Tuesday, September 8th - Salamanca to Madrid, Spain

We were up early again with bags out by 7:15, had our breakfast and were on our way at 8:15.  We only have about 200 km to drive to day to reach Madrid so it should be a much more leisurely day as far as timelines are concerned.

We drove through lovely country side with gentle rolling hills and grains and other crops in the fields.  There were also cattle in some of the fields, which we hadn't seen often on this trip.  And along the way there were also rocky patches where not much could grow or graze.

Our first break was at a lookout overlooking the walled city of Avila.  Built in the 11th to the 14th centuries, the city walls are complete and still intact.  They surround the whole old city and they are magnificent to look at. The walls are 3 m thick and 12 m high and the wall is built on a hill so it looks even higher.  There are 9 gates and 88 towers along the over 2,500 m length that encloses 31 hectares.  There is a cathedral, a basilica, other churches, monasteries, convents and a lot of other businesses within the wall but of course we didn't get to visit them from our lookout.  The town was originally Vettone but taken by the Roman in the 5th century BC.  It then went to the Visigoths and Arabs, not to mention the many European empires over more recent years.  (I hope I got that right from my notes.)   As a result there are a lot of different styles of construction but the walls are the main feature as they are still intact and so impressive.

At one point along the way we passed through a 3.5 km tunnel through the mountains.  I believe we were crossing the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains at the time.  They are not high snow-capped peaks but they are pretty impressive anyway.  I have to mention again that the roads in Spain are great.  Travel has been easy and comfortable everywhere.  We've had a great driver, Paulo, on the trip but the smooth roads also make a difference.

Water is expensive in Spain in general but because Madrid is a very dry place it is more expensive here.  There are few gardens and yards in individual homes and people live instead in small homes or apartments.  The people spend most of their spare time outside or in cafes so they don't need big houses.  No one lives on the farms any more because there is no social life and no one to visit with.  The farmers all live in towns and drive to the farms to work in the fields.  82% of Spaniards owned property at one point but that percentage is going down now as you need 25 years of good credit before you can buy anything that's on the market.  If you default on a mortgage the banks take your property and sells it but you still have to pay the balance owing on the mortgage so there is really no way to get out of debt.  Hence the 25-year credit rating requirement.  I don't know if they have bankruptcy rules like ours in Canada so I don't know if that can be used to clear the debt and start over.  It definitely sounds like a hard system though - for the people, not the banks.

Once we arrived in Madrid we had a quick bus tour of city.  I'm sure we drove past all of the main sights of the city as it took quite some time.  Madrid is of course a large city with a population of 3.6 million and over 6 million in the larger metropolitan area so it does take a while to drive around.  It is also the highest European capital city, which surprised me as I still don't think of Spain as being mountainous and high.  

We drove past Plaza de Espana and the monument to Cervantes.  We continued down the street in front of the palace and the cathedral but, in order to keep traffic to a minimum in such a popular area, that street is underground so we didn't really get to see much.  We then turned and drove past Plaza de la Villa and Plaza Mayor and continued on past Puerta de Sol across the city to the museum district.  We the Palace of Cibeles and the Naval Museum, the Thyssen Museum, the Prado Museum and the Cibeles and Neptune fountains out front.  We went past the train station and the Reina Sofia Museum and through the Puerta de Toledo and back to our hotel.  I think I must have missed loop in there somewhere because we also went by the Archeological Museum and the National Library and Columbus Statue, and the entrance to El Retiro Park.  And I definitely know that we passed the Real Madrid soccer stadium at one point.

It was quite a comprehensive city tour - almost like doing a whole hop-on, hop-off bus tour through all their routes, and that was great because we weren't going to have much time to see the sights.  The tour guide explained that the one side of the city near the palace and cathedral was from the 17th century and the other side near Retiro Park was from the 18th century.  That helped to keep dates and historical aspects straight.  In this whole area, the city never does develop straight roads and streets in any specific pattern.  The whole thing is just a mass of twisting curving streets.  While we were on the bus they seemed to make sense but afterwards when we were walking around the city, the system seemed more confusing.  There are definitely a lot of magnificent buildings in Madrid though - big and very impressive - and lots of small squares and courtyard areas where people congregate at all times of the day.

During the bus tour we got out a couple of times to look around.  In one case, I think at the Plaza de Colon (Columbus) we stopped for our lunch break.  We wandered around for a while looking for somewhere cheap to eat and eventually decided on a street side cafe just outside the indoor market that seemed to sell simply all kinds of tapas.  After lunch I went down to the tourist office to get a map and some info on the city, then walked over to the square which was having a get active sports display.  Among other sports, they actually had some pickle ball courts set up and were teaching people how to play.  That was interesting to see. 

Another stop on the tour was at Plaza de Espana.  I really enjoyed this one because it made me think so much about Theatre Kelowna's production of The Man of La Mancha.  The Cervantes Monument is there and there is a statue of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in the front of the monument and of Aldonza / Dulcinea on the side.  It is a lovely quiet plaza and all around it are the beautiful old buildings like the Royal Palace and the Spain Building and lot of new high rises like the Madrid Tower.  Quixote would have a lot of "windmills" to attack in this location.

After we got back to our hotel we had a brief break and then our group went off for a walk to see the palace, cathedral, plaza mayor and whatever other local sights we might discover.  Our hotel was right along the river so we just had to follow the river to get to the palace.  However, since it was going to be a long walk there and back and because a bus was going right by, we eventually jumped on a bus and rode for two whole stops before getting off.  That was a bit of a waste but who knew.  And it left us at the bottom of the hill so we had to climb up to the palace.  We should have stayed on and got off at the top of the hill to save us the uphill climb but we didn't so up we went on foot and circled around a few things along the way to eventually get to the street.  I had actually never approached the palace or cathedral from this direction before so I must say they look much bigger when you are way down below them.

We went to the plaza between the Palace and the Cathedral and took pictures in both directions.  The Cathedral is plain in comparison to other great cathedrals we have seen but it is still very classy.  It is a light grey / blue colour with six white columns in the front.  There is an ornate balcony about two-thirds of the way up with statues on the wall behind it.  There are two bell towers, one on either end, and a central facade which also has statues on it.  Elsewhere on the front there are a few sculptures and statues but basically it is just plain.  The cathedral was started in the late 19th century and not finished until the 20th century so the exterior is Baroque in style, which is definitely not as detailed and fancy as the Gothic or Romanesque style of earlier centuries.  And from the area in front of the palace gates you can only see the facade and not the overall depth of the cathedral and the high dome in the background and that may also be why it doesn't look as big or as impressive as some of the other cathedrals we have seen.   We didn't go in so I won't comment on that.  However, having been there before I can say it is pretty spectacular in its own simplistic way.

 

The Royal Palace, on the other hand, looks incredibly big and impressive.  It is just a beautiful structure to look at any time but it's absolutely wonderful against a brilliant blue sky which we had that afternoon.  The palace is u-shaped with the main entrance and largest part directly in front of the gate and two wings at either end coming forward towards the gate.  The building has light grey stones/bricks and white columns and the slightly higher central facade has flags, bells, a sculpted coat of arms and a clock on it.  There are statues and sculptures around the front of the building in various locations and a stone railing around the top.  The building appears to be three storeys high judging by the windows but it is really more than that but from the distance you can't tell that there are lower floors and a top floor as well.  The gate in front creates a huge front courtyard or entrance square that is also done in light stones.  The fence around the compound is beautiful on its own with fancy iron work set in heavy stone bases between heavy columns of light stone, and the gate itself has even higher and more ornate iron work.  

The palace building, for all its magnificence, always looks unbalanced because the right wing extends further than the left wing.  The palace has over 1 million square feet of floor space and over 3,000 rooms.  As such it is the largest palace in Europe.  While an official castle has been here for centuries, this current palace was only built in the 18th century after a fire destroyed the previous castle.  The royal family does not live in the palace but it is used for official ceremonies.  We had to wonder how much money went into the palace each year just to keep it up for an occasional official ceremony.  It must be costly but, looking at the tourist who were around, perhaps it pays for itself through.  Not likely but you never know.  They certainly didn't get any money from us as we did not get in line to wait and go in.  I had been there before and remember how beautiful some of the rooms are.  The tour is well worth it but we just didn't have time.

We walked a bit further along beside the palace to the Plaza de Oriente and the Royal Theatre with the statue in front of it.  We decided to skip the gardens beyond that and over to Plaza de Espana which we had already seen on the bus tour.  Instead we walked back to Mayor Street to visit the Plaza del Villa with its old brick buildings and the old city hall, then Plaza de San Miguel with its many outdoor eating spots and the indoor food market whose vendors seemed to specialize in tapas.  We all had a snack from somewhere with some opting for market tapas and others for ice cream.  

From there we went to Plaza Mayor, another huge square (actually a rectangle) surrounded by big four-storey buildings on all four sides with the ground floor for shops and the upper three floors for residences.  This version of the square is from the 18th century after the previous one was destroyed by a series of fires.  A statue of King Philip III stands in the centre of the plaza.  Big arched portals lead into and out of the plaza.  As usual there are lots of restaurants and cafes with outdoor seating in the plaza.  

From there the last stop I remember was at Puerta del Sol, which is a large and impressive plaza.  The plaza is named after the fact that it was the east facing gate in the 15th century city wall that surrounded the city, and led directly to the Post Office which was where all couriers were headed when they came through the gate.  The old post office building still stands but is now the office of the President of Madrid county, not the mayor of the city.  That is a beautiful old building in pink and white design with flags, a clock and bells on its tower over the front entrance.  The old city wall and the gate no longer stand but the location is still a popular meeting place for the locals.  There is a statue of King Charles III in the middle, a major metro line station, and a statue of a bear and a tree which is the symbol of Madrid.

We eventually decided to take a break and have dinner, and we wanted to do that in Plaza Mayor.  We walked around a lot of the restaurants but eventually found one that met our needs, which generally just means inexpensive and a good variety so everyone can find something to eat.  It was a very nice evening and nice setting so we enjoyed it very much.  After that we walked home along some pretty small streets but made it with no problem at all, unless of course you count the fact that my feet and knees were hurting as usual.  It was dark and late by the time we made it back to the hotel and some of us were definitely ready for bed.   We have one more early morning to go on this tour so we needed our sleep.