour long bus ride and I was able to see Spain’s hilly landscape. In Sierra de Guadarrama, we saw Valle de los Caídos, which was commissioned by Francisco Franco and held his remains there until 2019 (Cuelgamuros Valley - Tourism San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 2018). Furthermore, the church at the base of the cross is a basilica (Cuelgamuros Valley - Tourism San Lorenzo de El Escorial, 2018).

Then, we saw the palace near Segovia which was built for the pleasure of the royal family. Inside the palace, there were several paintings and decorated ceilings and the professor showed us some tapestries, which were considered more luxurious than oil paintings when they were made.

After that, we entered the gardens, which were very organized with straight lines and were designed in the French style of gardening.

Then, we got on the bus and went to the city of Segovia. Unfortunately, one of my classmates broke her ankle getting off of the bus, but we were able to continue. We were able to see Segovia’s aqueduct, which was originally built by the Romans to transport water. Also, there is a statue of the Roman she-wolf, which commemorates the Romans’ engineering.

Then, some classmates and I ate at a local restaurant and I had cochinillo asado. It tasted like regular pork but had less fat.

Inside the castle, it was not as nice as the palace because this structure was built for protection rather than pleasure.

However, there were still tapestries and decorated ceilings like in the palace.

Then, we went up to the tower and the stairs getting up were very narrow and wound very closely together which made climbing them very unpleasant. Later, the professor sent us on a trail to experience the nature around the castle. Two classmates and I went all the way to the peak of a mountain. There, red and yellow popeyes were growing and there was a great view of the castle.

After that, we took the bus back to the residence hall, and I had some dinner and went to bed.

Wednesday, May 22nd

Today, we went to the Spanish Senate. Originally the building was a convent, but after the senate was established in the 19th century as a consequence of the Napoleonic wars, the building became the meeting place for the senate.

There are two chambers, the lower chamber and the upper chamber. First, we went to the lower chamber which is modeled after the French, with a semi-circular design around the lectern.

Then, we went to the upper chamber which is modeled after the British, where both main coalitions sit opposite to each other in front of the lectern. Interestingly, if there is a left-leaning government, the first row of seats to the left of the lectern are colored blue, and vice versa if there is a right-leaning government.

Much like the palace in Segovia, there were many decorated ceilings with chandeliers and oil paintings. Rather than depict the royal family, many of these paintings depict historical events, like the conquest of Granada.

Then, we went to Campo del Moro, which was where Muslim troops originally camped before conquering Christian Madrid. It was opened to the public about 5 decades ago as a park.

Some classmates and I went to the rose garden nearby.

Then, we got some churros at Chocolatería San Ginés.

After this, I went back to Yugo, did some laundry, did some more blogging, had dinner, and went to bed.

Academic Analysis: Beauty + Place

I was very impressed with how Parque del Retiro was able to have so many nice and beautiful things in a relatively small space and make nature enjoyable for the average Madrileño. I’ve been reading a book called Cultivating Madrid by Daniel Frost which investigates Spanish parks, like El Retiro, what they represent, what caused their creation, what cultural significance they have, and how they relate to capitalism and republicanism. Frost argues that art does not imitate nature but rather conquers and perfects it, and that nature’s natural form is disorderly and imperfect (Frost, 2007). From the perspective of El Retiro, the bushes are trimmed, the area is easily navigable with pathways, people can use the trees for shade, and people can enjoy the garden. These are all examples of art conquering nature. Frost asserts that this kind of art is particularly special, because it coincides with and contributes to the modern definition of culture (Frost, 2007). Frost says that because of capitalism, people from the countryside would go to the cities to work, which meant that population density was very high in the cities (Frost, 2007). So, making a public park in a city makes sense as there are plenty of people to use it and enjoy it. At the same time, after the French invasion of Spain as part of the Napoleonic wars, the notion of regular people having more rights, democratic systems of government, and less dependency on the church came to Spain (Frost, 2007). Interestingly, much of the land made for public parks through a process called “desamortización” was originally church or nobility property (Frost, 2007). The remodeling of these private lands for the public certainly wouldn’t have happened without these republican ideas. So, Frost concludes that public parks in cities, like El Retiro, were created due to a combination of capitalism and republicanism (Frost, 2007). Then, Frost makes the claim that the modern definition of culture is a result of these changes in the physical landscape of the cities (Frost, 2007). Before the late 19th century, culture originally meant cultivating the land for more fertility (Frost, 2007). But, only after the introduction of public parks, like El Retiro, regular people were able to experience and appreciate art conquering nature (Frost, 2007). Because people’s perception of culture was strongly associated with their perception of the land,the definition of culture in Spain changed to a more contemporary one: “result or effect of cultivating human knowledge and to refine oneself through the exercise of the intellectual faculties of man” (Frost, 2007). What I can take away from this is that public parks, like El Retiro, conquer nature with art, are products of socioeconomic ideals like capitalism and republicanism, and have shaped and continue to shape Spanish culture.

Citations

Cuelgamuros Valley—Tourism San Lorenzo de El Escorial. (2018, December 24). https://www.sanlorenzoturismo.es/visitar/abadia-de-la-santa-cruz-del-valle-de-los-caidos/

Frost, D. (2007). Cultivating Madrid: Public space and middle-class culture in the Spanish capital, 1833-1890.