In (S)Pain

Hola hola Coca Colas! It’s been a minute since I used that introduction, no? But especially fitting, seeing as that I made my way back to Spain, at least for a handful of days.

The end of the voyage is upon me, and I’m actually posting this from Denmark…I’m not ready to accept that the journey has actually come to a conclusion, so let’s all close our eyes and pretend it’s still March and I’m back in Spain….

Even though I literally lived in Spain last summer (and have seen ~6 weeks worth of attractions), this was one of my busiest ports yet, full of those once-in-a-while experiences. We docked in Barcelona, a new city for me, and I dusted off my Spanish to get ready for…

Day 1: Football is Life

Within a few days of landing in Madrid last summer, Real Madrid won the Champions League - Liz and I actually wandered into the victory parade at one point - and so I’ve always thought of the Madrileño team fondly. I was told in no uncertain terms to not not mention Real Madrid within the confines of the city by my SAS friend Laney, especially as we headed towards Camp Nou, home of FC Barcelona, for the Player Experience Tour.

Laney is a lifelong fan of Barça, which made our swanky stadium tour that much more fun. We went to the President’s Suite, the locker rooms, and of course, onto the pitch with our very friendly tour guide. Other people in our tour group were also super fans, which really made the experience more fun since almost everyone was over-the-moon excited to be ~in the Barcelona locker room.~ We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside the locker room, but I thought it was really cool that they keep a running tally of previous players on the lockers, so you can see which locker Messi or Neymar had while they were there.

Our VIP tour also included some free swag, so I am now the proud owner of a FC Barcelona scarf, as well as one of those professional souvenir photos with a player photoshopped in. Iconic.

After we had had our fill of Camp Nou, we headed back to the shopping district and met up with Annakate and Sam. We grabbed a quick lunch and did some window shopping - well, for me it was window shopping, but my friends did their part to contribute to the local economies.

A siesta back on the ship was necessary; a lot of us were already exhausted, and unfortunately, I was coming down with the SAS Flu (a really bad cold). I was downing hot water like no tomorrow, trying to make my throat feel better. Luckily, the brief rest helped, and then it was time to make our way back into the city for dinner.

Annakate had found a local Italian place, a real hidden gem called “Pappa e Citti.” Oh my god. The food was so good. I wanna go back and eat mountains of the pumpkin tortelloni. It was life-changing, truly, just the most delicious food I’ve had in weeks. It’s probably worth mentioning that, while better than most cafeteria food, the on-ship food is essentially that. If you’re a *picky eater* like me, endless piles of iceberg lettuce, buttered noodles, and white fish can get really old, really fast. Quality Italian food at an adorable restaurant in Barcelona? Heaven sent.

We had to end our night relatively early for Spain, since both Annakate and I had field classes scheduled for Day 2. When you have field classes, your on-ship time is 11:59 p.m. the night before; any later, you’ll get dock time, potentially miss your field class, and possibly miss 20% of your final grade. Suffice to say, I made sure we were in our cabin well before midnight.

Day 2: The Spanish Civil War

Early wake-up call today! My third and final field class was for my World War II in History course, and we were called to leave at 7:30. I somehow wrangled both Annakate and I up to Lido for a quick breakfast and we raced to our respective meeting points.

The focus of my field class was on the Spanish Civil War, specifically on the impact it had in Barcelona. We started our day by traveling to an air raid shelter in the Gracia neighborhood, used when the Franco’s forces were bombing Barcelona. There are only two shelters remaining in the city, and not a lot of people get to travel into them, so that was a really unique experience. It was kind of trippy, descending deeper and deeper into the earth. There’s good lighting and air flow now, but it wasn’t difficult to imagine hordes of people rushing underneath in the dark, panicking and unsure of what they would emerge from in a few hours’ time.

Our next stop on the itinerary was El Fossar de la Pedrera Memorial, a memorial built on top of a mass grave from the White Terror in the 1930s. Nowadays, it’s a really quiet, peaceful spot for some reflection. It’s one of those odd spots where you can’t quite reconcile that the inhumane events from your history book took place in the same place as this tranquil meadow, with the quiet stream and the memorial bridge. Powerful, in a really subtle way.

We didn’t spend too much time at the memorial, since our itinerary was packed, and we left for Montjuic Castle. Unfortunately, we were so strapped for time that we only walked the perimeter of the Castle, but it was still a pretty cool set of views. Our tour guide Joseph said he used to play soccer on the lawns of the fort before it was renovated to be more aesthetically-pleasing, which I found funny. To the locals, this castle is so ordinary and everyday, why wouldn’t the kids play 3v3 on the castle grass?

After the castle, we stopped for lunch at a local restaurant, La Poca Solta. Credit to SAS, when they book you a restaurant, they go all out. We had a three course meal, with a pumpkin soup, some kind of veggie flatbread thing for the vegetarians, and a combo brownie/cheesecake dessert. 10/10 recommend, the SAS field office knows what they’re doing. With that brief pause completed, we started our last activity of the field class, a walking tour of Civil War Barcelona. It’s interesting, after the Civil War, so many Spaniards refused to talk about the events. Understandable, given that it was often neighbor against neighbor or brother against brother - that’s not the kind of thing you want to bring up at Family Dinner. Still, that means a lot of the stories and remnants of war have been forgotten over time. It’s strange to see the memories that still echo in the city.

Once the tour was over, we headed back to the ship. We had run 30 minutes over on the field class, which meant my window to get to the train station was scarily small. I frantically gathered my things (pre-packed, thankfully) and met up with Kelsi to get to Barcelona Sants. By some lucky twist of fate, the security line was zippy and we managed to onto the train mere minutes before it left the station.

But where is it going, you may ask? Well, Dear Reader, I was headed back to Madrid. It’s only about 3 hours by train, so extremely attainable, and the sunset view out the windows were an added bonus. I passed the time with a movie and homework because the end of semester projects were starting to add up - before I knew it, we were pulling into Madrid Atocha.

How strange! To be in a city that you know, that you lived in for a summer, and to see it in such a different light. For one thing, it was winter/spring, and it was dark. Madrid in the summer is light until midnight, but the moon was already out by 7:30 here. It was the weirdest sense of deja vu walking to our hotel and passing the metro stops and museums of my past summer.

Kelsi and I checked into our hostel and went to find some dinner, we were both fairly starving by that point. I was also feeling ~horrible~ with my ~lovely~ little cold, so I needed some sustenance badly. We stumbled upon an Argentinian pizza place that was open late and gladly devoured our slices. Food never tastes better than when you’re super hungry, right? I felt fairly revived from dinner, so Kelsi and I decided to stretch our legs a bit and go for a walk. We were staying downtown, near Plaza del Sol, so I took Kelsi for a “Greatest Hits” tour by night of the sites I could remember from my own tour months earlier. We hit Plaza Mayor, Tirso Molina, Ópera - all complete with my *expert insight,* which I really feel adds something to the tour. How else would you know which corner of the plaza has the best gelato and donuts?

Eventually, it was time to regroup at the hostel and get some sleep. It had been a loooooong day, and we were only on Day 2 of Spain. Plus, Day 3 had one of my most favorite activities planned…a good night’s sleep was necessary.

Day 3: Driving Down Memory Lane

I actually slept in today to the crisp hour of 8:30…it felt weird. Kelsi & I were up and out the door rather quickly, meeting up with Laney & Taylor (who had traveled there the day before) for breakfast at a super cute local bakery. It was a quick grab-and-go deal, though, since Laney, Taylor & I had to make our way to the convention center for one of the absolute highlights of my trip: The F1 Exhibition in Madrid.

The Exhibition opened to the public March 24th, and as diehard fans, Taylor and I had been dead set on going to see it; naturally, we got tickets for the first day :) Talk about a great way to spend your morning - the first “room” of the exhibition was all about the history, taking you from the conception of Formula 1 up to the present day, with highlights on some of the iconic people in the sport. There was a factory-type room that went into detail on how the cars are constructed and other engineering elements that I still really don’t understand (very “liberal arts in a stem school” of me), as well as a room that was more dedicated to the pop culture within the sport, with videos of drivers and a spot were fans could leave their rankings for the Top Ten of All Time.

One of the big draws, though, was the “Disaster Room,” where the absolutely demolished car of Romain Grosjean from the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix. If you haven’t seen footage from the crash before, it’s harrowing. The car smashed into the barriers going 119 mph, and completely split in half, becoming engulfed by flames instantly. By some incredible feats of engineering & luck, the driver walked away relatively unharmed (some second degree burns) and he continues to race in IndyCar today. It’s an eery room to walk in, a kind of disaster tourism. They have the skeleton of car there, gray and ashy and torched, along with a video montage of the crash, the reactions, etc. A little unnerving, but it does a fantastic job of showing you the very real danger that exists within the sport.

We wrapped up at the Exhibition and made our way back to central Madrid for lunch, meeting back up with Kelsi too. Laney & Taylor’s train to Barcelona left that evening, so before long, it was just Kelsi & I ready to explore the city again! Kelsi was staying in a different hostel the second night, so we dropped off her stuff at the new one and then set out on part two of the Natalie Penry Madrid Tour. I went back on the Metro 7, all the way to Avendia de la Ilustración, my old home from last summer. It was surreal to be back there, in a completely different setting, in a completely different mindset. I saw my old apartment building, the parks that I used to sit in, the streets that Liz and I walked hours on. I left Madrid nine months ago, but I cannot begin to describe how different my life is now. It’s hard to reconcile how much can change in so little time, and I did get a little emotional as we walked around. I wouldn’t say I’m a completely different person than I was last summer, but I am different. A little more battle-scarred, a little wearier, but a lot more perceptive. A lot more aware and open and rational, perhaps. More grown-up.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the huge differences between last summer and this March is seasonal: it started getting a little twilighty, and I promised Kelsi some churros for putting up with my nostalgia trip. Luckily, I happen to know the best spot in Madrid for churros & chocolate, so we made our way back to the heart of the city and headed to San Gines. Perfection :) Seriously, we got our churros & chocolate and sat in the Plaza Mayor, watching the stars pop-up and tourists take pictures. Not the gourmet meals other travelers may have, but one of my favorite memories nonetheless. Once the sun went down, I insisted Kelsi see a few other key places in the city, like the Royal Palace and Casa de Campo. We did a little more walking before sitting and chatting a bit outside the palace. At this point, my voice was pretty much completely gone - I cannot emphasize how down bad I was illness-wise. I could not swallow for how bad my throat hurt - and we decided to call it a night. I headed back to my hostel, revived my voice with copious amounts of tea and hot water, called a few friends & family (mostly for medical advice) and got to sleep! Oh, to be back in Madrid :)

Day 4: Training Day

Another morning in the hostel! I met up with Kelsi at 11, and we headed to Retiro Park for the morning. My train was at 2, so I had a couple of hours to kill, and there’s really not a better place to than Retiro. It was absolutely gorgeous weather to be walking around in, just sunny and warm and bright. (the cover photo for this post came from our morning in Retiro!)

It was slightly comical to be lugging around our backpacks all over the park - I swear I didn’t bring that much stuff with me, but it gets heavy fast. Good practice for post-SAS, I suppose…We had a little brunch over looking one of the main walkways, and enjoyed the street musicians before walking around some more. Eventually, it was time for me to make my way to the train station, and back to Barcelona.

Fun Fact: Lots of public transportation shuts down in Barcelona on the weekends. So when I got back to the Barcelona Sants station, I was able to take the Metro about halfway back to the cruise port, but the corresponding bus wasn’t running on a Saturday. My options were Uber or walking, and I’m innately a cheapskate, so I did a nice, 1.5 mile hike back to the ship, heavy backpack in tow. Again, good practice for afterwards, but my god - the blisters on my feet from not wearing appropriate shoes. You’d think I’d learn by now.

I grabbed dinner on the ship and then pretty much laid in bed and bemoaned being sick until Kelsi’s train got back a couple hours later. She was ready to head back into the Barcelona proper for dinner, and I (wanting adventure) dragged myself into the land of the living with her.

Funny thing though - Kelsi had heard about this super cool cafe place and we walked over there and saw this super long line. We joined in at the back, thinking this must be the wait for the cafe, and while it was long, we were willing to wait. We got all the way to the front of the line before realizing that it was actually for the haunted wax museum *next to* the cafe. Perhaps I was not so ready for the land of the living…but we made it to the cafe anyways and it was worth the unintentional wait. El Bosc de Les Fades feels like you’ve fallen into Alice in Wonderland - there’s magical forrest decor everywhere, with oversized trees and mushrooms, giant cogs and swing seats. It’s a very ethereal vibe, but still cozy and low-key. If we had more time there, I would totally have spent hours just hanging out. Alas, it was near midnight, and I think both us were ready to crash, so we quickly got our food/drinks and said goodbye to the magical wonderland.

And just like that, there was only one day left in Spain :(

Day 5: La Sagrada Familia

The last big-ticket item for me in Spain was La Sagrada Familia. You can’t not go, especially if you’re in Barcelona, and I was determined to get there. However, feeling as sick as I did, that required a fun little trip down to the ship doctor!

When we’re in port, the on-ship clinic is only open from 7:30-8:00 a.m. - due to the field class and pre-planned travel, Day 5 was the earliest I was able to visit. I was quickly tested for COVID (negative) and within two minutes of seeing me, Dr. Scott diagnosed me with a killer ear infection that was affecting my ear, nose, and throat. Despite the fact that swallowing was soooo painful, there was actually little inflammation there, which Dr. Scott said was a good thing. He prescribed me some medicine, and said I should feel better in 10 days. Perhaps it was psychosomatic, but even just having the medicine in my pocket helped, I think. I was able to rally and get ready to go a lot earlier than I thought I would.

I ended up running into Olivia from my ship family, and we decided to grab some lunch together in the city. We found a cute little cafe/bar and chatted for a while, enjoying the outdoors and the city. It was a quiet morning, all things considered, and it was nice to just meander about a bit. Eventually, we went our separate ways, and I ended up at La Sagrada Familia. Talk about impressive architecture.

Due to ship logistics, etc., I was unfortunately unable to go inside the building, but I spent a good chunk of the afternoon outside of it. I met a local couple Pedro & María, who were more than happy to talk about the history and pop culture surrounding La Sagrada - Pedro was really unsure about the “unfinished building” finally being completed by 2026, almost like La Sagrada would be losing a part of its identity by then, but María argued that the already-iconic elements of the design and architecture would honor Gaudi’s legacy. Just some food for thought there…It was such a nice afternoon, just basking in the beauty of the day, people-watching the hordes of tourists everywhere. No illness or blisters or sleep deprivation could damper the vibes :)

My last stop of the day was a local grocery store, Día. Día was a favorite from last summer, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to stock up on some familiar Spanish snacks before the next stretch at sea. I got my Natilla, my donut biscuit cookies, my yogurt & herb chips - I was all set. By the time I got back to the ship, I was ready to collapse into a study abroad coma.

Final Thoughts

another pic of La Sagrada because she's gorgeous

What a special treat, to go back to a city that you already know so intimately, and to explore a city that you only know casually. Spain sits as one of my favorite cities on the voyage, and not just from my personal bias. The culture, the food, the people - it’s impossible to not have fun here in Spain.

As I said at the very beginning of the post, my voyage has technically come to an end now. I’m an SAS Alumni, such a happy-sad moment, and something difficult to process. It's going to take several weeks to really come to terms with the end of this adventure and the impact it's had on my life. I’ll continue to post my last two blogs (Morocco & Portugal) sometime in the next few days, and then I’ll have a special update about the rest of my summer! Expect plenty more post-program reflections in the upcoming posts, but for now, I’ll sign off from my hotel room in Denmark, absolutely drained from my emotional goodbyes on the World Odyssey. Adios Semester at Sea :(