You may not have read this in the news, but the day before my class left for our trip to the northern coast of Spain, we had a celebrity sighting in small town Alcalá. For me it wasn’t quite as exciting as Chace Crawford and Matt Morrison, or even J.C. Chasez, at Cornerstone in College Park, though I don’t think I could say the same for the 14-year-olds out there.

I’ll cut to the chase. There was a Justin Bieber sighting in Alcala de Henares– que guay. After his concert in Madrid, he stopped into the McDonald’s on Plaza Cervantes and stayed at the Parador hotel (the same as my parents when they came to visit!) As one highly interested in entertainment, I was totally bummed that the evidence wasn’t sent from my own camera phone. Not only did I miss him, but I also have the most basic candy-bar phone, not conducive to instantaneous citizen journalism.

Moving on from that small set-back, we embarked on our “chill” trip up north to Santillana del Mar to visit the Cuevas de Altamira, which contain some of the oldest Paleolithic pre-historic artwork, and to spend some of our class hours outdoors appreciating nature.

The funny thing about Santillana del Mar is that its name suggests three inherent lies, untruths, however you’d like to refer to them. While many Spanish cities are named after the saints who lived there, think San Sebastian, there never was a saint known to be there, and the town is actually a hop, skip and jump from any body of water. The third, though not pointed out by its name, is that its northern location would indicate a great location for growing wine, which unfortunately Santillana does not itself boast.

Similarly, while the original caves, discovered at the turn of the century have been closed due to carbon damage since 1997, an exact replica was created, including an opening through which you can see the same view that the cavemen once did, recreations of the paintings of bison, deer, horses, and handprints, a museum recounting the history of hte Paleolithic tribes and high-tech holographic representations of the space being used. We hiked there on a seriously gorgeous summer-like day and took in the sights of the medieval town, completely built by cobblestone and brick, blooming with flowers and oozing small-town charm. 

Our hotel was on the edge of a farm with cows and horses and an incredible view. It was so picturesque and quaint. We tried their local Quesada a quiche-flan hybrid that was thick and sweet and visited a sidreria where we pumped our own cider. We also got to visit the near-by town of Comillas to take in the sun on the beach for some well-deserved relaxation. Finally, we visited an antiquated monastery, another gorgeous site, before heading back to Alcalá.

Stay tuned to read about what I’ve done while I have actually been in Madrid (though I know from this blog, that time sounds minimal). Amidst writing an eight-page paper, in Spanish, and studying for two finals, I will be traveling with my older sister (!) to Sevilla this weekend and Valencia for Semana Santas, the celebrations before Easter Sunday. After my final on the 25th, we’ll go down south to Málaga, Granada, and Córdoba. No puedo esperar!