Wednesday was a calm day as we got closer to the end of the trip and departure. On Wednesday we began the day with a lecture on the Spanish Civil War. This lecture was given by the same local professor that the class had on Tuesday. As mentioned, this lecture focused on the civil war’s effect on Spanish society and Madrid’s role in resisting fascist forces. As discussed by the professor, over time since King Philip II moved the capital of Spain from Toledo to Madrid to be more central to the nation to make running the nation easier, Madrid has become an important economic and political metropolis. As the center of the government, it made Madrid an important city to take if he wanted to take over the government; this led him to station his troops around the city known as Casa de Campo and besiege the city. Before being captured, Madrid was a center for the Second Republic of Spain, so many of the republic’s combatants from labor unions went to the edge of the city to prevent Franco’s forces as a last bastion for the republic and their political beliefs. Madrid under siege was plagued by many of the same problems other cities under siege have faced: starvation, bombing, and infighting, and it was one of the longer sieges in European history. Despite the siege, Madrid still served to be a hub for journalism covering the Spanish Civil War and literature, even though the horrors mentioned in “I’ll Explain Some Things” by Pablo Neruda were commonplace within the city. Listening to this lecture changed my perspective of walking in the city of Madrid because in one lifetime on a street I casually walked, people fought for their political ideals and for their country or were dying of starvation due to the siege. To me it was a little jarring to look at a building and be able to see where they patched all the bullet holes because as an American there are not a lot of physical markers of modern war, and Spaniards today see it every day and know little about it.

Later in the day we visited and received a guided tour of the Colecciones Reales, which is a relatively new museum in Madrid that collected the possessions of Spanish royals before the 2nd Republic and Franco’s dictatorship, primarily focusing on the Spanish branch of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty and the Bourbon dynasty, which is the current ruling family. We were guided through art owned and supported by the royal family, beginning with the official formation of the kingdom of Spain with the combination of the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile by the Catholic Monarchs King Philip II of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile. We saw art owned by their son-in-law King Philip I, who started the Spanish Habsburg line, and King Charles II, who ended it. Lastly, we saw art owned through the Spanish War of Succession passed over to the Bourbons, Napoleon, and the First Republic of Spain. The art in this collection was a lot smaller than what I’ve seen in other museums in Madrid, but the guide explained how the monarchy had a tradition of selling items owned by the previous ruler to settle unpaid debts, leading to a lack of items still left in the family’s possession before it became property of the country of Spain. Of what was preserved in the possession of the royal family, there were a lot of huge, intricate tapestries, which were quite opulent. Along with those, there were two huge carriages and books collected that helped to illustrate the culture of the time. Another cool thing about this museum is that when they were building it, they uncovered the remains of the wall that surrounded the original Moor Citadel, which the Royal Palace is also built upon.

Lastly, as part of the study abroad curriculum, we had to visit a spot mentioned by Hemingway when he was in Spain. To complete this criterion, we visited Sobrino de Botin, which, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the oldest continually running restaurant in the world. Botin is famous for Suckling Pig, which is served from the same brick oven even after 300 years. While we were eating, students of engineering came into the restaurant and sang some traditional Spanish song while playing lute. These musicians are called Las Tunas in Spain and often play for money in restaurants and bars while representing their colleges and forming community. I couldn’t help but give them my 3 US dollars and my only 5 Euro bill, especially after seeing the medieval outfits they were in.

Overall, this day affected my perception of how to really take in and experience Spanish culture. You can listen to lectures and walk through museums all day, but I feel as if the best place to really absorb culture and understand it is to be where the people are and learn firsthand in person. Being in Madrid so far helped me understand European culture in a way I couldn’t see before; it’s kind of cool to see how the way their society works can be completely different or the exact same.