Viaggio in Spagna

Recently I had an amazing opportunity to travel outside of Italy for the first time. I was able to go Madrid, Spain for three days. It was an absolutely amazing experience. I got the chance to see the Royal Palace of Madrid, the Museo Nacional del Prado, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, along with many other famous points of interest such as Puerta del Sol and the Plaza Mayor. Madrid was a beautiful city and in a different way than Rome. One thing that I have noticed about Rome that is different than most cities, is that it is a very ancient city. Madrid and Rome are both beautiful cities, but in a very different way. Madrid has newer architecture and newer buildings, however, Rome has old and majestic buildings.

While in Madrid, I also had a chance to try the food of Spain, which was absolutely amazing. The tapas culture is very different from the eating culture in Rome. Rome is heavily focused on pasta, pizza, and sandwiches; however, the food in Madrid was heavily focused on small dishes where you can taste many different types of food. On the first day I was in Madrid, for lunch I went to an indoor market where there were probably 20 different stalls selling food, drinks, and a small amount of produce. I, along with my friend, split fried calamari, which was by far the best calamari I’ve ever tasted, a sausage sandwich, and a curry chicken empanada. While Italy has the best tasting food that I’ve had, it was very nice to get a taste of a different culture’s food and to be able to experience another culture.

The museums that I had the chance to see were also absolutely amazing. I was only able to visit Museo del Prado for about 2 hours, however, I was able to see some of the most amazing and famous paintings in the world. Such as “The Garden of Earthly Delights” and Goya’s Dark Paintings. The museum was so large that one could have easily spent at least four hours inside the museum. After the museum, I had the opportunity to go to the Royal Palace of Madrid where I walked around the palace and got to experience just a few of the over 3000 rooms in the palace. It was incredible to see that almost every single one of these rooms was decorated extravagantly and had pieces of artwork that could easily be considered to be masterpieces.

As I was leaving Madrid, I was actually very excited to return to Rome. Rome has become my home for the semester and it is a place that I become excited to return to after a weekend of travel. The opportunity to study abroad and easily travel to all of these countries is absolutely incredible. I am so happy with my decision to study in Rome as regardless of whether or not I am traveling a weekend, there is always something exciting to do and to see. Rome is a city full of amazing sights and I hope that I am able to see as many as possible during my time here.