Semana Santa

Semana Santa (Week of the Saint) or Easter week here is Spain is a big thing - processions, festivities and religious celebrations, all cumulating in a week full of fun and games for anyone that happens to get caught up in it. Unfortunately, this is the only week I have off from university, so I made my way back to England for a few days, but I was back in time for the weekend rush. When I got back to Madrid on Saturday afternoon, I went home, sorted myself out and then headed out for tapas and drinks with my friends Charlotte and Catherine, and Catherine's lovely flatmate Jimena. In order to beat the rush, we headed out before everyone else (at about 8pm - very early in Spain!) and went to one of my favourite spots, an area between Sol and Plaza Santa Ana. It was a gorgeous evening (albeit a tad chilly with the occasional bluster of wind), but we decided to sit outside nevertheless. I had been hinting all week that I wanted to head to one of my favourite restaurants, a tapas chain called 'Cervecería la Sureña' which serves amazing food and drinks for insanely low prices. We enjoyed Patatas Bravas, Tortilla de patatas, lágrimas de pollo, all washed down with delicious Tinto de Verano (sangría w/o the fruit bits and cut with lemonade) at only 2€ a glass. ¡Delicioso!

Tinto de Verano before tapas!

La Plaza del Sol

I headed home reasonably early that night as I was pretty tired from travelling, but the next day we all met up again (Charlotte, Catherine, Jimena, and my lovely flatmate Elsa) in the centre to see what celebrations Easter Sunday would have to offer. I booked my flights to get back for the Sunday as I thought there would be huge celebrations, but it turns out that Easter Sunday is more about spending time with family in Spain, and not much was going on. We made our way to Plaza Mayor, as I heard that there was going to be something going on there, and we were welcomed by a large crowd and the banging of drums. We couldn't see much, but it was amazing to see that many people in the plaza, and as the weather was lovely, we were able to take in some sun whilst nose-ing around. The drumming got old after a while, so we decided to go for a wander around the surrounding area. We ended up getting some ice cream and basking in the sun for a few hours, before heading home to get some dreaded homework out of the way! 

Plaza Mayor on Easter Sunday

Plaza Mayor

Charlotte and I

Elsa (one of my flatmates) and I

I thought we had escaped the матрёшки? 

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last post, but there really hasn't been much going on. Life here is much more normal than it was in Russia, so there isn't as much to document! However, this weekend Catherine and I are taking a trip down to Seville to visit Grace and hope to do a bit of sightseeing whilst taking in some sun. I'll be taking my camera so I'll have a post up shortly after I get back with lots of lovely pictures and stories from our adventure!

Until next time,

Isobel xx

P.S. If you want to make the photos bigger, just click on them :)