A Gran Hotel turned into a grand heartache

This is a story of travel, funny experiences, and a chance meeting. This is my telenovela.

Episode 1: Pilot

Do you ever watch a TV show filmed in an eye-catching place and think "Wow, I want to go there?"

I definitely have. In fact, going to places that I’ve seen on TV is probably my main travel inspiration. I’ve been inspired by everything from geography documentaries to reality shows to just straight up watching the news. But nothing compares to my love for Spanish telenovelas – they are cheesy, overdramatic, and take you into a completely different world.

Plus, watching telenovelas is a great way to practice listening to Spanish. I have been studying Spanish for a few years and nothing gets me more into it than watching crazy love stories. Gran Hotel, a telenovela about a rich girl who falls in love with a servant in early 1900's Spain got me hooked from the very start. There was also murder, mystery, and beautiful landscapes to add some flavour to this drama. Gran Hotel became my obsession in the months leading up to my international exchange and I loved it so much that once I got to my residence in Barcelona, I started watching it again.

I loved the scenery in the show and the location was absolutely breathtaking, so I knew I had to visit where it was filmed. Luckily, it was filmed in northern Spain, just a short plane ride from Barcelona. So, during the first big break from school, I packed my camera, my purple suitcase and headed for my first solo trip ever to Santander, Spain.

My visit to Santander

Santander is a small, but lovely city nestled in the Bay of Santander in the region of Cantabria. The day I got there, it was rainy and I was tired, but nothing could take away my excitement. It was around 10 a. m. when my bus pulled in from France (that’s a story for another time), so I wanted to take advantage of the full day ahead of me. I walked over to the hostel (I'm a student, I can't afford a hotel), which was pretty much across the street from the bus station and dropped off my stuff in the room. I grabbed my camera and headed out to the city for what literally became a life-changing day.

I was near the downtown area, so I was pretty close to some of the main sites. Like most Spanish cities, Santander has a historic centre, a pretty cathedral (which is a sight for the Camino de Santiago) and a main shopping street, all of which I went to visit on my first walk around the city. Then I stopped by the Centro Botin, which is a modern looking building right beside the water and is an art gallery. The building itself is pretty cool (I think it looks like a whale’s tail, some people say it looks like a ship’s hull) and if you go up the staircase in the middle, you have a really nice view of the Bay of Santander.

Centro Botin

If you have heard of Santander elsewhere, it might be due to the Bank of Santander, which is the 5th largest bank in Europe. It also has a gorgeous building right on the main street. I remember some kids on a field trip asking me if it was an important building (they were on a scavenger hunt and that was their clue), and I remember thinking: “yeah, I think this bank is pretty important”. It’s right across from the Centro Botin and there’s a little park in the middle, which is a nice spot to sit and relax. Santander also has some really nice beaches, some really cute parks, and they have these cool statues of mermaids that look like they’re jumping into the water. And if this wasn’t enough to attract you, it seriously gets even better.

Bank of Santander

The Magdalena peninsula that juts out into the much bigger Bay of Biscay holds the city's the main attraction, the Palacio de la Magdalena. This is literally what I was there to visit. It was once the summer home for the Royal Family and was built in the British style for Queen Victoria of Spain. You see, the landscape around Santander reminded Queen Victoria of her home, the United Kingdom.

So to get there, I jumped on one of those tourist buses, which I never do, but it was the fastest way to get there. I'll admit that I was taken from the moment I got off the bus and walked on to the property that used to host the Spanish royalty. The peninsula is a park where you can access the beach, take a nice walk around, and even visit a zoo. Overall, it’s super family friendly. But again, I wanted to see the palace, so I leisurely fast walked up to the palace. Seriously, I was basically running to it.

Palacio de la Magdalena

The palace fulfilled all my fan girl expectations. I took one walk around just to take it in, and another to take all my selfies. Yes, I am that girl that takes a million pictures. Although, I’m sure anyone could be drawn to take pictures here. Not only is the palace itself a sight to see, but the surrounding area is as dramatic as the best telenovelas. Picturesque cliffs, waves crashing into them, and just endless sky. I had no problem at all waiting out in the rain until a tour started because I was enjoying the area so much.

The inside was gorgeous. It was nothing short of what royalty would have. It obviously did not look like the inside that I was used to seeing from the telenovela (in Gran Hotel, the inside is a…hotel) but it was much nicer. The Spanish royal family does not use this palace anymore, so it is used for conferences, weddings, and a lot of other events for the city. And of course, filming telenovelas.

This is when the drama really begins...

Speaking of telenovelas, my life was literally about to turn into one too. I said it was a life-changing day, and the palace was part of that, but only part of the story.

After I saw the Palacio, I grabbed some delicious seafood, which is the specialty in Santander. If you’re a foodie, then Santander has a variety of great restaurants and loads of Spanish tapas everywhere. I had a funny experience at the restaurant here too. Since I was so excited about seeing the city, I didn’t end up eating until around 4 p. m., which even by Spanish standards was a little late for lunch. There was no one in the restaurant except me and a man who was clearly day drunk. Anyways, he decided he wanted to pester me with questions which was fine by me. He wanted to know why I was there visiting, what I was studying in Barcelona, why I didn’t look Spanish but spoke Spanish. He eventually found out I was a foreigner and then went on and on and on until it was purely comedic. The waitress and I had smirks and shared glances. This went on until I finished my meal. I was only saved when another foreign exchange student walked in and the man turned to ask him all the questions. Most would probably see this as annoying, but I decided that it was all part of the experience of travelling alone.

With a good laugh, and a full meal in my stomach, I was tired and decided to go back to the hostel. The thing about hostels is that you share a room with a bunch of other people which can be cost-effective and a good way to meet people. But that day, I got there and I kind of shut myself off because I did not feel like being social. My shoes were wet from the rain, I was tired and I was travelling alone for the first time. I walked into the room and bee-lined for my bright purple suitcase and started to unpack and get in my zone.

I guess my purple suitcase drew the attention of the person whose bed was across from mine. At some point, a guy walked into the room and I could just feel him looking at me. I was still alone, I felt incredibly awkward and I definitely thought it was creepy. I had every instinct to hide from a conversation. He finally left the room again and I relaxed, thinking I was safe from any social interaction. I was so wrong... when you sign up for a hostel, it's kind of hard not to get any social interaction.

Enter the love interest

I crawled into my bed and this really cute guy walks in and immediately I realized it was the guy who had been staring at me. He smiled and said "Hola" and I peeked my head out, clenched my teeth and then smiled back. "Hola... " I said. And here's where my years of Spanish went out the window because I wasn't sure if we were being formal or not and my hesitation to speak in Spanish gave me away. He asked if I spoke English or French (later I learned he didn't even speak French), so I slathered on my Canadian accent and said: "both, I'm from Canada". Turns out he was American and he was also an exchange student in another part of Spain. The conversation was good and he was still awfully cute, but I dismissed all thoughts of international love affairs because it was too cliché. Yeah, I know, coming from the girl who decided to visit because of a telenovela.

After I told him that I was there to see the Palacio, he looked a little put off that I would visit somewhere just for a TV show. Then he noted that he had not actually seen the Palacio and soon after, he was on his way out. I figured I had scared him off, but I was indifferent and decided to take a nap.

Hours later, he was back, I was awake from my nap and it was "quiet time" at the hostel. We both laid in our beds but were also both clearly awake because we had our phones out. I was starting to get thirsty and he had gotten up to go to the bathroom, so I asked him if he knew about a water fountain or something. He was really the only person I had met at the hostel and I felt a little more comfortable around him after our first conversation. He said there wasn't a fountain, but passed me his water bottle. I was suspicious but took a drink anyway and passed it back to him. A few minutes went by and he whispered "Hey Marie. Are you awake?". "Yeah" I replied. "I can't fall asleep, you?". "No, that nap didn't really help". He then proposed we stay up and chat for a bit. I was still unsure about him because I was on my guard for everything since I was alone, but it seemed innocent enough.

So after a moment, I agreed and he moved closer to me. We had an awkward silence.

I broke the ice and asked something about pets or siblings, but honestly, I don't remember which one. I just remember that he answered the question and that the conversation lasted the rest of the night. We laughed, we debated, and we even planned a great escape from the hostel but decided against it. We agreed to find each other if we lived to be over 100 years old so we could have another wonderful conversation about how life went for us. I felt as if I knew him on a deeper level and by the time the sun was rising, I looked over and realized this stranger had touched my heart. I was glad I had decided to open up when he said hello. And contrary to stereotypes of young people in hostels, we hardly touched physically. We were very poignantly not touching each other.

So here you can imagine whatever you like with all the ideas you have from cheesy telenovelas, but I can tell you that the truth is that I had never felt that way before. Yeah, you're rolling your eyes because that's probably the most used line in the book. You can believe it or not, but that's what happened.

I had come to Santander for a palace and now I had jumped off a cliff (that also happened in Gran Hotel) and into this world of emotion that I did not understand. I had planned for a one day trip and ended up with one unending heartache. I knew it made absolutely no sense and despite my love for true love in telenovelas, I did not imagine that it was possible in real life. So why did I feel like it now?

Eventually, everyone else started waking up. I had to pack up my stuff because I was going back to Barcelona in a few hours and still had some things I wanted to see. I briefly thought of inviting him, but I felt like that would make it worse. I already felt some deep attachment, so I thought it would just be better to let it go. He cooked breakfast and we sat at a table with a bunch of other people. We talked to everyone but kept looking at each other.

By then, I was in over my head. I had to go. I asked the front desk to hold on to my stuff. My purple suitcase and my camera bag. I took the camera in one hand and searched for him one more time. He walked out of the bathroom and I turned towards him and said “I’m leaving”. He looked at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. It occurred to me that maybe he felt something too. We embraced for a moment and then I walked out the door.

Back to Reality

I took the bus to el faro de Cabo Mayor, which is a lighthouse on top of an impressive cliff. I also fell in the mud on the way there, but hey, I just fell in love so falling in the mud was the least of my problems. The waves crashing below the cliffs were so loud it almost drowned out the sound of my heart beating. I walked on the cliff side and I looked out at the vast ocean and started to realize that I was scared. I was so scared and maybe I needed a lighthouse of my own to guide me through the mess in my heart.

El faro de Cabo Mayor

The view from the lighthouse was extraordinary and it was also just the most beautiful day. I decided that instead of jumping back on the bus, I would take the few hours I had left and walk back to the hostel. It took me almost two hours to walk back, but it was worth it. I walked on the beach, through some of the parks, and past all the attractions and monuments. I had a chance to exercise my body and my mind on this walk. I came to the conclusion that if it was meant to be with this guy I met in the hostel, then there would be some sort of sign. I was also just content to be alone during that walk. Often, it is so easy to distract ourselves by being around other people, but solo travelling has really helped me become more comfortable with myself.

I arrived back at the hostel to pick up my things and head to the airport. He wasn’t there. I went to put my camera in my bag. A piece of paper folded in two lay at the bottom of the bag.

"Enchanted to meet you…" it read.

I think it was a sign.

The End... or the beginning?

P. S. : Yes, we're still together.

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