Alright my people! You better appreciate this post because my goodness just uploading the pictures took over an hour. Not to mention the actual writing portion. Pretty much an all day process. But anyway.....You ready to hear about my trip to Spain with mom?! Of course you are.
We flew out Friday night and had an overnight flight. Norman was stubborn and literally only slept for like maybe two hours max during our flight across the ocean. He didn't really cry so that was nice. But since he wouldn't sleep we couldn't sleep. Little jerk. We got in to La Coruna at 13:00 A.K.A. 1:00 and one of my most favorite people on the planet, Linda, picked us up from the airport. We didn't really hang out with her then because we were exhausted but she dropped us off at our airbnb and we had a siesta. Hallelujah for siestas. I think we would've died and missed out on a lot of fun stuff if they weren't apart of the Spanish culture.
This is the view from our first airbnb. We were right on Rua Real (if you feel like street viewing it) which is like the main shopping street practically in the center of the city. It's next to all the bars, the beach, the marina, pretty much everything you'd want to be close to.
The first evening was pretty chill. I showed mom the ways of the Spanish grocery stores. We went to Mercadona and got some essentials known as diapers and water. (They never drink from the tap and I'm to scared to try it myself) We also got some fruit. Mom was in shock at the price of it. For instance a huge container of cherries was only 3 euros. In the states that's worth like 12 dollars. In a weird way it was cool to have mom see that I was telling the truth when I said fruit was sooooo cheap. Not that she didn't believe me when I told her when I was first living here. Anyway it was cool for her to witness the cheapness in the flesh. You get what I'm saying.
On the way back from the store I heard someone call out my name. Which as you can imagine is a really weird thing to hear in a different country. For a second I thought it was just someone saying Vale really loud. (The way they say vale and Marley sound very similar. It's that lay sound at the end of both. When I first moved there I constantly thought people were saying my name. It was difficult.) But guess who it was?! My Polish friend Magda! We both had places to be so it was kind of a brief hello but we set it up for us to have a "coffee" later on in the week. I love Magda. She's just the sweetest.
After dropping of the groceries at the airbnb we headed out for dinner. But first I wanted to show mom Maria Pita. So that's what we did.
The lights are shining because they know my mothers an angel. JK I have the crappiest phone camera in the world. But anyway to start off our Spanish cuisine tour I took mom to eat cocodrilos. You may remember me mentioning them in a previous post but dang they're delicious. The potatoes fried to perfection with a bit of beef. Simple yet delicious.
Norbaby the world traveler!
After Cocodrilos the place I wanted to take mom to dinner wasn't open yet so we walked the beach. How I missed that beach! The smell, the sound of the crashing waves, all of it. It made me miss living by the ocean. I think when I'm old and retired I want to live by the ocean. Because I just love it.
Mom got all wet from a sudden wave so that was funny. And Norman was just content playing in the sand.
Beach walls.
After our stroll along the beach we had some Raxo de Pollo and some of that delicious spanish coke. I'm telling you it's way better than the stuff we have in the U.S. The Raxo had curry on it which I haven't had before. It was pretty good. Imagine honey mustard flavored curry on top of some marinated chicken bits and home made french fries and that's what it was. Strangely delicious.
That was pretty much the end of our first day. Sunday, day two, we took a train to Santiago. Tickets were only 10 euros each round trip so not bad.
The countryside is a lot more colorful than the actual city. A lot more oranges and yellows. It's pretty cool. It makes me want a colorful house.
Norman on the train. He's a pretty cute baby. As well as a pretty good baby. I mean don't get me wrong he did fuss every once in a while but he was for the most part a pretty happy baby. Hallelujah.
We made it to Santiago and wound our way through the maze of streets so we could see the cathedral.
Along the way we ran into some people in traditional dress. You better believe mom loved that. You know her and her clothes. At least I'm assuming you do.
And finally we made it! I really love the architecture of the cathedral. It's just so detailed and beautiful.
And old. I don't know it's just so awe inspiring to be in places that are thousands of years old.
This was the entrance that we entered through to go to mass.
Inside with all it's gold and statues.
Norman fell asleep for most of the mass and then when he did wake up mom fed him and said she could because the pope said she could. I mean that's some pretty high up authority.
Okay you want to hear a really funny story about this statue. So this is a statue of Santiago during the crusades. As I'm sure you know during that time they were all about slaying the heathens. So this is a statue of Santiago doing just that. However since that's no longer really applicable and they love everyone they covered up those being slain. And it's just so dramatic and I think it's funny that they covered it up with a bunch of fake whit flowers.
More statues behind bars.
Mass was pretty cool. Sure I didn't understand most of what they were saying and they didn't even swing around the huge incense burner (i talked about it in one of my earlier post) but I loved the boys choir. It's just so beautiful. Music is one of those things where I know it's from heavenly father and it's a way the spirit can talk to us. It just makes you feel at peace and I love it.
After mass we walked around the town. I love these windows with their flower boxes and bars. Just so old and cool.
And vines growing everywhere. Seriously one of my favorite things.
I think this was the monastary. I could be wrong though. So don't judge.
I want you to pay close attention to the differences between these two drainage spouts. I think you'll find people from thousands of years ago still had a sense of humor.
This looks familiar doesn't it? But guess what it's a different pic! I feel it captures the essence of what Santiago is. Hopefully that didn't sound to cheesy.
Selfie with the mother and an invisible baby.
I have another funny story for you. So as you can see my mother is a blonde hair blue eyed girl. Not very Spanish looking. And boy did the locals make that obvious. They'd always speak to her in English. It was really funny especially when she wanted to practice ordering things in Spanish. They would talk to me in Spanish though and I'd even occasionally get asked for directions. It's probably the brown eyes and I have slightly darker coloring. If not that I don't know what.
We had time to kill after lunch. Which was an array of Spanish food. Empanada, tortilla, chorizo, padrone peppers, and a fried egg. All the classic stuff. Anyway afterwards we went to this park and chilled in the shade for awhile. The trees had little yellow flowers in them and dang they smelled freaking heavenly. It was a very peaceful way to spend some of our time.
We still had time after that till the train left so we decided to go inside the cathedral again and take a closer less crowded examination.
I love all the bell towers. They're just such a happy chime.
Flying buttresses. At least I think that's what these are. I honestly don't know.
Anyway that was pretty much our trip to Santiago. When we got home we had a little siesta cause we were tired. It's hard adjusting time zones. Then Linda invited us out for Pulpo. I'm actually really proud of mom. She tried it and even ate more than one piece. I don't love pulpo but I definitely don't hate it either. It's a fun texture and the taste is good. You just can't think about what you were eating.
That was it for Sunday. Monday Torres de Hercules is free so we trekked our way there. There was some extreme fog though so that kind of put a damper on the views.
I really love the water. It's so blue and beautiful.
It's just so mesmerizing. I think I could stare at the ocean for hours and be perfectly entertained.
Here I am demonstrating it for you all to see.
There's some cool steps carved in there somewhere if you look closely.
I tried to recreate a cool pic from the first time I visited. You can't really see the tower though so there's that.
You can kind of see the base. Maybe.
No ocean here. Just fog and more fog.
When you got up to the base this was how much you could see of it. But you know as much as the fog may have made the pictures not as cool it was really cool to see wisps of fog be blown about in the wind.
Inside at last! I counted the steps. 218. At least I'm pretty sure.
One of the remaining windows. That you're not allowed to climb on. Jerk rule makers.
I mean look at these steps! It was definitely a good workout. The day afterwards I felt like my calves were going to die.
At the top with Norbaby. Trying to see if I could get a good pic.
As you can see I couldn't. This was the view from the top. It was an eerie feeling knowing there's fields and oceans down below but all you see is a mass of grey.
Norman disapproved of the journey back down.
And once we came down the fog started to clear. Of course. Just our luck.
Also in case you were wondering Norman doesn't like selfies either. Actually I think he was just hungry.
Mom and the ocean.
Cool Celtic memorial monuments.
They're good for taking fun pictures.
May I just say by the end of this trip I hated that backpack. I felt like a pack mule.
After that long day of walking we got ourselves some dinner. Croquettes, chorizo creole, and more raxo de pollo. Only this time not with curry and instead the yummy creamy sauce on top.
Croquettes
Chorizo Creole
Also I would like to bring it to your attention that every day we had ice cream. Saturday through the following Sunday. Every single day. It's pretty delicious and creamy but I will say by the end of the week I was almost tire of it. I fo sho got that pequeno sized cucurucho.
Anyway this was kind of our ice cream eating spot. The Marina. We often wondered what house over there belonged to the richest man in the world. That's what they brag about all the time anyway. But according to the googles he's second richest. So there.
Besides ice cream every day we also had pastries almost every day. This is called a napolatina. At least I'm pretty sure it is. We usually got a couple of these and a few croissants most days for breakfast. They're pretty dang delicious. I just love the food there. They're less sweet but more real tasting. Like I don't feel like I'm going to get cancer by eating it. Best feeling ever.
Tuesday we had "coffee" with Magda and Helen. It was really nice getting to catch up with them again. Them, Linda, and my friend Lauren were my main hang out peeps when I lived in Spain. I think without those four I would probably have died from boredom and loneliness. They're the best!
Another jaunt through the old town. I tried taking mom to my favorite tortilla place. But both times we went they weren't serving food yet. The Spanish eat at odd times to say the least. We just couldn't time it right.
Dang I just love the architecture! It's gorgeous!
So afterwards the disappointment of now food we visited this church. Mom says it's probably her favorite old church out of all the ones she's seen.
It is pretty amazing. But I think my favorite is still the old one I saw in San Xenxo the last time I was in Spain.
You can't see it very well but this church had really cool stained glass and wood floors. I think mom said that was one of the main reasons she loved it so much.
That detail though.
Anyway after our adventure through the old town we went to a place called Thai Market for dinner and that was pretty delicious. They also spoke English there so you know that made our lives easier. It's a pretty good place. Me and Lauren went there a lot for our weekly lunch dates.
Wednesday another cloudy day. Of course. We went Monte de San Pedro. Thankfully the spherical elevator was working so we didn't have to hike up the mountain.
View from the top. Definitely better than the day we went to Torres de Hercules but still cloudy. It's like the weather was out to get us or something.
We found some old ruins of some sort.
Very picturesque.
Btw my mother made the entire outfit I'm wearing in this pic.
Norman likes the ruins too.
He also likes his mother.
That or he was just really happy to be out of the carrier. Or both.
Isn't my mother cute?
A different vantage point of the view.
Pulpo!
Norbaby isn't very photogenic unless you force him to be.
Wild flower picking. You can't see it but it was actually a little scary because there's a cliff edge just a couple feet past me.
And my bounty! My mom wanted to be all artsy though and take a selfie with the baby and it and then stupid Norbaby ate it. Jerk baby. I took the surviving petals and put them in my journal so I might forgive him. But seriously though look how freaking bright red that poppy is. It's a one of a kind. And the kid had to ruin it. Like they always do.
This is a statue thingy for San Jaun that we past on our way back to the train station to buy tickets to Madrid. You'll see what happens to it at a later point.
You want to hear a sad story though. We walked the 2.2 kilometers to the train station just to find out that all the train tickets to Madrid are sold out. So no trip to Madrid for us.
It all worked out though. I was able to get a full refund on the airbnb in Madrid and find another one in Coruna for a dollar cheaper. Woo look at me finding the deals. I mean don't get me wrong we were still disappointed so we got some carne asada for dinner, a grilled pina, and ice cream for dessert to drown our sorrows. It worked really well. That carne asada is seriously the best I've ever had. It's so tender and flavorful. And then once you're done with the meat you take the fresh bread they give you and soak up all the juices. Dang now I want it again.
Thursday we went to Castillo de Santa Cruz and to Seixo Branco. Dearest Linda took us.
A picture with all of us in it.
The water was so clear. I wanted to swim in it. To bad I knew that it was freaking freezing.
I mean is it not breath taking?
And way off there in the distance you can see Torres de Hercules.
It's a really cool castle to sat the least. I want to travel all of Europe and see more old castles.
Me and my Linda! And her baby Dani! Dude that kid is like two months younger than Norman and twice his size. He's like the cutest little chunk I've seen.
More old castle walls. Are you getting bored of all the old things?
That crystal clear water I was talking about.
I seriously love my mom so much. She's a funny youngin.
Her on the cliffs of Seixo Branco.
More water and cliffs. I'm sorry I'm just fascinated by it. You should be too. Or else you haven't been around enough seaside cliffs. I'm disappointed in you.
Moi
and my very candid mom.
The Branco part of Seixo Branco. Apparently it looks like the tilde that is over the n in Coruna if you look at it from the water.
Turtle rock! Can you see it?
And now my favorite part of Seixo! The cool holes in the ground that go all the way down to the ocean!
Mom looking risky while holding a baby.
Helen joined us with the two kids that she nannies and we were all a little hungry/tired so we had a little chill fest on the ground.
The sun came out!
See that green spot of water down there? I wanted to go down to that beach and go swimming so bad. It was really hard to remember how cold the water was.
And after the cliffs we went to a small beach town.
It was a fun day. And for dinner we went to La Burgueria. It's a burger place that's trying to be all american but fails miserably in a good way. Like their burgers and fries are so good! Well all fries in Galicia are good but yeah those burgers are way better than most in the states. That's all I'm going to say. Like all the ingredients are so fresh and healthy and flavorful and delicious.
And now onto the most awaited day of the year! San Juan!
Our San Juan started on a bit of a slow note. Mom woke up to some extreme vertigo and could not stand up. I was a little worried that we wouldn't be able to enjoy the festivities to their full extent. But thankfully she was feeling better by the end of the afternoon. Linda let us borrow some clothes and thank goodness she did. We exited our airbnb and everything smelled of grilled sardines. Like it was such a heavy smell. And once we got down to the beach everything smelled like smoke. (all the bars grill sardines outside and serve them as tapas)
The crowd was huge and there were tons of bonfires and places where bonfires were yet to be lit.
Obligatory selfie.
There was also floating lanterns. There was more later on but all the smoke got in the way and you can't really see them in the picture. It was so cool. I've always wanted to see floating lanterns and I wasn't expecting to see them here.
More of the crowd. Seriously anyone that could be was out. It was the busiest I've ever seen the city.
There was also some cool fireworks. Nothing compared to our fourth of July display but still pretty cool. Norman didn't care about what was going on.
I mean seriously look at this kid. All void of emotion.
Now I really hope that his video loads for you guys. You know that statue thing I showed you earlier? With Donald trump, a wall, a mexican, a witch, and a pulpo? Yeah well they burned it down to the ground and it was the hottest biggest fire I've ever seen in my entire life. It was incredible. We were probably a hundred feet away and it was just so hot. We had to back away. It was insane.
Anyway that was our San Juan. I can see why the people get so hyped about. It's a pretty amazing celebration.
Saturday we had to leave our first airbnb and go to the new one. We had to wait a couple hours though before we could go so we went to Linda's house. We returned the clothes that we had borrowed and had breakfast at a cafe with her. That good ol' OJ and croissant combo. So good man. Mom's been spoiled. I don't know if she'll ever be able to go back.
Norman and Dani became friends over the trip. Let's see if they can keep up the long distance friendship. ;)
So our new place was a little in the middle of nowhere but look at this view man! The beach on one side.
And Torres de Hercules on the other! It was pretty amazing. After we got to the new place we had a little siesta. Mom was still having a little vertigo and she though maybe sleep would help. Nope it made it worse. Anyway I had to lead her back to the main part of the city like my old grandma so she wouldn't fall and die. We had carne asada again because why not. It's freaking delicious.
Our new place didn't have internet so that sucked. We had to sneak down to a little panaderia/cafeteria and steal their wifi anytime we wanted to talk to someone. It made me miss out on seeing Magda one more time before we left so that made me a little sad. But oh well. What were we supposed to do?
The only other crappy thing about the new place were the damn seagulls. I don't know if you remember but in my previous blog posts I have mentioned my hatred towards the La Coruna seagulls. It turns out that hatred still stands. As does the hatred towards the mosquitos that are somehow more painful to me than any other mosquito. But seriously the seagulls are so loud all night long and sound like screaming children. They're worse than the foxes in Virginia. That's how bad they are.
Sunday we pretty much spent the entire day at the beach. Which was good because I needed to even out my tan from my camping trip. Just my knees were tan and dad kept making fun of it. Now it's less odd looking.
Norman hated the water in case you were wondering. Like screamed anytime we tried to put his feet in.
I on the other hand was an adventurous soul and actually went swimming. It was cold but it wasn't unbearable. It was about as cold as when I go surfing. But then I got ambushed by a sudden wave and fell so then I was done.
There was a ton of topless ladies walking around and sunbathing. One even helped us move our blanket when the tide started coming in. (sorry no pics) In the winter when I was there it was only the old ladies who went topless so I was a little shocked. It was definitely a fun experience. Or something like that.
We had our last ice cream of the trip. We were successful in having some every single day we were in Spain. Congratulations mother! You did it!
Mom sure loves her ice cream. (There's a picture of her REALLY enjoying her ice cream but she forbade me from sharing it. She's mean I know.)
And so does the baby.
Speaking of the baby he was THE worst the night before we had to leave. He WOULD NOT go to sleep. We finally got him to sleep two hours before we were supposed to wake up. At 4 A.M. As you can guess we wanted to die. Thankfully he slept through most of all the flights. Cause if not I don't know what we would've done.
We had our last Zumo de Naranja y Croissant in the Madrid airport during a layover. And that was pretty much the last of our Spanish experience. I was sad to see it be over. But at the same time I was ready to come home and sleep in my own bed.
The kids were all really excited to have mom home and were even more excited about all the souvenirs she got them. Of course. So is the way of children. She's now back in the thrall of motherhood and I'm back in Utah awaiting for Dad and Townsend to come out so we can start my next big adventure. Cross country road trip! Oh yeah people be jealous!
I want to extend another offering of gratitude. You amazing generous people who donated to this and made this happen I think really made my mother happy. She had an amazing time. She loved experiencing the different culture. She loved taking mental notes on the fashion. Believe me she loved all those tailored blue suits and frenchy stripes. She loved the food. And really I think she just loved all of it! So thank you so much for helping me take my mother to Spain so she could experience and do something she's always wanted to do. You guys are the best.
Woo! Congratulations! You made it to the end of the post. Give yourself a high five and feel good about yourself. Till next time!
