aventuras de alyssa

I’m back after a week of fun-filled adventures with my parents! Although, I have officially been banned from planning future vacations. “Apparently” I made them walk too much and we saw four churches too many (we only saw four churches!) :P. I wanted to fit in as much as possible on their short trip and I mightttt have overdone it a little, but can you blame me?! 😛

They landed Wednesday morning and had to make it to the train station without knowing any Spanish. I was a bit of a nervous nelly at school all day, waiting to get the text that they made it on the train. I went with Rosa to pick them up and it was so nice to be able to hug them after almost three months! They stayed at a local hotel and we dropped the bags before heading to lunch at a nearby restaurant. We got the typical two plates for lunch along with dessert. Safe to say, we were stuffed. After relaxing a bit post lunch, we met up with Juanjo and Rosa for a walk around Tordesillas to familiarize my parents with the town and then we went to see the Tordesillas “beach” and the camping. The camping is a campsite where many tourists frequent and camp overnight in motor homes. We had a drink and then Juanjo had the idea to bring us to the bodega.

In Spain, a bodega isn’t a convenience store as I had originally thought when I got to Spain. Bodegas are wine cellars/wine shops and there’s one right across from the house! It was so cool – the cellar goes 50 feet underground and on the tour (our tour guide spoke English!), our guide explained that all of the old town had bodegas underneath it that used to be connected. They’re no longer all connected, due to construction and old age. The bodega has been in the family for hundreds of years and they make the only wine from Tordesillas. It was also a wine tasting and a fun afternoon activity! After the tour, we went to El Refugio, the wine-cellar-like place that Juanjo’s family owns. It’s always 50 degrees there. My parents met the extended families and we ate dinner. It was so nice of everyone to come and meet my parents!!

Thursday, we were up bright and early for our bus to Salamanca. We went to see the University’s façade with the frog (the legend has been right so far – I’ve been back to visit!), Casa de las Conchas (house of shells), and we did an audioguide tour of the Cathedral. I wasn’t able to see the inside of the cathedral last time and it was beautiful!! Dad and I climbed the bell tower, which is called Ieronimus. The stairs were very steep and skinny, but the views from the top were worth the climb. As soon as we were about to start down, a bell started ringing – it was so loud and thank god we weren’t standing underneath it.

We stopped in the Huerto de Calixto y Melibea (see my other Salamanca post for more information) because Mom is convinced that Spain is very flowery, so I had to show her the beautiful garden. We walked back towards Plaza Mayor to grab lunch at one of the restaurants on Rua Mayor. After, we headed down to see the Puerto Romano (Roman Bridge) and back up to Plaza Mayor for some cañas before catching our bus. I might have accidentally walked us in a few circles… Sorry Dad 🙂  We got back to Tordesillas, had some drinks at the hotel, and wandered back over to the plaza, where we met Juanjo and Rosa. We went out to dinner with them at a restaurant in Tordesillas and called it a night.

On Friday, I took my parents to Valladolid in the morning and showed them Campo Grande (the main park with the peacocks), the Cathedral, the University, Plaza Mayor, and Iglesia de San Pablo. We went during the Theater in the Streets festival and saw a couple of artists setting up. Luis recommended a tapas place, Casa Jero, that has won many awards for it’s tapas. I couldn’t totally figure out what everything was and many of them had seafood, so we only ordered a few. They were yummy! Teresa met up with us and then we walked over to another tapas place, where Tonisha was. We had great tapas and then moved on to a third bar, where Andrea was waiting. I was so excited that everyone could meet each other!! We moved to a fourth bar that specializes in croquetas and they were incredibly delicious. After all the eating, drinking, and walking, we were exhausted, so we took the bus back to Tordesillas, hung out at the hotel a bit, and then went over to Juanjo and Rosa’s house for dinner.

I had told Juanjo that we didn’t need a lot of food, since we were already eating so much, and he said I know, but you know Rosa!!! Here’s a picture of the table, but it’s missing another salad and another pizza. It was packed full of food for the 6 of us – just like Mom always does at home!! They had bought leche helada (it’s a special ice cream from Tordesillas) for my parents to try too. It was a really, really fun night and I’m so thankful that my parents could visit and meet my host family.

I’m breaking this up into two posts, so stay tuned for the next one! 🙂