Just got back from a visit to Valladolid-- the city where Brendan lives! :)
It is about an hour and a half bus ride from Salamanca-- really not bad at all! The bus ride was great because I was able to get a lot of reading done for my graduate work and it was really neat to be able to see some of the countryside of Spain! On the ride back today, I paid a little more attention to the view outside the window, which on the way to Valladolid looked very boring to me because much of the land in this area of Spain is very dry and flat. However, on the way ack to Salamanca I noticed dozens of sunflower fields!!! :) It was so cool because a long time ago (when I didn't know that my future would involve living in Spain) I got a poster from my parents (that is still hanging in my room at home) of a sunflower field in Spain. Today was the first time I was seeing it in person!!! Unfortunately, it must be past their peak time because most of them were dry and bent over :( The man sitting next to me told me that the fields we saw were used to make sunflower oil and that there are other fields that are specific for cultivating sunflower seeds ("pipas" in español)-- which if you didn't know, many Spanish people are OBSESSED with them!! So many people eat "pipas" and I've heard that it is not uncommon for them to just spit them out on the street, ha ha (although I have never seen anyone do that.) I also saw a large herd of sheep grazing, with the farmer right there with his three sheep herding dogs! Pretty neat!! (So on a special note to my Uncle Paul Z. who, during a family Skype session with me yesterday, asked if there was a lot of agricultural land in my area and I replied "no, it doesn't look like it to me so far-- just really dry land!!"-- I guess it's not true) :)
Anyways, so my visit to Valladolid was really nice (of course, because I really miss Brendan and it was so great to see him) but also because it is surprisingly a really nice city!--Although, I'm not gonna lie... Salamanca is way better ;) Since I had never heard of Valladolid before this summer, and I had really never heard of anyone going there to visit, I had no idea what to expect... Here are some pictures to highlight my weekend in Valladolid:
Great post, thanks for giving us a look into your life in Spain- great photos as well.
ReplyDeleteI am currently in Santander, and will be going to Valladolid in a week. I haven't done any research or preparation for the trip yet, it came as a short notice. I will spend two weeks there for language school. Next, I head off to Salamanca (which I tried and loved). Some tell me Valladolid is boring, from your review it seems interesting.
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