DAYS 80-83: Hiking, Thanksgiving, Temple of Debod, and The Prado with Kief!

Left to Right: Me, Kief, and Lizzy

After we returned from Barcelona on a Sunday night, it turned out that the kids did not have school on Monday due to Madrid City's holiday! So lucky for Marisa, Lizzy and I did not have to be with the kids as their parents also had the day off from work. Now Kief just finished hiking the Appalachian Trail, and although Lizzy and I are no where near the hiker she is, we thought it might be fun for her to see a bit of Spain's beautiful mountains.

We took her on the same Elephant Rock hike that we had gone on Angela's birthday hike. Unfortunately, we still were unable to make it all the way to the rock. But we did hike much further than we did previously as saw some truly amazing views. We had a really fun day, and when we returned, Kief met all the kids and we had a really pleasant evening with my Spanish family.

On Tuesday, we decided to make Thanksgiving for our Spanish families! Although it was around 2 weeks early, we weren't sure if we would be able to have Thanksgiving while we WWOOFed, so we decided to do it while we were with our families- because that's what Thanksgiving is all about!

Lizzy and Marta

The 3 Princesses- Anna, Marta, and Paloma

FUN FACT #52: Because our attempts to get a long term Visa to stay in Spain for 9 months failed miserably, we were required to leave the Schengen Area (mainland Europe) after a 3 months stay. Once we have exited this area for 3 months, we may reenter for another 3 months before the process begins again. Essentially, as an American, you are only legally allowed to be in Europe without a Visa for 6 months out of the year, each separated into 3 month increments. Although we could probably stay in Europe and no one would notice, if we did happen to be caught, we could be Blacklisted, which is not something we are willing to mess with.

Left to Right: Marisa, Luis, Pilar, and Angela

Because Lizzy and I are desperately poor, we were looking for options to stay in Europe for the three month time period between November 20th and February 18th. Luckily for us, the U.K. and Ireland are not part of the Schengen Area, so it would be legal for us to stay there for 3 months until our return to Spain, which is exactly what we planned to do. We have many friends who have WWOOFed and had an amazing experience, so we decided to give it a try.

FUN FACT #53: WWOOF stands for Willing Workers on Organic Farms.  Once you sign up with the WWOOF website of the country of your choice, you can then look up different farms to find a place to stay and work for free. Essentially, you work a certain number of hours daily gardening, farming, or other activities in exchange for food and housing. It's kind of like indentured servitude... but it's a great way to get to see the world and learn new things on a budget.

L to R: Jaime, Lucas, Danny, and Lucas

We would be leaving the next week for Scotland to WWOOF there until Christmas where we would meet my parents, and then move to Ireland to continue WWOOFing.

So this Thanksgiving dinner was early, but just in time for our departure in just a week's time. The three of us cooked most of the day (With Kief cooking a bit longer as we picked up the kids for lunch). We had dinner at Pilar and Luis' flat, and Angela and Alvaro and their three kids came to join us. We had an adults table and a kids table, so when the kids finished their meals they could go play. It was a great meal, and the kids were hysterical as they dressed up in costumes when it was over. It was a really nice time, and I was overcome with how great our experience has been with these two families.

On Wednesday, we walked around Madrid and went to see the Temple of Debod.

FUN FACT #54: The Temple of Debod dates from the 2nd Century B.C. and was built in Egypt. The Egyptian government donated the Temple to Spain in appreciation for Spain's help in saving other ancient monuments in the country. It was dismantled and rebuilt in Madrid city in 1968.

The Temple when it was still in Egypt

The temple was built in a park in Madrid and has free entry to see the interior carvings. I'm told it is quite beautiful at sunset, although that is not the time we were available to go. It was quite cloudy, but it was a really interesting thing to see- such an ancient building in such a modern city.

That night, we decided to see the Museo del Prado, or Spain's National Art Museum. It had free entry between 6-8pm on week days, so we took advantage of a cheap night out and went to check out what the museum had to offer.

Temple of Debod in Madrid today, photo from Google.

FUN FACT #55: The Prado was founded in 1819 and has 7,600 paintings, 1,000 sculptures, 4,800 prints and 8,200 drawings. Among these are paintings done by El Greco, Francisco Goya, and Diego Valazquez.  


Unfortunately, like The Louvre, we did not plan our visit well. We got incredibly lost and started to make a game out of the paintings we saw, which made us a little goofy. But before we left we were able to see Valasquez's painting "Las Meninas" which truly is breathtakingly beautiful. It made the visit definitely worth it. 

"Las Meninas" by Diego Valasquez

Afterwards, wee took Kief to our favorite place to eat- Mercado de San Miguel. We had fun trading off getting the food from the different vendors. 

On Thursday, Kief spent the a typical day with Lizzy and I as we got the kids ready for school, dropped off Paloma at day care, picked the kids up for lunch and brought them back to school, and picked Paloma back up from day care. That night was my final evening of English Tutoring for two of the neighbor's kids while Kief had fun playing with Jaime and Marta. It was a nice finish to our week in Madrid. Tomorrow- Cordoba!