The following weekend after Cruces I had the great opportunity to welcome my parents back to Spain, and this time during a much warmer season. The few days we were together were certainly not without their share of exciting moments.
The first day of their arrival, I rushed out of work to take the high-speed train up to meet them in Madrid, and we hardly stopped from there. After seeing Madrid in the cold winter, my parents (and I) were excited to see it on a warm day in May, and we took every opportunity of the weather and got back to many spots previously seen under the shadows of rain clouds and umbrellas as well as many new places– like El Retiro park – and taking many moments to pause and bask in the warm sunlight (and even taking a snooze or two).
That evening as we wound down, we decided to enjoy a last café before turning in for the night. Within moments of sitting down and getting our coffees in a restaurant in Puerta del Sol, we were transported back to Watts as we heard gunshots fired from the sidewalk across from us and looked out the window to see a stampede of people and two others fall to the ground. In the next hour, we drank our coffees as we watched the ambulances, police, and detectives swarmed the area around us as I strained my ears to understand the ambient conversations to understand what actually just took place before our eyes (our own speculations as to what happened ran the gamut as if it was instead a game of Telephone). After the action died down a bit and our coffees were long gone (and none of us having actually established our goal of “winding down” for the evening), we left the restaurant to be escorted outside of the police tape to finally navigate our way back to the hotel.
The next day after a leisurely stroll through the city and a fabulous meal at my favorite restaurant (even got Dad to enjoy the vegetarian!), we made a hasty dash to the bus station to catch our ride to Granada.
Even though I had been to Granada numerous times during the year, I was particularly excited to show my parents the city that originally made me fall in love with Spain and gave me the inspiration to come back. Our first day, with beautiful skies above, we trekked the city all around and even spend the afternoon exploring La Alhambra, one of the most beautiful spots in all of Spain and the whole of the world. We were even able to finish off the day with a relaxing session at the baños árabes and indulge in delicious Moroccan tapas.
The next day, we were able to get in a walking tour of the Albacín before the weather turned and the umbrella (not plural because we only had one) came out. But all was certainly not lost and we still took part in a delicious seafood paella with my old college roommate before leaving on another bus to Córdoba.
It was definitely good to have them back in Spain.
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