So this year, I feel like I’ve done well with my writing. So far on this blog, I’ve written 46 articles and I’m pretty proud of that. I’ve covered nearly every moment of my year, but of course, some things fell through the cracks. So without further ado, here are the 3 places I forgot to write about and probably should have.
- Parque Warner.
Parque (park) Warner is a theme park to the south of Madrid based on the characters and movies that belong to Warner Brothers. It’s Madrid’s answer to Disneyland, but a good bit smaller. I decided to head to the park for the strange reason that I’d never been to a theme park during a “special” season. I’d been to lots of theme parks in the summer, like Disneyland in Paris, Universal Studios in Los Angeles and Gardaland in Italy, but I’d always wanted to go when the park was all decorated for Halloween or Christmas. When I saw tickets were on sale for Black Friday, I decided to go for the day with my Californian friend Dylan, who loves theme parks.
We headed one cold Sunday in early December, taking the train from the centre of the city all wrapped up warm. Not warm enough, unfortunately, as if you remember from my writings in December, spending the day been whipped around on roller coasters in the cold makes you sick and I ended up in bed for a week after. To be honest, I’m a terrible theme park goer, as my stomach does not enjoy being thrown upside down. After two rides I was out of action and it was a bit pathetic. We did enjoy wandering around the small park though and it was really pretty to see it with all the Christmas decorations. One thing checked off my wish list anyway!
- Caixa Forum
The Caixa Forum is an exhibition space focused on history, art and politics. Owned and run by the Caixa Bank, it is a social project for the organisation, a way to give back and provide different insights into Spanish culture. These centres are scattered across the country, with spaces in Barcelona, Bilbao and Sevilla, but I visited the one in Madrid. Entry is free to Caixa Bank customers (like I was) but open to the public. Unfortunately, you have to pay for each exhibition you visit, which can get a bit expensive.
Yet I have to say, I would have paid into the exhibition I visited in late February, focused on the 40 years of Democracy in Spain. Spain in the 1970s saw huge changes, with the death of Francisco Franco and the end of the dictatorship, to King Juan Carlos I relinquishing his power and passing it to the government, allowing for a smooth transition to democracy. Politically, socially, culturally and environmentally Spain has changed so much during these 40 years and this exhibition looked back at these changes.
The exhibition was set up in a large room with about 8 mini amphitheatres. These amphitheatres had enough space for about 12 people to seat and was placed facing a human-sized screen. On the amphitheatre itself there was a second screen, on which a “normal person” would be shown. After each topic was broadcast on the walls of the room itself, the screens would jump to life and an expert on the central screen would answer questions asked by the normal person. It was like watching a debate and it felt you were actually present for the conversation. It was a very clever and interesting way of discussing the changes and the experts’ hopes for the future and made for a very enjoyable exhibition. The only drawback was that of course it was all conducted in Spanish, which meant I couldn’t bring any of my politically interested visitors to go see it. But I’m very glad I got to see it.
- Toledo.
Now you might be wondering what is Toledo doing in this shared post. Toledo is recommended as the top day trip to take from Madrid and is heralded as a beautiful city, proudly showing its Christian, Jewish and Islamic history. I had been meaning to go all year to visit this famous city and finally got around to visiting it in March with my friends Cathy and Ellie.
All three of us came to the conclusion that it was a lovely city. It’s got charming little hilly streets and cute places to see. I really enjoyed visiting its white Synagogue, Sinagoga de Santa María La Blanca, which was beautifully preserved. But otherwise, I don’t think any of us understood what all the fuss was about. We all agreed we were glad we spent the day there but also agreed that we would recommend Segovia or El Escorial as a day trip over Toledo. We came expecting to see a mix of the three religions, which is present, but much clearer in cities less famous for this mix like Córdoba and Zaragoza. There were great hilltop views, but Segovia and Ávila also have these views. And the food we had was great, but it was just typical Spanish.
So we aren’t saying don’t go to Toledo, it is an interesting day trip. But maybe don’t put your expectations as high as we did and just enjoy Toledo for what it is, a lovely little city.
So there we have it, three places that I forgot to write about and probably should have. I doubt I’ll look back on any of the three and think of them as key days in my year in Spain, but I enjoyed all three. I had a great (but cold) day at Parque Warner and really got to know Dylan well. My trip to the Caixa forum was a solo one, but I loved how much I was able to understand and how much of the history I knew, I felt like a real Spaniard. And though my trip to Toledo was a little underwhelming, it was a great day out with Cathy and Ellie, especially as Ellie left to go back to the States soon after. Like pretty much everything in Spain, these three days, though initially kind of forgotten, bring back great memories of a great year.
From Meath to Madrid 