Semana Santa
(Holy Week)
Family Members Visiting: 3
Days on Vacation: 8
Books I Read: 5
Jars of Nutella: 2
Attempted Emergency Room Visits: 1
Mom, Dad, and Elaine arrived in Granada Thursday, March 25th. They didn’t get in until late and couldn’t figure out the phone card they bought to call me. So I was sitting at my apartment, checking the status of their flights every 5 minutes! But they arrived safely and we kick started our vacation Friday morning!
Friday, March 26th:
Met them at 9am at Hotel Los Angeles, which actually was a beautiful hotel not far from the center of Granada. I showed up with a suitcase full of things to be taken home to be swapped for a suitcase with snacks, spring clothes, and Newsweeks!
We walked around for a bit and for breakfast we indulged in a traditional Spanish cuisine of café con leche and toast. Almost the same as omelets, hash browns, bacon, pancakes, etc. (Elaine wanted just milk, so I asked for leche and they gave it to me hot. Apparently, I look like a “plain hot milk” kind of girl! The situation was saved when I asked for some cacao to make it hot chocolate.)
After breakfast my family met my host family—two worlds colliding! It was actually quite nice. My mom brought two Foley Orthodontics Mugs. Now Carmen can remember me always…as well as have abnormally large mugs. In fact, they would probably work better as vases here than as mugs. They drink out of tiny ones here.
Carmen, Me, Eduardo
I was afraid my Spanish skills wouldn’t quite be up to the challenge to translate, but I got the job done. We chatted about fútbol, the European Union, and the euro. I tried to explain autonomous communities to my family as well as the various languages within Spain—Catalan, Euskera, etc. This was difficult to explain without a map. So after meeting Carmen and Eduardo, we went for a little walk towards CEGRI. (Of course, we stopped and bought some amazing gelato. It’s nice having your parents and their wallets here…I was able to get two scoops!) I was really pleased that CEGRI was still open because they were able to see the beautiful, little school. AND I took them upstairs to a map of Spain and explained the autonomous communities and different languages with much more ease.
We then had a lunch at a buffet and moved on to the Alhambra. Dad had already seen the Alhambra when he and John traveled through Spain several years ago. But I ordered the tickets online and was so excited to have this all planned out. Can you guess where I’m going with this? Yeah, I totally screwed up. I miss understood the time slot thing as you have specific time to enter the palaces of the Alhambra. And we missed ours! But we were able still able to see a lot. Compared to my last visit, a little sol goes a long way! This time when we looked out at the amazing views of the city, I could figure out exactly where all everything was including my house.
After the Alhambra, Elaine walked back to my apartment with me so I could pack a little for our trip. I’m lucky that Elaine and I can wear the same clothes—and that she’s no longer rocking clothes from Limited Too. Basically I brought one outfit and my computer. Easiest traveling I’ve had to yet. On our way back to the hotel I had us swing by the Supermarket and stock up on Kinder Buenos.
That night for dinner we met up with MaryPat and her parents for tapas at 380. A full on Flanagan and Foley Night meant the stars were aligned.
Those olives on the plate? They represent teeth...
Mair and I watched as our parents got along, just as we knew they would. (Yes, dentistry was talked about…) And Elaine was a trooper as we all shared a couple bottles of wine and she nursed an Ice Tea. To top the night off we moved on to get churros con chocolate—the perfect ending to a fantastic evening.
Saturday, March 27th:
Saturday we hit the road pretty early because the streets in Granada were getting closed off around 4pm. Every Semana Santa in Granada there are a series or processions throughout the week for the religious holidays. Although, many people don’t practice the religion here, these processions are a part of the culture and tradition of Spain.
Fuengirola
We had about a 2 and half hour drive to Malaga (but we were actually staying in Fuengirola, which is a city south of Malaga.) We got a little lost because Spain really does not like clear street signs anywhere. But I got to practice my “directions” vocabulary. We stayed at this nice little resort and just relaxed. We did a little grocery shopping that first day, got the essentials. Nutella. And just rested and read. The family needed to catch up a bit on sleep. And, well, I can’t resist a siesta.
Sunday, March 28th:
Sunday, Elaine and I sat outside and read. We got a little burned and learned that Elaine should bath in Sunscreen before going outside. Basically the whole day was spent laying out and reading. Pretty much exactly what I had in mind for this vacation. The weather was very nice, not extremely hot, but you could tell it was on an upswing.
That night we went to mass. It was really interesting hearing everything in Spanish. The mass itself was not any different, except for one thing. There was a power point…?!? Everything was traditional: architecture, music, candles, etc. and then BAM power point with clips from a movie about the Passion. I found it slightly distracting! After mass we had a nice dinner at our Resort. And a busgirl told me I spoke Spanish well. I pretty much almost decided to move to Fuengirola and study there after that comment. Thanks for the confidence boost, busgirl.
Monday, March 29th:
Monday, we walked down to the beach. Elaine skipped rocks. I attempted to skip rocks. But who needs to know how to do that? I think it’s an impressive skill to know how to chuck a rock into the water just to have it just sink the bottom. Pretty awesome if you ask me.
I wanted to skip this rock...
Elaine wanted to skip THAT rock...
The rest of the day, Elaine and I laid by the pool to attempt to even out our burns. Later that night we enjoyed another delicious dinner at a different restaurant on the resort. Despite the jar of Nutella calling to us from our condo, we indulged in some pretty nice desserts.
Tuesday, March 30th:
I was very excited to head up to Malaga on Tuesday. There is another Picasso Museum because he was born in Malaga. I have become quite a fan. As I was brushing my teeth that morning I noticed the pupil in my right eye was twice as big as my left eye. I thought it was funny and Elaine took a picture of it. Then I ignored it. We went up to Malaga. While we were at the museum I developed a headache around my eyes and noticed that I couldn’t see well out of my right. I had thought it was my contact, but sure enough my eyes were still oddly dilated. I showed my parents and we decided to wait it out a bit. We went and had lunch at this adorable restaurant with amazing paella. I introduced the family to Tinto Verano, even Elaine!
Yumm, paella!
After our day of fun in Malaga, my eye was not getting any better. We drove back to Fuengirola and my mom and I waited at an Emergency center for a hospital. (The “seeing a doctor” thing is a little different here in Spain.) We waited while people got sick in the waiting area—awesome. After some time, the people who arrived after me were being seen first, so we decided to leave and just see someone the next day.
Wednesday, March 31st:
We drove back up to Granada to fly from there to Mallorca. I took them to get lunch at Noche y Dia, which is a really cute little café/ restaurant. After lunch I went to a doctor. She said that my eye would be fine, but I should see a neurologist sometime. So we left Granada with Mom feeling better about leaving me at the end of the week. We flew out to Mallorca and arrived late, but were staying in a beautiful condo.
Mallorca
Thursday, April 1st:
We spent the day at the resort, checking out the pools and beach. The pool was really nice. There was a “cold water tub” in addition to the pool. How is that an actual thing? Shouldn’t it just be called a tiny pool?
"Cold water tub"
Beach at our Resort
Things I learned this day: 1) apparently Elaine freaks out about bugs; gone are the days when my little sister would be brave and kill spiders for me. 2) I really do not like overly friendly male workers, who have been married once already and tell me I look 16, to sit down and talk to me when I’m wearing a bathing suit. Not a fan.
That evening we drove around the area a bit. We saw some cliffs and part of an old Ruin. The cliffs were really breathtaking. And I had to fight the urge to cliff dive, but then I realized there was no Taylor Lautner to dive in a save me… (that’s one for all those New Moon fans out there.)
Mom get's nervous about cliffs and told Elaine she had to stay at least 10 feet away from the edge...I decided to lay along it for a picture...
For dinner, we went to a Chinese restaurant. It was really good food and at the end of the meal they brought us out a shot of some peach liquor. Apparently this is a normal thing at Chinese restaurants in Spain. I thought maybe it was a tonic to neutralize any MSG in the food.
Dad had some fun driving the Peugeot stick shift we rented. I had less fun as we drove around the curves and images of our car shooting off the edge of the island swam through my head.
Friday, April 2nd:
Our last day on vacation together. We decided to head over to Palma Mallorca (the capital of Mallorca.) First we drove up a mountain (which was pretty scary as well) to see a Monastery. There were millions of bike riders going up these mountains. Apparently stick shift cars don’t like going too slowly. Why don’t they have automatic cars here! The Monastery was lovely and an appropriate place to visit on Good Friday.
Monastery
Next, we decided to go shopping. First on our agenda was to see some Majorca Pearls. We went to a huge jewelry store and looked around for a while. And to my surprise, mom and dad decided to buy me some beautiful, beautiful pearls for my 21st birthday. Thanks padres!
My lovely necklaces
Saturday, April 3rd:
Dad, Mom, and Elaine left around 6am. I slept in a bit more, but had to check out by 10am. My flight wasn’t until 4, so I had some time to chill. I decided to read by the pool. But remember that overly friendly worker? Yeah he decided to interpret my reading, again, to talk. He asked me why I was so quiet and not doing anything. I wanted to say “because clearly I like reading, now go away!” Instead, I said I had to go and relocated in the lobby to wait for my taxi to the airport.
My taxi driver was a very friendly and talkative man. Turned out he was from Granada, so we talked about Granada for a bit. Then we passed some people on bikes and he proceeded to tell me that they were mostly German. He continued on to let me know how much he hated Germans. I just nodded and refrained from telling him that my parents lived in Germany for five years, my brothers were born there, and that I am visiting family friends in Munich soon.
As he dropped me off this old man asked me how long I would be in Granada. I told him until May and he was disappointed because he was returning in November and was hoping we could meet up for coffee or something. I told him that would have been nice. Sure nice, but probably a little weird too.
As I lined up to board my flight back to Granada, a group of 20 or more men all wearing red jerseys showed up to get on the flight. It was the Mallorca fútbol team. They were very much attractive and very much men. I really regretted choosing to wear leggings, a t-shirt, and no makeup that day.
I'm pretty sure we've been taking this exact picture since Freshman year of High School...
Saturday night MaryPat and I met up with Tarah Kraft and her friend Claire. They were visiting from England. We had some nice Chinese tapas, then hit up a Chino and showed the girls Granada night life.
Of course, there was a procession going on so we ran into that. As you may notice in these pictures the outfits worn in these processions look like the costumes worn by the Ku Klux Klan. Apparently the KKK did model their costumes after this tradition because here the costumes inspire respect.
Part of a procession
We went to Granada 10 later because it was free, not for the quality of the discotecca. Tarah and Claire had to leave at 4am, but MaryPat and I stayed until 6:30 chatting and dancing. It was a great night!
And Sunday was the first Easter that did NOT feel like Easter. My host family does not treat the day differently than any other Sunday. So no mass. No processions. No family meals. No Bunny. Nothing. Luckily mom had packed me a chocolate bunny and some jelly beans! Hope everyone had a great Easter!!
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