Madrid
The dark months had been long in Berlin, and we were thirsting for sun and warmth.
Luckily a friend had just moved to Madrid for a semester, and invited us to visit. As soon as it started to get warmer down in Spain, we booked the cheapest flights, packed our things and left the grey weather behind.
The first thing we did upon arrival was go out, look for a nice spot in one of the beautiful city parks and bathe in the sun like lazy cats. Life was perfect that day.
Maybe I'm just easy to impress, but Madrid took my breath away.
The city was so charming, well preserved and beautiful, I loved every second of being there. What especially caught my eye was that every street has a hand painted sign with an unique illustration on it - but that's really just a little detail in between the rich architecture, the wide parks, the many statues and monuments, and the hundreds of restaurants and tapas bars.
One of the highlights of the trip was that shortly before I had gotten an old but perfect Exakta from a relative, and had the opportunity to train my analog photography skills. As things go, I still haven't finished and developed the film, so here are only the digital photos. Sorry!
We used every day as best as we could: sleeping in, exploring the city, drinking beer and aperol spritz in the Sun, taking naps and discovering the nightlife. And, as good tourists, taking loads of pictures. Even Emile, our friend, host and city guide, brought his camera with him and absorbed all photography knowledge he could from us.
It was hard saying goodbye to Madrid and Emile after such good days, but it was time for the next stop and end of our vacation:
valencia
After Felice and I had gone out every day in Madrid, we used our last two days in Valencia to relax.
We went to the beach, slowed down, threw ourselves into the ice cold waves and let the sun kiss our skin.
We really just went there for the Ocean, and though beautiful, the weather didn't allow us to swim all day. We swam nevertheless, because we were at the beach after all!
Stepping into the sea after 4 years having moved away from my home Brazil felt like a reencounter. I saw years of my childhood flash in front of my eyes. I have spent 12 years of my life with the sound of the waves, and seeing and hearing them again was like saying hi to an old friend.
I was quickly reminded that i was still in Europe: the city of Valencia is old and full of magnificent buildings. We wandered around the ancient streets at night, admiring plazas and churches.
But most of our time we spent around the place we were staying, around 30 minutes from the city centre. We were blessed with a beautiful light on our last evening in Spain:
Filled up with sunshine we went back to Berlin - fresh and rested, and having skipped the last winter week.
