Churches, Castles & Palaces

We spent our days in the Madrid area visiting mostly castles and palaces. There are a few common day trips from that area so we took them. We hit Segovia, Toledo, and El Escorial/Valle de los Caídos. What these areas had in common were churches, castles and palaces, of which I think we have all seen enough. While they are beautiful and the history is interesting, it all starts to run together a bit.

Segovia - Kizoa Video Maker

Of the most interesting sites I would say the aqueducts in Segovia, the Jewish area/history and artesania of Toledo, and the views from Valle de los Caídos (VC). Toledo is known for it's swords. While we didn't get one to bring home, however we did get a tour of the oldest true artisan shop for sword making. Most now are made industrially and all look the same. In this small shop tucked away in the corner, the swords are made by hand in a very traditional way. The owner, a descendent from the original owner is short a few fingers from his years of sword making but clearly loves what he does and knows the details in a way that most industrial sword makers probably don't. We were also lucky enough to catch a day when we could view the making of traditional style pendents with there golden designs made into a specially smooth hand cut stone.

We walked a ton in all of the places we visited.

Toledo - Kizoa Video Maker

For those of you who are unfamilair, VC is where Franco is buried. I was very tempted to spit on his grave but there was a guard there watching what everyone did and strict silence was to be respected. Also buried there are many who died during the Spanish Civil War. What I didn't realize is what has been characterized as "typically Spain" was also a result of what Franco wanted to show the world so he latched on to the idea of Flamenco dancing from the south and bull fighting and those became the symbols of the country. That's what most people tend to hear about and know. I find this middle area of the country to be extremely different from the northern areas where we tend to spend our time, and frankly, I prefer the north.

Experiencing Madrid

Yep, it's definitely summer here in Madrid. I'm all for siesta when it gets us out of the heat of the day. We started this part of our adventure making our way from Barajas to La Latina on the metro picking up friends Lynne and Kevin along the way. In all my travels to Spain this is the first time in Madrid that there was public transportation available point to point rather than the bus to Plaza de Colon. Last time we were here Maia was an infant and it was mostly a tour of Madrid's parks to keep her happy.

We got ourselves set up in a GREAT flat. I highly recommend it for anyone traveling in a largish group. We are definitely living like kings and queens in the city of Spanish royalty. In fact today we also took a tour of the Palacio Real. Unfortunately no pictures allowed inside so I just have a few from the outside to share.

More scenes from the day

Palacio Real - Kizoa Video Maker

 Just before hitting the palace we walked around the corner from our flat to check out El Rastro, a well known flea market, where we picked up a couple souvenirs for the kids. If you are a flea market kind of person or you just like people watching, you could easily spend hours here. It is a place where you need to watch your wallet and camera in a crowd, but worth it.

Following the market we headed through the Plaza Mayor to get to the palace. It was definitely full of people and lots of vendors out this morning as well. Frankly, on the walk to the palace I was amazed by the number of stores that were open since it is Sunday. Things have really changed in my 30+ years of traveling to Spain. I'm a bit disturbed by the westernization I'm seeing. There are fruit stores where you pick your own fruit, while wearing a glove and many of the stores are open on Sundays including clothing and grocery stores. We almost got run over by a Burger King delivery motorcycle and of course Starbucks has made it here as well. I'm not sure how they survive since it is so easy to get a much better cup of coffee in any bar on the street. I guess it is name recognition for tourists. Very sad... It will be interesting to see if there is as much western influence in the north as we are seeing here.

First Sightings: Munich

We are on another travel adventure. We decided to start this one in Germany. It was an easy direct flight to Munich from Chicago. Upon arrival we were greeted by Nicolle & Patricia, our friends from Spain that have now moved here. If you followed our earlier posts in Spain you will remember them from several of our mini-weekend excursions. It was great to see friendly faces upon our arrival and a sign welcoming us here.

Random Sightings

Their help in figuring out the train/U-bahn/Bus pass was great as there were more options than my jetlagged brain could sort through. In no time it was clear that anything we wanted to do would be completely accessible with their public transit system. This is one of the things we love most about Europe and really miss when we return to Madison. From the airport we made our way to our flat in about 45 minutes. It's cozy and not the cleanest but sufficient for our needs. We won't be spending much time inside other than sleeping.

First stop for me was a shower. The kids flipped on the TV only to find that they seem to have a different word for everything on their favorite shows and their mouths aren't in sync with their voices. That was most annoying for Maia. While the others took naps and showers, I did a bit of wandering to get to know the area we are staying in. It is nicely located and feels very safe.

Once we were settled in Use & Lara, the other half of the family we hadn't seen yet, came to pick us up. We headed to their flat for dinner. It was a lovely evening with them but we were all pretty exhausted by the time we got back to our place.

Swan Family in Palace Garden

After sleeping in, we got Dean's phone set up and found some great berries at a fruit store on the way. At this point it was almost noon since we had slept in a bit. Dean and the girls took in some German pastries and we headed out to the Nymphenburg Palace.

The gardens were impressive, as much or more so than the inside of the Palace. Maia and I especially enjoyed a family of swans. There were several buildings to visit including the stable that had some old carriages and sleighs that really did look like something right out of Disney. Unfortunately my inside pictures didn't fair so well without the flash.

Look Out Tourist!

So far my cultural tidbit was realizing that the bike lanes, which exist throughout the city, are part of the sidewalk rather than the street. Bikers are often like ragging drivers if you accidentally find yourself walking in their lane. That's a lesson you only need to learn once.