Author archive
9 July 2019
In the afternoon, after school, I made a trip to La Orotava. This is one of several old town on Tenerife but it is the nearest one to Puerto de la Cruz. In fact, it is just on the hills behind Puerto. I had to walk uphill to my bus station to catch the bus […]
8 July 2019
I started my second week of Spanish studies at the Don Quijote institute five minutes walk away. Like their sister-school Enforex in Salamanca, the 4h per day was split between two teachers. One teacher was awesome and could help students understand Spanish grammar with comparisons with French, German and Italian (the respective students’ native tongues). […]
7 July 2019
I have Spanish classes here at the Don Quijote school, a sister-school to Enforex where I spent my first week. That would take up all my weekdays, meaning that today, being Sunday is my only chance to go further afield. It was a tough choice between going to Masca or Teide (the highest mountain in […]
6 July 2019
Today I move on to Tenerife in the Canary Islands by bus and flight. I like to think of the Canary Islands as Africa in Spain or Europe, since it is just off Morocco and Western Sahara, My bus to Madrid airport leaves at 1100 so I had time to kill. I had finished all […]
5 July 2019
It’s my last day in Salamanca today. In the evening, after class and swim, I wandered out into the pedestrian streets. There was music from a band with traditional Spanish music. I call them wandering minstrels. While I had seen them from afar from previous days, this was the first time I could enjoy them […]
3 July 2019
After school and swim today, I picked up the remaining sights to visit internally. I decided against visiting the University’s old building. While the facade was ornate, apparently the inside is less so. That left only the Pontifical University. It was started by the Pope in 1940 after Theology and Canon Law were excluded from […]
2 July 2019
Jesuits In school, I found out that one of my classmates is a Jesuit priest. In fact, there were many others in the school coming from Indonesia, India and probably other places which would make them less distinguishable from other students. My Jesuit classmate has multiple degrees, multiple masters, and has had careers in journalism, […]
1 July 2019
Spanish lessons Today I start two weeks of Spanish lessons at Enforex. The first week will be here in Salamanca and the second week in Tenerife. I suspect the change of venue will be at the expense of continuity but fingers crossed. My previous experience with the language at been 6 nights at nights school […]
30 June 2019
I’m here in Salamanca to do a week of Spanish lessons starting Monday. But today I a day free today which was handy for doing a day trip to Segovia. The bus from Salamanca to Segovia supposedly takes 2h45 but the fast train takes only 1h10. Big difference! I woke at 0640 and set off […]
29 June 2019
Flying from Athens to Madrid Having learnt from my recent travel to Athens airport from Monastiraki, I checked the metro schedule this time. I took the one that left a few minutes after 0600 which got me airside soon after 0700. The airport turnstiles (both exit and entry) were left permanently open so one could […]