SPAIN
2009
Day
1 May 10- Sunday
Madrid
We
arrived in Madrid at 10:20 - Madrid time—4:20 am our time.
Having spent so much time in the Madrid airport last year – six hours
going and coming, we knew our way around. We
rode the train to the main terminal, retrieved our luggage and hailed a taxi.
The driver didn’t have anything to say but knew where our hotel was.
We
checked in the Hotel Agumar. This is
same hotel for the beginning of the tour. We
originally had asked Globus to rent us a room for the first night. We
planned on arriving a day before the actual tour began in order to rest from the
flight. Globus wanted $300, but we
were able to get the same room for $78.00. With
the recession, travel seems to be off and there are bargains.
Globus had bought the rooms a year ago.
Our room was small with twin beds.
We were really tired but we decided to go for a walk.
Atchoa, the big train station was five block away.
This is the same train station where the terrorist bombing took place
several years ago. We wanted to pay
our respect to those who died as well as to check it out because this is where we
were to catch the train when we went back to Barcelona at the end of the tour.
Inside
the train station was like a botanical garden with places to eat around the
outside. We weren’t very hunger,
so we went to a self service café. We
got two ham sandwiches on a long hard roll (Bocaditto yamon y tomate) .
We don’t do Spanish very well. My
wife ordered a Coke Zero which turned out to be a beer (cerveza) and she got a
regular coke. She was busy laughing and whispering to me “just drink it!!”
We
walked back to
the hotel and slept seriously from 1-5pm. We
woke up rather groggy and not ready to play, so we unpacked.
Then we planned on how to get to Plaza Puerto del Sol on the Metro.
It was a straight shot, and we did it easily with just some confusion
over the tickets. Plaza Puerto del
Sol was sort of disappointing and the entire center was closed up
due to some road or plaza construction. This
is the center of Madrid’s historic
center, it used to be on the eastern border of the city. The plaza's name
originates from the eastern city gate located here in the 15th century. The gate
was probably called after a sun drawn on it, hence the name Puerta del Sol or
'Sun Gate'.
In the middle of the square is a large equestrian
statue of King Carlos III. The King looks out to a beautiful 18th century red
brick building, the former main post office. In front of this building on the
pavement is the 'kilometer 0' plaque, marking the center of the Spanish
road network. It is the starting point from where all the highway distances are
measured.
The Puerta del Sol is also the location of the
symbol of Madrid: a 20 ton statue of a bear eating fruits from a tree. The
official name of the statue is 'El Oso y El Madroño'. The Madroño is a tree
related to the strawberry tree.
The
area was very busy with a lot of residents – both young and old. We stopped in
a church where mass was going on, but didn’t stay.
The church was packed.
Then
we walked to
the
Plaza Major just a few blocks away.
This was much bigger with large buildings on the four sides. This square
was known as the Plaza de Arrabal during medieval times, when it stood outside
the city wall. Under the Habsburgs, the square rose in importance as the site of
public spectacles, including the abominable autos de fe, in which
heretics were burned. Bullfights, knightly tournaments, and festivals were also
staged here.
There
are a number of outdoor cafes around the area, each featuring the menu and
waiter trying to bring in the tourists. We
knew that these cafes were expensive and the food wasn’t as good as some of
the restaurants on the side streets; however, we did choose one, Restaurant
Hagar. I asked my wife to order me a
Jack Daniels while I went to the restroom. When
I got back I had about three fourths of a glass of straight bourbon on ice.
She said that the man came with the bottle and started pouring.
He would have poured the glass full if she hadn’t stopped him.
We found all through Spain that this was the custom---just bring the
bottle and pour until you stopped him. My
wife had white wine. For a starter
we had asparagus (spargle) with two sauces, sounds fancy - one “sauce” was
mayonnaise! I had
a salmon and she had Hake. Both were
very good. They serve bread
and butter and if you eat it, and once it’s on the table, it costs two euros
each. This was the beginning of my wife’s love affair with Spanish bread; she
ate the bread that night, and ever after.
After
dinner we walked around some more (note McDonald's in photo on the right- Puerta
del Sol) and then took the Metro back to the station near our hotel. Our
hotel neighborhood is not historic and is a bit depressing.
We feel better having seen the historic sites and that we were able to
successfully manage the metro in Madrid.
