TRAVELING IN SPAIN

To Family and Friends,

Some of you know I am in Spain, and for others this is my time to inform you that after a year sabbatical, I have return to Europe again for a month of traveling this time in Espana.  I am visiting Madrid, Cuenca, Valencia, and Barcelona.  I was to travel with two Ecuadorian friends, but due to visa problems that did not happen.  While I wish they were with me, there is a lot to be said for traveling solo as well.

Most of my posts will be relatively brief for me.  I am psychologically removed from a career in education long enough now, not to feel I have to educate anyone (lol).  Since I am traveling alone, I signed up for a number of day tours.  I arrived in Valencia today, and it has been the first I have had time to post.



MADRID

Madrid has already come and gone.  The week went so fast that I feel like I passed through a time warp.  I will return for two nights at the end of the month before I return to Ecuador.

Madrid appears to be very clean.  It is quite attractive in the area where I stayed.  There are many museums and public buildings of traditional and modern architecture, most of which are flooded with lights in the evening.  It's quite spectacular to see.  The one thing I have not seen anywhere in the parts of the city I have visited are totally glass high-rises and office buildings.  

The city reminds me of Paris with wide boulevards, paralleled with expanses of lanes for bikes and walking, with each lane separated by  many trees that make the boulevards feel like parks.  Paris has a conformity of the same trees along their boulevards, and all appear to be maintained at the same heights.  Madrid has a greater variety of trees along the boulevard parkways, and are less concerned with the monotony of equalized heights.  The architecture is more early nineteenth century and thereafter, which is like Paris as well.  Madrid, even in the historic districts doesn't have the feeling of antiquity like, for example, Rome does.


Below are street scenes of Madrid:

 Below is the Atocha Train Station.  I was staying directly across the street from it.

 


Below is not a botanical garden, but the interior of the Atocha Train Station.  I had to rent a machete to cut my way through the jungle to find the location of my train platform out of the city.  I was feeling just like Teddy Roosevelt.

A tour of Medieval Madrid was interesting, which included photos below of the cathedral.  The colors were added in the twentieth century.  The designs, two dimensional figures, and colors appeared very Byzantine in style.  We also visited the Jewish quarters where the Jews lived before King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled the Jews and the Moors from Spain in the fifteenth century.  The area did not appear to be all that Medieval compared to other cities in other countries.

The pipe organ in the two photos below:

After the tour, the twelve of us stopped with the guide at a tapas bar, and five of us remained for another two hours just talking and comparing trips and vacations.  I especially enjoyed the nice young couple from the United States, and their eagerness and enthusiasm for traveling.

Prado Art Museum

I was not overly impressed with the Prado Art Museum, which was a collection of traditional art and endless paintings of Spanish monarchs and family nobles.  The museum is heavy into traditional Catholic world view Renaissance paintings, which obviously was typical of the time period.  I generally have seen better works in other countries.  The tour, however, was worth the price for one painting in particular, which was the Venetian master, Tintoretto's, 'Lavatorio', one of those awesome paintings of perspectives as one moves to view the painting from different angles.  Unfortunately, the Prado Museum, does not allow photos to be taken.

Another art museum was the Tyssen.  Compared to other museums, I wasn't overly impressed with its collection either.  They had a very large collection of early American art, which was never my favorite period of American art, but here are photos of my favorites from the Tyssen American collection, which is of early Irish immigrants of what looks like too sweet of characters to be ragamuffins:

One treasure among the collection was this Kandinsky shown below.   I could study this one forever.  There is so much taking place in this painting.  Anyone who remembers the movie, "Six Degrees of Separation", will remember the goldmine that the Donald Sutherland and Stockard Channing characters had in their attempts as art dealers to sell the Kandinsky in their possession, and which became the focal point of the entire story.

Dia A Fuera De Madrid


I traveled with a couple of young Swedes in a private small group tour to the countryside led by a couple of Brits, who have lived in Spain since the 90's.  (Swedes, Brits, an a Americano, and not a Spaniard in sight.  Oh the world is shrinking.) Madrid is about a half a million more people than the current population of Chicago, which is approximately 2,700,000.  Yet we traveled from the center of Madrid, and within fifteen/twenty minutes we were outside the city into the countryside.  I was surprised.  One minute we were in the heart of the city, and the next minute we were in farmland.  Madrid's metro population is 6,500,000, while Chicago's is about ten and a half million.  One must travel a good thirty to forty miles from Chicago to get outside the metro area and pass all of the suburbs to strike distance into the rural areas. 


We visited different sites away from the tourists.  One town was preparing for the run of  los toros that weekend.  A number of towns offer the running of the bulls, not just Pamploma, which was news to me.  Well, I am never too old not to try something new.  I was at the front of the run when 200 other dudes stampeded over me, before the bulls could even get to me.  Maybe that had something to do with why Madrid felt like I was rocketing through a time warp (lol).  Here are a few quickies of what we visited:

The town had their banners spewed about for the weekend festivities. 

Notice the temporary wooden barricades along the road where the passive participants stand behind, while the runners and the bulls roar down the street.

We continued onward to a castle built by the Moors.  Half of it was basically a ruin that was not safe to enter.  The other half gave us some nice vistas of the area, and we could walk around the interior.  The castle was not as impressive as the Crusader castles I experienced in Beirut and its environs in 2017, but was a great find for someone who had never seen the castles of that time period in the back and forth wars between the Crusaders and the Moors.

Below is the entrance to the church which is located after one enters the walls for the castle.  The church was built when the Moors had lost final control of the castle.

The castilla (castle)

 

Have you ever read the novel, or seen the musical, "Man of La Mancha" and its character, Don Quixote, or remember the song "To Dream the Impossible Dream"?  Well, this was "Man of La Mancha" territory.  I looked far and near, but did not see the fine caballero on his gallant caballo anywhere.

I was surprised to learn that only eighty people are permanent residents in the town, although there are folk who stay for temporary residencies as well.

The highlight of the tour was dining at the home of the two Brits, who prepared a gourmet meal for us.  We feasted on two day old lamb, in which absolutely no spices and seasonings were used.  The distinctive flavor of the lamb was accented and needless to say very tender.  We learned a great deal about and dined on Spanish olives and cheeses; and enjoyed our first Black Pudding--a specialty in England, which is called blood pudding in the states, and is made among other things from the use of pig's blood.  My blood was also included in the mix from when I was stampeded in the Running of the Bulls.  Can you tell bull when you read it?  

I also had the absolutely best Vermouth.  I never liked Vermouth, dry martinis, or Manhattans.  The Brits said this Spanish Vermouth is nothing like what is made in the states.  It was exceptionally smooth, and with an orange slice and an olive was slightly sweet and not dry at all. I don't do a lot of drinking, generally.  One of the hosts was wise enough to subtly stop me at two Vermouths.  Half way through the second one, it suddenly hit me right between the eyes. 

The day was absolutely gorgeous, and after dinner and investigating some tunnels that the Moors would use to escape when rebellions against their presence became a tad much for the locals; we made our way to the local pub for brew.  We spent an additional two hours beyond our stay on the veranda; conversing, enjoying the river scene, and trying new beers before we traveled back to Madrid.  I never had the opportunity to visit with people from Sweden like this before, so it was a real plus to the day.  I didn't take any photos of the dinner or the pub visit.  All of us were just happy to be enjoying the afternoon.  For those of you from Cuenca, it doesn't get dark here until 9:30 pm this time of year.


My favorite day in Madrid was the last evening.  I went of a tapas crawl with a dozen other folk.  There were four guys, and six lasses from Scotland.  The other three guys were Israelis who moved to London about eighteen months ago.  Everybody was out to have a good time, and so we did.  I would recommend this tour to everybody.  We went to about five very good bars/restaurants.  We had excellent ham, as the Spaniards excel in the breeding of pigs and the processing of ham.  The cost of ham varies by a wide range dependent upon the quality.  The best quality ham is the result of feeding the pigs acorns, which appears to very much affect the flavor.  Just like when I was in London, the ham in Spain tastes nothing like Virginia style ham in the states.

Spanish omelettes, croquettes, the varieties of seafood on various canapes and breads were all outstanding.  The tapas were out of this world.  Finally, the tapas were living up to everything my son, Marc, said they would be.  There was so much to eat at each stop.  I  never liked anchovies.  In the states, they were always very salty.  For me, it was a great way to ruin a pizza.  Here, the anchovies are so fresh.  I thought the saltiness was due to the sea water, but it must have been the brine for preservation in the states.  They are not salty here at all.  At least not the anchovies I have eaten to date.

I had glasses of red wine; white wine; sangria; vermouth which this time was too sweet; double cerveza, which is a grand cerveza about a pint size (British style); and ended the night with gin and tonic.  I left at eleven.  Everybody partied on, but I still had to return to my apartment, pack, and get ready to leave Madrid the following day.  Luckily, I ate a lot.  I was afraid from mixing so many different alcohols, I'd be sick, but not this time, and we had plenty of hours together to consume the alcohol.

NEXT:  CUENCA, SPAIN