By popular demand this post includes pics of yours truly.

WEEKDAYS

Mon

• checked out El Retiro (the massive royal park in Madrid)
• very relaxing area, nice street musicians

Tue

• audited Logic class
• prof was really nice, spoke clearly and explained well
• gave Cryptography one last shot
• couldn’t bear it and dropped it in favor of Logic an hour before the window closed

I felt really lucky about this decision. In the following class (artificial intelligence) the professor talked about the importance of having a background in logic due to the emphasis on logic principles and notation in the AI class.

Wed

• scrambled to make weekend plans
• made my first hostel booking for Jerez de la Frontera

Thurs

• bought night bus tickets
• first time with new class schedule (I have a nice break now)
• explored Leganés marketplace
• found an “open air museum”

my favorite display was this mesh metal motion sculpture

Fri

• packed for Jerez
• ran half an hour to my bus

SATURDAY

I picked Jerez de la Frontera from this blog post. It’s in Andalucia of southern Spain.

Trip

• 7 ¹⁄₂ hr bus ride
• sat next to a dentistry student going to Cadiz
• departed at midnight hoping to get all my sleep on the bus
• barely got any sleep

Arrival

• underestimated how dead Spain is at 7am
• really dark, quiet, cold, foggy and spooky
• confused because the forecast still said warm and sunny

It was such a cool feeling being so alone in a new place. The streets were empty, I had nowhere to stay yet. There was nothing to do but start walking toward a nearby park.

my frugal brain just saw free food

I very quickly discovered a pattern—orange trees. These popped up all over Jerez, even in the most urban areas. The only orange trees I had seen in Spain before had been in a Toledo palace and the guide warned us that they were sour. The park was deserted so I snatched one to try.

Yep, tasted like a massive juicy lemon.

I sat in the cold eating a trusty Spanish baguette I had packed. By 9 I found an open cafe to shake off the morning chill and bus drowsiness.

Mercado Central de Abastos

Mmmm... organs...

There was an adorable little girl working a booth outside who I think wanted me to buy a cactus. Her squeaky little voice almost convinced me to get one right then but it would have been tricky to bring home.

Catedral de Jerez

Still a gray sky so I stuck to the indoors.

My favorite part about this site was the staff didn’t speak much English. The ticket comes with access to 3 tourist sites. I wanted to know if I could use some today and the rest tomorrow. I was proud that I navigated this conversation in Spanish and chatted a bit about my other plans for the day.

featuring blurry Matt

Bodegas Fundador

By noon the sun appeared 😁

• the area is known for its sherries
• I’d booked a winery tour and tasting

We tasted:

• fino (light white wine)
• cream sherry (with ice + orange)
• brandy soleda reserva

My takeaways:

• level of alcohol affects the protective yeast barrier
• this barrier affects the oxidation thus the color
• the brandy was too strong for me to enjoy
• the fino and cream sherry were actually very nice (I don’t normally like wine)

Lunch

On the tour I struck up conversation with a young couple (David from Canada and his fiancée Olivia from China). David is visiting Spain to find wines to distribute for his personal company. They were super nice and gave me a lot of info on local food, drinks, and sites to see all around Spain. It turned out they were planning to go to the same flamenco bar as I was later that evening. They invited me to join them for lunch.

I followed them to a cozy restaurant district. David grew up in Spain so he took care of ordering tapas and drinks. He was baffled that I hadn’t tried real Spanish tapas yet and was determined to change that.

• croquetas de tabo de toro (oxtail croquettes)
• alcachofas confitadas con gambas al ajillo (artichoke with garlic shrimp)
• parrillada de verduras con aceire trufa y salsa romescu (roasted veggies with tomato sauce)
• saquitos de gambon con crema de queso y puerro (like a spanish crab rangoon)
• rabo de toro al vino tinto (oxtail in red wine sauce)

They also introduced me to Clara con limón, a delicious beer with lemon soda. To top it all off, they generously covered the bill.

I got David’s contact info as he offered to provide more insights for my future travels.

Afternoon

Iglesia de San Miguel followed by exploration and lots of orange trees.

Evening

Kind of a funny encounter on my way to my hostel. Some young guys were asking me in Spanish if the nearby Alcázar cost money to visit. I stumbled to answer them at which point we both realized the other spoke English. Turns out they were from Utah and one guy was pursuing computer science studies with an interest in virtual/augmented reality, same as me.

But for now they were just Mormon missionaries so of course they gave me the whole Book of Mormon spiel.

• my hostel was in a super sketchy area, lotta dog poop in the alleys
• only had 1 roommate (expecting 7)
• he’s from someplace in Russia that sounds made-up to me, studying public policy
• the facility was pretty nice inside

I dropped off my stuff, ate a PB+J dinner and headed back to the city for a free flamenco show at Tabanco El Pasaje tapas bar.

• got there half an hour early
• the place was packed
• there was a mirror so you could see around the corner to the stage
• struck up conversation with the young guy next to me named Joost (pronounced like “yohst”)
• he was from the Netherlands and came to Jerez to study flamenco
• the flamenco show was brief but intense and enjoyable

After the show Joost and I went to find somewhere quieter for drinks. He had a pretty crazy life story.

• studied social work and worked with homeless people in the Netherlands
• randomly discovered a passion for flamenco guitar
• walked from the Netherlands to the Spain border over 4 months, living off the goodwill of strangers
• hitchiked across Spain
• found a half blind, deaf stray puppy in Granada
• raised it back to health, named it Couscous
• now has an apartment in Jerez and takes guitar lessons

SUNDAY

Morning

breakfast at the hostel, then through the alleys towards Alcázar

I was taken by surprise by a large street market taking place outsize the Alcázar

I found two things here I had been wanting:

• some marbles to model for my computer graphics course
• a man bag (aren’t you proud Aunt Sharon)

The bag isn’t too emasculating. I opted for the belt style like a fanny pack, but I’m going to be wearing it cross body like a sling backpack as I’ve seen some folks do.

Alcázar

It’s an old Moorish palace that was “remodeled” under Christian rule. It’s interesting seeing the different architecture desisions of the Muslims, like the tricky zig-zag main entrances (featuring a hole for pouring boiling oil on invaders) and a large bath complex. Also was cool to see the old machinery for pressing olive oil.

Lunch

• met up with Joost again for lunch
• mediocre menu al día in a touristy plaza
• we parted ways but he said he would probably come to Madrid in a couple weeks

Belltower

just a pretty view

Evening

My light tapas dinner (pork ribs, ratatoullie with quail egg and jamon) was interrupted by what I can only assume to be a practice run for Carnaval celebrations.

I returned to Madrid at 10pm on another night bus (with slightly better luck sleeping).