A Day in Segovia!

What with only a few months left in Spain I couldn't pass up a chance to visit Segovia. I'd heard rumours of a fairytale castle that inspired Disney and one of the best preserved Roman aqueducts in the world, so, last Saturday I set off with Annie, my daytrip pal, to see if it was worth the hype.

We caught the comfy and super fast AVE train from Chamartín station arriving just outside Segovia after only about 30 minutes. The view from the station is pretty impressive:

 

It was an odd experience being frozen and burnt at the same time but an icy breeze cut through my jumper and the sun beat down so hard I was regretting not bringing suncream...with good reason... (my nose now looks like a cherry tomato someone's tacked to my face).

After literally falling out of the bus (I was leaning against the middle door and wasn't aware we'd stopped) we arrived in Segovia. A kind Spanish guy saw us looking about a bit helplessly and led us with him to the town centre. On the way we learnt he was an engineer who'd spent his year abroad in Nottingham, that his parents had been married in the church we passed and that his grandma lived not far from there. Thanks for your help Germán!

El Acueducto de Segovia was definitely a sight to see:

 

Incredibly tall and somewhat fragile looking in places, (I don't know how some of those stones were still standing!), El Acueducto runs for a fair distance through the centre of town. The amazing thing is that apparently it would still function as a means to transport water if it was reconnected to the spring that supplies it in the nearby mountains.

After a few photos Annie and I wandered on through the town towards the Plaza Mayor. We passed some hilarious graffiti:

Buttocks to you too!

And plenty of lovely little churches:

 

La Catedral de Santa María de Segovia is right in the Plaza Mayor and one of the most beautiful cathedrals I've seen in Spain.

 

We decided not to pay the entry fee as we'd seen Toledo Cathedral and wanted to have enough time for El Alcázar de Segovia. This is the famous Disney castle and is a little way out of the main city so you need to schedule in the walking time (though it's only about 20mins at most). We passed yet another church on the way:

Until we arrived at the gates of the Alcázar along with their resident Roman soldier.

 

Before we headed to the ticket office I got a few photos of the birds that filled the garden in front of the castle. It had rained the night before and everything was green and lush with the eerie calls of peacocks ringing through the trees:

 

 

 

 

We paid 7 euros for our tickets to the Alcázar that included access to the tower and the roof. The first room you're met with is full of suits of armour and stained glass:

 

To be honest I was fairly unimpressed with the interior of the castle. The majority of the rooms were bare except for a four-poster bed in one (the only piece of furniture in the room) and several wooden chairs in another. What stood out the most were the incredibly ornate ceilings.

 

 

 

 

 

 This was the ceiling in the "Pineapple Room":

 

 

The most impressive ceiling was guilded in gold and around the walls were dozens of sculptures of royals from history:

 

 

 

 

It only took about half an hour to see all the rooms on show in the castle so we set off to climb the 152 steps of the tower. This is not for the claustrophobic!! Obviously in the middle ages health and safety wasn't a priority so the stairway is cripplingly narrow. There's barely enough space for two people to pass each other and with only one way up and the same way down jams are common. After we squeezed out at the top a relieved selfie was in order :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the top the views of the countryside around and back over the town are lovely:

 

 

 

 

By hanging over the battlements we were able to finally see the peacocks we'd heard screaming all morning. I got some super zoomed in photos:

 

 We slowly walked back towards the cathedral to find somewhere for lunch. Sitting in the sun we ate jamón, queso de cabra and tumaca baguettes. It was only afterwards while we explored a bit more that we discovered the traditional dish of Segovia is cochinillo (what looks like a piglet that's come a cropper in a cartoon and then been roasted...)

I really wanted to try and get a good photo of the "Disney-looking" side of the Alcázar so we thought we'd walk down and round to the opposite hill-side. I got a couple of photos:

But then it started to rain gently so we headed back up the hill to sit in the garden and people watch for a bit under my umbrella:

I really enjoyed our trip to Segovia! It got a bit cold waiting for the bus to the station (Segovia is in the mountains so is usually a couple of degrees cooler than Madrid) but apart from that it was a great trip. My favourite thing that we saw has to be the Acueducto as it really is unique. I'm definitely looking forward to my next foray out of Madrid in May when I'll be travelling for a week through Andalucía!

Librerías - Where to Buy Books in Madrid

A book-lover in Madrid is spoilt for choice; from huge multi-storey book empires to tiny little independent shops, the city is full of places to get your literature fix. There's nothing I like more than a mooch round the city centre on a sunny day and over the last 6 months I've discovered quite a few of these lovely spaces. So, without further ado (and in no particular order), here's a roundup of all the librerías or bookshops I've happened upon so far:

El Corte Inglés

This one is probably the easiest to find as it's right in the Puerta del Sol in the city centre.

Inside it's pretty much the Spanish equivalent of Waterstones with a similiar layout, different sections by genre/author etc, and is of a similar price range (they occasionally have "buy one half price/2 for 1" deals etc) They also have an excellent translated fiction section so if you're on the hunt for a newly released book translated into Spanish this is the place to come. As it's so close to home and has such a good range of books I'm often to be found here on rainy afternoons.

 

El Corte Inglés Preciados Libros, Calle Preciados, 2, 28013 Madrid.

 

FNAC

The FNAC building is also hard to miss; four storeys of music, electrical gear and, right at the top, books. Think HMV but MASSIVE!

I'm not such a fan of FNAC as a bookshop as I am of the other places on this list. They have some beautiful books but the browsing experience gets me down. It's always baking hot and stuffy with fluorescent lighting that just makes me want to get out and breathe some fresh air!

Having said that though this is the place to come if you're looking for graphic novels or manga. I've never seen such a large space in a bookshop dedicated to comics and illustrated books. This fits in with the cool, techie vibe of the rest of the shop perfectly. Though cool this place is pricey; FNAC's current idea of a deal is "buy 2 books and pay €1.50 for a FREE canvas book bag"...um free??

 

Calle Preciados, 28, 28013 Madrid

 

Casa del Libro

This is the place to come if you want a specific book in Spanish; with its miles upon miles of shelves Casa del Libro is sure to have it somewhere. This shop also makes for a great visitor experience with squishy chairs, slidey shelves and brass staircases to book heaven.

Again expect to pay more or less what you would in Waterstones and have fun browsing 'til you drop!

Gran Vía, 29, 28013 Madrid

 

Desperate Literature

This gorgeous little shop is included in my Lonely Planet guidebook but under a different name. Petra's International Bookshop is now Desperate Literature but still sells secondhand books in Spanish, English and French.

Inside is an Aladinn's cave of twinkling fairy lights, crazily patterned carpets and floor to ceiling books.

This place is my kind of bookshop; being secondhand the books are cheaper, the selection in English is certainly my cup of tea and the staff are lovely. Speaking of tea you're likely to be offered a cup as you enter... Terry and Charlotte the couple who've recently taken charge of the shop are looking to get going with all sorts of bookish events so if you're in Madrid at any point be sure to check out Desperate Literature's facebook page (give them a "like" from me!)

Calle Campomanes, 13, 28013 Madrid

 

La Central

 

In my opinion the queen of the bookshops in Madrid is La Central; think Foyles of London and you'll know what I mean. With the selection of Casa del Libro and FNAC combined, foreign language sections and housed in a beautiful old building just off Callao it's everything you could want in a bookshop...except of course for the price. But ah well, we can't have everything.

 

 

 

In La Central a genre has its own room rather than its own shelf and what rooms they are! Just look at how they kick off the children's section:

 

 

The complete opposite of the stifling FNAC with it's honey wood staircases, creamy white walls and cosy reading room, I think I might just move in for the summer.

 

Calle del Postigo de San Martín, 8, 28013 Madrid

The next few on the list aren't exactly bookshops (more bookstalls) but I just couldn't leave them out!

San Ginés Book Stall

At the corner of San Ginés and Calle Arenal is undeniably the cutest book stall I've come across.

It stocks secondhand books but also old posters, postcards and prints. Nice for a quick browse while en route somewhere else.

Claudio Moyano Book Stalls - Retiro

This is one of my favourite places to actually buy books due to the selection and the price (the cheapest I've found in Madrid). Plus its proximity to the park doesn't hurt. Read my full blog post here: Book Stalls - Calle de Claudio Moyano

Calle Claudio Moyano, 28014 Madrid

El Rastro

And finally El Rastro, Madrid's biggest flea market, you can find pretty much anything for sale here. In terms of books look out for hidden gems amongst the jewellery, old furniture and paintings; there are some true antiques to be found. Check out my earlier post about the market here: El Rastro

Well that's it for my bookshop roundup! I've loved compiling this list and I'm sure there'll be a part two in the future what with the number of bookshops still to explore. I hope you've enjoyed reading this and if any of you have any suggestions of posts you'd like to see in the future (book-related or not) just let me know!

Beggars - To Give or Not to Give

For someone that lives in a fairly small cathedral city in Hertfordshire, moving to Madrid was a shock in more ways than one. The sheer number of people I encounter on a daily basis is staggering. I was chatting to my Dutch/French housemate the other day and she joked that the people sharing her metro train probably outnumbered the inhabitants of her entire village!

All echelons of society are squashed together in one noisy, frantic, multicultural mess. This means that, while also sharing the pavement with impeccably coiffed women clacking along in high heels and business men in their loafers and blazers, you inevitably encounter those who are less fortunate. In a word - beggars.

At first Madrid's beggars made me feel deeply uneasy. This might seem a bit pathetic but bear in mind that these people are often terribly disfigured. There's the man in Sol with no arms who sits rattling a plastic cup full of change by holding it with his teeth. An awfully burned man with no fingers walks the train on my metro home every day calling "yo no tengo dedos, una ayuda por fa!". A woman with an empty eye socket stands at the base of the stairs to Sol metro trying to get the attention of passers by. These are just a few examples of the people I've encountered and there are many, many more.

I'm happy to say that after 6 months abroad I am no longer frightened by beggars but they still give me cause to think. I have never given one of them any money. I defend my actions by saying that it would be impossible to give money to them all and who am I to decide who is more deserving? This doesn't mean that I don't feel sorry for them though and I can't say that my heart doesn't sink when I hear "yo no tengo dedoooos" ringing through the train.

Most beggars are not aggressive in their asking; they simply hold out a cup of change. On the street it is easy to walk on by and I find that on the metro is where begging can feel the most awkward. Here many people look away or try to hide behind their tablet or smartphone which can cause the beggar to stop and be a little more persistent. It is entirely up to you whether you give money or not. If you decide that you'd rather not there is nothing to worry about - just shake your head and say no. I have never seen a beggar stop or make a scene after this.

If you're from London or Manchester you're probably wondering what all the fuss is about but let me assure any small town people like me that there's absolutely nothing to be worried about! If you're heading to a big city for your year abroad it's inevitable that you'll encounter the homeless, or people asking for spare change, fairly regularly. Begging, unfortunately, is a fact of life and whether you choose to donate or not it isn't going to be a problem that disappears any time soon.

Medical Matters

When on a year abroad the everyday sniffles and headaches that can crop up in England don't just disappear. What can make for an even bigger headache, however, is working out how to get hold of the medicines you need to get you feeling better.

A few weeks before Easter I came down with a horrible virus that affected my ears and throat even spreading to my eye in the form of conjunctivitis (super sexy...). I wanted to make sure it wasn't a bacterial infection but delayed trying to get a doctor's appointment because I thought it would just be a massive faff. In fact the opposite was true:

How to register with a Doctor/Make a Doctor's Appointment

Things you will need:

• Your European Health Insurance (EHIC) card
• Your Passport or NIE (if you've got it)

Find your local health centre/doctor's surgery and explain the situation in person at the front desk (you're an english student studying abroad who needs to be registered with a doctor as you'd like an appointment). In my experience the registration process should take about 15 minutes and you'll be assigned a doctor to see while abroad. I asked for an appointment that day and after waiting for about 30mins was seen by a GP.

Once registered you can make any future appointments over the phone.

I'm sure it's pretty obvious but make sure you swot up on the vocab you'll think you'll need regarding your specific complaint. It'll be a pretty awkward appointment if all you can do is point at parts of your body and mime pain...

Medicine

If what you have is mild or can be treated with a medicine that you can buy over the counter head to your nearest pharmacy. You'll most definitely have seen these on travels in Europe as they advertise their presence with enormous neon green signs in the shape of a cross. I've found the staff to be knowledgable and helpful with any questions I've had. In fact if you're not sure what you've got, or even if you need to find a doctor in the first place, paying a visit to your local pharmacy and asking the pharmacist is often the best thing to do.

Find out the name of the medicine you're after in Spanish/French etc as it's often different to the English name.

CHECK THE DOSAGE!! - Before you take any medicine check the dosage on the pack to avoid accidentally taking too much.

In Spain, for example, Paracetamol can be found in packs of up to 40, 1g tablets whereas in England each tablet contains around half that amount. The maximum amount per dose is 1g but if you're used to taking 2 tablets it's easy to see how you could accidentally take double that.



IMPORTANT
This post is designed to give general advice to future students on their year abroad about getting hold of medicine while away. Of course if you have a long standing or serious health condition that requires certain medicines or care then you must consult your doctor before going abroad.

If there's a medical emergency and you need an ambulance phone the EU Emergency Number: 112