Meeting the Duke of Medinaceli

So, today I met a duke. And my roommate and I got invited to have a breakfast or lunch or dinner at his palace.

It was no biggie.

Except for the fact that it was HUGE. I'm still in a state of shock....

is this real life?!?!

Before I get to the good stuff I'm going to back up a bit to tell this story more fully.

Yesterday, Gabby (my roommate while I'm in Spain) and I wandered the streets of Sevilla trying to find this Plaza that we had seen the other day while touring with our program. We knew it was somewhere in the old Jewish quarters and that it looked really pretty. But that wasn't much to go by. It also didn't help that our map was in four different pieces from how many times we had folded and unfolded it. We ended up getting horribly lost for several hours before FINALLY finding Plaza de Elvira.


While lost, we stumbled upon this museum called "Casa de Pilatos." It looked kind of interesting from the outside so we went in to find out how much tickets were. After finding out the price (which wasn't much, only 8 euros), we decided we would try and come back to see it tomorrow. At this point we were still trying to find Plaza de Elvira.

Entonces, today we stuck to our plan, and after eating a hearty lunch went off to explore the Casa de Pilatos. I honestly didn't know what to expect because I wasn't sure exactly what it was, but as soon as we went inside I realized this place was something special. I'll put some pictures in here below so you can get an idea of what it looks like.

Statues like this all over the place.

A ceiling in the palace. They all looked like this or even fancier than this.

I think I put up some pictures on Facebook of the Real Alcazar in Sevilla which is where the royalty (kings, etc.) lived in Sevilla many years ago. The royalty of Spain today still have a residence that they keep in the Real Alcazar and they use it whenever they come to visit Sevilla.

Casa de Pilatos was incredibly similar to Real Alcazar in everything from the architecture to the details of the house. Gabby and I went around to each of the rooms and through all the gardens listening to the history of each area of the house through one of those tourist ipod type things. At the end we took a guided tour of the upstairs of the house, which the guide told us was still in use by the family who owns the house. Up until that point, I did not realize the palace was still in use!

By the time we got back downstairs there was not much time left before the Casa de Pilatos closed and I told Gabby there was one more part I wanted to see so we started heading over there when I got distracted by this adorable dog that was sitting next to this older gentlemen on a bench.

Here is Mingy.

Tell me you wouldn't ask to pet this cute pup too!

I asked him in Spanish if I could pet his dog and he told me of course! I asked what the dog's name was and he told me that the dog was a girl and her name was Mingy.

He then asked Gabby and I where we were from and when we told him the U.S. he started showing off his English skills. We were talking for a while about all sorts of things when suddenly he asks us how we liked the house and then of course we can't stop talking about how amazing the house is! How much history there is to it and how beautiful the architecture is. How long it must have taken to build something like this. He nods his head eagerly in agreement, and you can see a pride come across his face that is best expressed through the smile you see in his eyes.

He tells us nonchalantly, I own this house.

Gabby and I both kind of look at each other and then we look at him and in disbelief ask him if he's joking. I'll be totally honest and say that at first I didn't really believe him, I mean he was dressed in shorts and a T-Shirt just hanging out with his dog. How could he own a place like this???

I quickly saw he was completely serious and he introduced himself as Marco. His grandmother was the Duchess of Medinaceli and she had recently passed away leaving him her inheritance. After a period of mourning, he would also inherit her title and would thus become the Duke of Medinaceli.

(Btw, his current title is Prince Marco.... don't ask me how royalty works because I don't understand it haha. )

We spent the next two hours talking with him. I think what impressed me most was the normality of our conversation. For example he was complaining about how ugly he thought Mingy looked now that she had her summer haircut. This is a complaint I have heard many times from my mom and stepdad back home. They always like when our dogs Apollo and Mimi have longer hair. He couldn't find a picture to show us of Mingy with her longer hair but he assured us that she was much prettier with her winter coat.

He also talked to us about how hard it was to be living in Sevilla because up until a year and a half ago he lived in Madrid. He said he knew many people here but that none of them were true friends. There was something comforting in knowing that he shared the same trepidations I did coming to a new city, not knowing many people and missing your friends from home.

He shared with us a story from when he was a young man and he got in a very serious motorcycle accident. He went into a comma where according to him he died twice before coming back to life. When he woke up he apparently spoke perfect German and he did not recognize his wife.  He tells the story of how he asked his brother who the woman standing near him was and the brother responded to him: "Marco! This is your wife and she is pregnant with your child. How can you not remember her?" Marco responded "Ah I knew I fucked her once."

He tells this story and laughs. He definitely has a sense of humor but I think this comes in part from the optimistic approach he has for life. He explained to us that he was reborn after his motorcycle accident. The doctors told him he would never walk again, that he would always be wheelchair bound, but he didn't listen to them and he walked anyway. You could tell this was a really important event in his life because he kept stressing the fact that he appreciated life so much more after all this had happened to him.

Finally it was getting late and I told him we should probably get going but he asked us if he could show us the area of the palace where he and Mingy live. We told him yes we would love to!

He showed us all around that part of the house, which was absolutely incredible as well! (I didn't take any pictures of this because it felt a bit intrusive) What I enjoyed best about this was not necessarily seeing that private area but the stories that he told us while we were there.
He showed us the room where his family celebrated Christmas each year. He explained to us why they needed to cut down a specific tree in the gardens and then even explained to us the reason why his Grandmother was called Mimi.

He said that when his grandmother was a little girl the only word she knew in English was "me" and so when someone talked to her in English she would always yell out "Me! Me!" and point to herself trying to impress them. From this she got her nickname Mimi. :)

As I said before, we spent at least two hours there talking with him. At the end, when I knew we really needed to get going, I told him not to worry because I was sure we would be back sometime to visit since Gabby and I were staying in Sevilla for almost 4 months to study. He said "Ah! Then I will tell you my number. Call me beforehand and we will have a breakfast or lunch or dinner together. Whatever you want!"

I know it's repetitive but this still does not feel real!!!
.
We finally said good bye and he reminded us to call him when we wanted to come visit. We went our separate ways and after walking for about a block, Gabby and I realized that we had never gotten his number to call him! We ran all the way back to find him and he was so happy we had. He said he had just thought the same thing and was very appreciative that we had taken the effort to find him again.

Anyways in the simplest of terms it was a surreal afternoon.

Gabby and I have decided we want to ask him if it's okay for us to bring our host mom (Loli) along with us whenever we decide to visit for a meal. We think she would really enjoy it and its obviously just safer to bring her along too!


Until next time
& to many more adventures!

xx
Gaby


P.S. here is a link to an article on his grandmother, in case you want to read a bit more on the Medinaceli family.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10262447/The-Duchess-of-Medinaceli.html