In Sunny Spain

1882-1885

Reporters:
Hannah B. Regacho
Angelyn Macascas

Rizal left the Philippines for the first

time on May 3, 1882 and headed
towards Spain using a passport
under the name Jose Mercado,
obtained for him by his uncle Antonio
Rivera, father of Leonor Rivera. He
travelled across Europe, including
France and Germany, until 1886.

10 Little-known facts about

Rizals life in Spain includes:
1. Rizal had a limited allowance of P50 a month
when he was studying in Madrid. This was
further reduced to P35 a month when their
family farm in Laguna had bad harvests.
2. Rizal first lived at the Amor de Rios house
close to the Universidad Central de Madrid.
3. Rizal liked to take light meals with wine at
the Viva Madrid restaurant, also a favorite of
journalist and revolutionary Graciano Lopez
Jaena.

4. While studying medicine at the Universidad

Central de Madrid, he also went to the nearby
Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando to
study painting.
5. Rizals favorite park in Spain is the Parque del
Buen Retiro which inspired him to name his
place of exile in Dapitan, Zamboanga as Mi
Retiro.
6. Rizal attended theatrical presentations, music
and poetry recitals and book launchings at
the Ateneo de Madrid, which is not an
educational institution but an exclusive mens
club.

7. There were times when Rizal was in dire

financial difficulties in Spain. Once, he had
to pawn his sister Saturninas ring to pay
for his exams. At another time, he did not
at all for one whole day. However, in his
letters to his family, he only mentioned
his high grades and victories in contests.
8. Rizal and the other Filipino propagandists
lobbied at the Congreso de los Diputados
(the Spanish congress) for the recognition
of the Filipinos right to autonomy and for
equal rights with Spanish citizens.

9. A marker stands along the corridor

of the Colegio de Medicina in
Madrid indicating Rizal studied
medicine there from October 2,
1882 until June 1884.
10. In an undated letter to his family,
Rizal indicated that his last place
of residence in Spain was the Casa
Cedaceros. He told his family that
he planned to study
ophthalmology in Germany
because the eyesight of his

After finishing the 4th year of

medical course In the University of
Sto. Tomas, Jose Rizal being
disgusted with the antiquated
method of instruction in this
Dominican-owned university and the
racial prejudice of Dominican
professors against Filipino students,
decided to complete his studies to
Spain was a constitutional monarchy
under a written constitution which
granted human rights to the people,

Rizals Secret mission

This mission whom Rizal conceived with
approval of his order brother Paciano was
toobservekeenlythelifeandculture,Language
sandcustoms,industriesand commerce, and
government and laws of the European nations in
order to prepare himself in the mighty task of
liberating his oppressed people from Spanish
tyranny.This was evidenced in his farewell letter
which was delivered to his parents shortly after
his departure for Spain.

Secret Departure for Spain

RizalsdepartureforSpainwas keptsecrettoavoid
detectionbytheSpanish authorities and the friars.
Even his own parents did not know. Before his secret
he wrote a farewell letter for his beloved parents
and another one for his sweet heart Leonor Riveraboth delivered shortly after he sailed away. On May
3, 1882, Rizal departed on board the Spanish
steamer Salvadora bound for Singapore. With tears
in his eyes and gloom in his heart, he gazed at the
receding skyline of Manila

Singapore
During the voyage to Singapore he
carefully observed the people and things
onboardthesteamer.
Thereweresixteenpassengers,including
himself.Theship
captainDonatoLechafromAsturiasSpain
befriendedhim.
On May 8, 1882, while the steamer was
approaching Singapore Rizal saw a

The following day the Salvadora

docked at Singapore. Rizal landed
registered at Hotel Dela Paz, and
spent two days on sight seeing
soiree of the city which was colony
of England. He saw the famous
botanical garden the beautiful
Buddhist temple the busy shopping
district and the statue if sir Tomas
Stanford Raffles (founder of
singapore).

From Singapore to Colombo

OnMay17the Djemnah reach point Galle a
seacoast town in southern Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
Rizal
wasunimpressedbythistown.Onhistravelled
diaryhewrote:Thegeneral appearance of
point Galle is picturesque but lonely and quite
and at the same time sad. The following day
the Djemnah weighed anchor and resumed the
voyage towards Colombo, the capital of Ceylon.
After a few hours of sailing he reached this
cityonthesameday.Hedelightfulscribbledon
hisdiary:Colomboismore beautiful smart and

In Singapore Rizal transferred to

another ship Djemnah a French
steamer which left Singapore for
Europe on May 11. It was a larger
and cleaner vessel which carried
more passengers. Rizal attempted
to converse with his fellow
passengers in French but to his
surprise and embarrassment he
found out that his book French
couldnotbeunderstoodsothathe

First Trip to Suez Canal

From Colombo the Djemnah continued the
voyage crossing the Indian Ocean to the caf of
Guardafui, Africa. For the first time, Rizal sighted
the barren coast ofAfrica, which he called an
inhospitable land but famous. The next stop
over-in Aden-Rizal went ashore to see the sights.
He found the city hotter than Manila. What
impressed most was the beautiful moonlight
which reminded im of calamba and his family. It
took the Djemnah five days to traverse the Suez
Canal. At Port Said the Mediterranean terminal
of Suez Canal Rizal landed in order to see the

Naples and Marseilles

From

Port Said the Djemnah

proceeded on its way to Europe. He
visited the famous chateau dif, where
Dantes hero of the count of Monte
Cristo,was imprisoned. Barcelona on
the afternoon of June 15, Rizal left
Marseille by the train for the last lap of
his trip to Spain. After the passport
inspection atPortbouRizal
Continuedhis trip by rail finally

Rizals first impression of

Barcelona the greatest city of
Catalua and Spains second largest
city was unfavorable. He thought
that its ugly with dirty little inn
sand inhospitable residents because
he happen to stay upon his arrival
at dingy inn situated ion on
unimpressive narrow street in the
towns most ugly side and the
staff and guest in this inn were

Amor Patrio
InprogressiveBarcelonaRizalwrotean
ationalisticessayentitled Amor Patrio
(Love of Country), his first article
written on Spanish soil. He sent this
article to his friend in manila Basilio
Teodoro Moran, publisher of Diariong
Tagalog the first Manila bilingual news
paper (Spanish and Tagalog), and his
pen name was Laong Laan, and the

Manila moves to Madrid

While sojourning in Barcelona, Rizal
received sadnews about the cholera
that was ravaging Manila and the
provinces.Many people had died and
morewere dying daily. Sad news from
the Philippines was the chatty letter of
chengoy recounting the unhappiness
of Leonor Rivera, who was getting
thinner because of the absence oflove
one.

Life in Madrid
November 3, 1882, Rizal enrolled in
university Central de Madrid in two
courses Medicine and Philosophy and
letters. Aside from his heavy studies from
the university he studied painting and
sculpture in the academy of fine arts of
San Fernando. Rizal led a Spartan life in
Madrid. He new that he came to Spain to
study and prepared himself for service to
his fatherland. According, he rigidly

Romance with Consuelo Ortiga Y Perez

Before his romance with Consuelo

could blossom into a serious affair
he suddenly back out for two
reasons: 1.He wasstill engaged
toLeonor Rivera and2.His friend
andco-worker inthe
propagandaMovementEduardoDe
Lete,was madly inlovewith
Consuelo and he had no wish to
break there friendship because of a

Rizal was not a handsome man. In

physique he was neither dashing nor
imposing, for he was a shy small man.
But he
possessedanauraofcharismadueto
hismany-splendoredtalentsand noble
character which made him attractive to
young women. No wonder the prettier
ofDon Pablos Daughter fell in love
with him. Rizal being a lonely man in
foreign country far from his natal land
was attracted to Consuelos beauty
and vivacity. He even composed a

Rizal as a Mason
In March 1883, hejoined the
Masonic longed called Acacia in the
Madrid his reason for becoming a
masonwastosecureFreemasonrysai
dinhisfightagainthefriarsinthe
Philippines.
Sincethefriarsusedthecatholicreligionass
hieldtoentrench
themselvesinpowerandwealthandtoperse
cuteFilipinopatriots.Laterhe transferred to
lodged Solidaridad(Madrid), were he became

Studies Completed in Spain

Rizal completed his medical course
in Spain. He was conferred the degree
oflicentiate in Medicine by the
Universidad Central de Madrid on June
21, 1884. The next academic year
(1884-85) he studied and passed all
subjects leading to the degree of
Doctor of Medicine. At long last Rizal
completed his studies in Spain. By
obtaining the degree of Licentiate in
philosophy and letters, he became

Studies Completed in Spain

And by receiving his degree of
licentiate in Medicine, he became a
full-fledge physician, qualified to
practice Medicine because it was
together with the licentiate and the
philosophy and letters good only for
teaching purpose. Being the man of
high intelligence and foresight he knew
that with his brown color and Asian
racial ancestry no friar owned
university or colleges in the Philippines