So I've already sent several of these pictures via Whatsapp or Instagram, but I thought I'd upload some pictures of my recent excursions to keep everyone in the loop.
Hiking in Navacerrada
The hiking group that I enjoyed so much last year finally started up a few weekends ago and did their first hike in the mountains just northwest of Madrid. This was actually the same trail that I visited on a field trip with my school last year, but we did not make it to the top (where all the views were) because the kids were too slow.
Anyway, this time it was fantastic - the hike was beautiful, and like last year, we met so many great people! My friend Jenny and roommate AJ came with me, but we split up so that we could talk to other people and make new friends. At the end, we wound up with a small group of new friends who we have now been meeting regularly for dinner, trying a new restaurant every week! Ever since I got back to Madrid in September, I'd been eager for these hikes to start back up, so I was very excited to finally get the opportunity to do one. Now I can't wait for the next!
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| Jenny and me being silly on the hike |
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| We even did yoga at the top of the mountain! |
Zaragoza
The second weekend in October, I went to Zaragoza, the fifth largest city in Spain, for their most popular festival - the Fiestas del Pilar. I was invited to this event by Susi and Jorge, a couple who Charlene, Anna and I met when we stayed at their place through Couch Surfing in Dublin last year! Susi is from Vienna, but Jorge is from Zaragoza, so after their program ended in Dublin, they both moved to Spain and are teaching French and German there now.
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| Me with Susi and Jorge in front of Zaragoza's main cathedral |
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| A yummy tapas bar we went to |
It was great to see Jorge and Susi again, as well as to experience the Fiestas! The festival honors an alleged appearance of the Virgin atop a pillar (thus the name Fiestas del Pilar, which is Spanish for pillar). The townspeople celebrate this event by kissing the pillar - which is preserved in the cathedral - and by leaving flowers before a statue of the virgin.
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| Left: people lined up to kiss the pillar; top right: people lined up in traditional costumes to leave flowers for the virgin; bottom right: the statue of the virgin and the structure on which the flowers were deposited |
But, like all true Spanish festivals, the Fiestas del Pilar mostly involve a lot of drinking and partying. All day on Saturday the bars and restaurants in the city center were completely packed with people drinking, eating tapas and having a good time. Every night there was a crazy event in a large fairgrounds with huge tents containing soundsystems and stages, packed with people dancing.
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| Partying in the fiestas |
My Birthday
And finally, I'm going to wrap up this post by talking about my birthday! As it fell on a Tuesday, I wasn't planning to do anything crazy, and my friend Jenny offered to host a dinner at her place. As it is currently fall, which also happens to be my favorite season, I decided that we should have fall-themed food. Everyone stuck to the theme surprisingly well - we had a pear and walnut salad, pumpkin and spinach risotto, sweet potato soup, homemade apple cider and even homemade carrot cake! I couldn't have asked for a nicer way to celebrate my birthday than by eating such delicious food with such wonderful friends!
Enjoying your blog Clark! Looks like you're having a lot of fun!
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