The medieval square in Penafiel
Tower of the Castillo de Penafiel
View of Valladolid from the top of the castle
The town of Penafiel
Kristen, Me, and Kate at the wine tasting
Georgetown group and friends at the wine tasting
Castillo de PenafielThis weekend was fantastic! I really enjoyed getting out of Salamanca and seeing a new part of Spain, and of course I had a blast with Kate. She arrived on Friday afternoon, and Kristen and I took her out for hot chocolate at one of our favorite cafes. For dinner we went to a place called Erasmus; it’s a popular hang-out for international students, named for the international study abroad program in Europe. We met a couple of the other Georgetown girls there and had cerveza y pinchos (beer and tapas) for dinner. One of the pinchos was really delicious—a toasted slice of a baguette topped with caramelized onions and goat cheese and raisins. It was a fun, relaxing night, and it was great to catch up with Kate after not seeing her for so long.
Saturday morning we got up really early to go on our excursion to Penafiel with the entire Georgetown group. After the 2 hour bus ride to the town of Penafiel in the province of Valladolid, north of Madrid, we went on a tour of a wine factory/bodega. We went through the building and learned about all the different steps in the process of making wine. The tour was in Spanish and was a little difficult to understand, but it was interesting nonetheless. After the tour we had a wine tasting. We learned about looking at the color of the wine, smelling it, watching it drip down the inside of the glass. Then we got to sample the wine and some traditional Spanish snacks: sheep milk cheese and Iberian ham. It was really fun, especially because, since we’re a bunch of 20- and 21-year-olds, we felt very grown up having wine and cheese at a Spanish vineyard. And I was very impressed with Kate’s ability to understand Spanish; she only knows a little Spanish, but her knowledge of Italian made it easier for her to know what was going on, and she was actually able to communicate quite well with us in Spanish.
After the wine tasting we went to a rustic restaurant called Lagar de San Vicente. It was at the base of the hill where the Castillo de Penafiel is located. We had wine, bread, salad, whole little roasted chickens (which were quite the adventure to eat, at least for me) and patatas fritas for lunch, with café con leche (espresso with a lot of milk—the coffee drink of choice here) and some sort of creamy, flaky pastry for dessert. We were all very full and happy afterwards. When we were done eating we went downstairs to check out the restaurant’s bodega, which was located in an ancient cave in the basement. When we were done at the restaurant, we took the bus up to the castle (castillo) of Penafiel, which was built in the late 9th/early 10th century and overlooks what seemed like the entire region of Valladolid. The whole area is known for its wine, and we went through the castle’s wine museum before touring the castle itself. I unfortunately didn’t pay much attention to the tour of the castle; we were at the very top of the castle, outside, on top of a mountain, and the cold and wind made it hard to pay attention. It even snowed a little! But there was a gorgeous view of the town and the surrounding vineyards and farmland and the snow-covered mountains in the distance. The castle itself was really cool too, and I enjoyed walking through it. When we finished at the castle we stopped to check out the medieval town square, which looks exactly like what you would think a medieval square would look like. I believe my program director said that they still hold bullfights there.
Our Penafiel excursion was very fun, and it was nice to get out of Salamanca for the day. Once we returned to Salamanca, Kristen and I took Kate out to dinner at the restaurant we went to with our program on our first night in Salamanca. We had a nice leisurely dinner (and late, like true Spaniards—we finished around midnight!), and Kate got to try Spanish tortilla, which is one of my favorite foods here. After dinner we went out to the clubs and bars. We ended the night at this bar that was apparently having oldies night; they were playing a bunch of American oldies, and there were very few people there under the age of 40. It was a little awkward for us, but we had fun dancing, and I think it’s pretty cool that it’s so acceptable here for people up through their 60s to go out to clubs late into the night. I also found it amusing how surprised Kate was to see the number of people out in the streets at 3am. It’s absolutely true that Spaniards party till all hours of the morning. When we headed out Saturday morning at 7:30am for our Penafiel trip, we saw numerous people just ending their night and heading home. I guess that’s why they invented siesta.
Sunday morning Kate, Kristen, Mary Kathryn, and I went out for chocolate and churros—you can’t come to Spain and not have churros! Then we showed Kate the sites of Salamanca and hung out in a café until she had to catch her bus to Madrid. I’m so glad she was able to come visit us, and I had so much fun showing off Salamanca to a visitor! That evening, the Georgetown group went to see the musical Jesucristo Superstar. I was familiar enough with the music, and obviously with the story of Jesus, to understand what was going on, but it was pretty impossible to understand the actual Spanish words they were singing. But the singers were fantastic, and I always enjoy musicals; this one was no exception. It was a very fun-filled weekend, and next weekend I’m going to Switzerland!
Saturday morning we got up really early to go on our excursion to Penafiel with the entire Georgetown group. After the 2 hour bus ride to the town of Penafiel in the province of Valladolid, north of Madrid, we went on a tour of a wine factory/bodega. We went through the building and learned about all the different steps in the process of making wine. The tour was in Spanish and was a little difficult to understand, but it was interesting nonetheless. After the tour we had a wine tasting. We learned about looking at the color of the wine, smelling it, watching it drip down the inside of the glass. Then we got to sample the wine and some traditional Spanish snacks: sheep milk cheese and Iberian ham. It was really fun, especially because, since we’re a bunch of 20- and 21-year-olds, we felt very grown up having wine and cheese at a Spanish vineyard. And I was very impressed with Kate’s ability to understand Spanish; she only knows a little Spanish, but her knowledge of Italian made it easier for her to know what was going on, and she was actually able to communicate quite well with us in Spanish.
After the wine tasting we went to a rustic restaurant called Lagar de San Vicente. It was at the base of the hill where the Castillo de Penafiel is located. We had wine, bread, salad, whole little roasted chickens (which were quite the adventure to eat, at least for me) and patatas fritas for lunch, with café con leche (espresso with a lot of milk—the coffee drink of choice here) and some sort of creamy, flaky pastry for dessert. We were all very full and happy afterwards. When we were done eating we went downstairs to check out the restaurant’s bodega, which was located in an ancient cave in the basement. When we were done at the restaurant, we took the bus up to the castle (castillo) of Penafiel, which was built in the late 9th/early 10th century and overlooks what seemed like the entire region of Valladolid. The whole area is known for its wine, and we went through the castle’s wine museum before touring the castle itself. I unfortunately didn’t pay much attention to the tour of the castle; we were at the very top of the castle, outside, on top of a mountain, and the cold and wind made it hard to pay attention. It even snowed a little! But there was a gorgeous view of the town and the surrounding vineyards and farmland and the snow-covered mountains in the distance. The castle itself was really cool too, and I enjoyed walking through it. When we finished at the castle we stopped to check out the medieval town square, which looks exactly like what you would think a medieval square would look like. I believe my program director said that they still hold bullfights there.
Our Penafiel excursion was very fun, and it was nice to get out of Salamanca for the day. Once we returned to Salamanca, Kristen and I took Kate out to dinner at the restaurant we went to with our program on our first night in Salamanca. We had a nice leisurely dinner (and late, like true Spaniards—we finished around midnight!), and Kate got to try Spanish tortilla, which is one of my favorite foods here. After dinner we went out to the clubs and bars. We ended the night at this bar that was apparently having oldies night; they were playing a bunch of American oldies, and there were very few people there under the age of 40. It was a little awkward for us, but we had fun dancing, and I think it’s pretty cool that it’s so acceptable here for people up through their 60s to go out to clubs late into the night. I also found it amusing how surprised Kate was to see the number of people out in the streets at 3am. It’s absolutely true that Spaniards party till all hours of the morning. When we headed out Saturday morning at 7:30am for our Penafiel trip, we saw numerous people just ending their night and heading home. I guess that’s why they invented siesta.
Sunday morning Kate, Kristen, Mary Kathryn, and I went out for chocolate and churros—you can’t come to Spain and not have churros! Then we showed Kate the sites of Salamanca and hung out in a café until she had to catch her bus to Madrid. I’m so glad she was able to come visit us, and I had so much fun showing off Salamanca to a visitor! That evening, the Georgetown group went to see the musical Jesucristo Superstar. I was familiar enough with the music, and obviously with the story of Jesus, to understand what was going on, but it was pretty impossible to understand the actual Spanish words they were singing. But the singers were fantastic, and I always enjoy musicals; this one was no exception. It was a very fun-filled weekend, and next weekend I’m going to Switzerland!
I had such a great time seeing you girls, and it was so nice to see firsthand what Salamanca is like! Thanks for being such great tourguides. My own blog about Spain will be up... whenever I get up the energy to write it ha!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you girls had such a fun reunion in Salamanca! Have I mentioned how jealous I am? Oh, and I would be very interested to hear more about the musical experience...I'm imagining that it must have been kind of like opera, where you can't understand the Italian words (well, maybe Kate can understand them!) but you sort of figure it out anyway. Music as the international language and all that. Am I close?
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty much how I felt, Allison. It helped that I've listened to the original album in English, and from the acting I could more or less tell what was happening. But I was singing the English words in my head the whole time!
ReplyDelete