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.

Whirlwind Tour

Our time in Munich really flew by and clearly 3 days of touring isn't enough to see and do all we were hoping for. On our second day we tried to get an earlier start but jet lag had other plans for us. We finally got moving and out of the flat by mid-morning and headed to the Marienplatz. For those who want the English version of the Marienplatz page...

We did arrive in time for the clock ringing which was interesting but what is more amazing is the number of people that show up for it. I suspect if it ran ever hour instead of only 3 times a day it would be less of a tourist spectacle.

I did find that I have my own street right off the plaza.
From this point we headed down a pedestrian shopping area. We came, we saw, we bought. Unfortunately since we got our day started so late and the girls found a bit of joy in shopping, we missed out on the historic parts of that plaza and the next one down the road that we never made it to.

Our friends contacted us to meet them for a picnic lunch on the grounds of the 1972 Olympic park. If you are interested in a bit of a history lesson on that, it was the first time Germany had hosted the Olympics since the time when Hitler was in power. Tension was high and things didn't turn out so well. Check out this short piece on the Munich Massacre for details.

Today however you wouldn't know that was the case. The grounds are green and lots of people are wondering around. The swimming pool is open for swimmers to enjoy, there is a lake  where they have big balls you can climb into for running/falling on the water, a trampoline park, and some other sightseeing tourist options. We mostly wandered around as the girls weren't interested in any of the other options except swimming but we hadn't brought our suits.

The weather was beautiful for our walk through the park and we followed that up with a trip back to Patricia and Use's house. While Use, Dean and Maia rested, the rest of us headed out to play a little soccer in the park by their flat. As it turns out it's a huge park so when we got tired of kicking balls around, we took a walk to see some beautiful gardens, a lake and a beer garden. Unfortunately it was getting late and we needed to head back.

Here are a few  of our interesting sightings of the day...

If it fits, park it there whichever direction you want...

The next day was a to be a long day as we were headed to Dachau, then needed to pack and a final dinner with our friends.

Spring Break Part II: Salamanca

Salamanca is about 4 hours south west of Algorta. 14 years have passed since my last visit. Prior to that I studied there one summer in college and I had visited in 1985 as well. While much of the college town remains the same, Salamanca as a city has really grown. 

We started with a tour of the city. Since we were staying in Barrio La Vega which is on the other side of Rio Tormes, we had about a 10 minute walk in towards the center of town. We took some pictures of the views as we approached. 



Once across the bridge, we headed directly into the monument zone. The first on the list was the Catedral Nueva, which by US standards isn't all that new seeing as it was built between the 16th & 18th century.

You may have noticed the carving on the cathedral of an astronaut, which of course didn't exist when the cathedral was built. My understanding is that relatively recently they needed to clean up the outside of the building where some of the intricate carvings had eroded. They apparently did this with a bit of creative license to "modernize" the outside.

Not far from the cathedral is the Patio de las Escuelas and the historical university building with its famous frog carving.


From there we headed towards the center of town. Maia happened to notice some Jewish stars on some buildings which also had some moorish influences. That sent me on a mission to find out a bit about the presence of Jews in Salamanca. As it turns out what Maia had discovered had no real meaning other than the builder liked that architecture. However there is some history, although most remnants of it are completely gone at this point.

The Plaza Mayor is one of the most beautiful central plazas in all of Spain. If you have the opportunity to visit, stop in at Meson de Cervantes, another favorite study spot for me. While you can sit outside, I recommend going in and checking out the photos on the walls. It shows some of the history of the plaza from the times when cars were allowed, and how it has transformed into the meeting place that it is today. Once you are done in the plaza, across the street is a large indoor market which is a great place for picking up fresh fruit and vegetables.

The park pictured is Parque La Alamedilla. I remember studying there as an alternative to la Plaza Mayor as it tends to be a bit quieter. There is a bar/cafe in the park, where I had the best granizados de limón, basically a lemon slushy. Unfortunately we were told this is a seasonal drink that is only available in the summer. We'll have to go back some time for that...

Just outside of Salamanca there are many options for day excursions. We went with our friends, MaLuz, Sara, and Lola to La Peña de Francia and La Alberca. We drove up the mountain and stopped along the way to take in the views before reaching the top. It was quite cold up there and a rather gloomy day but we got some great pictures anyway.

At the top was a beautiful old monastery.

After having a drink to warm us up a bit we headed back down to an adorable little town called La Alberca. There we found a great place for lunch and took a tour around the city before heading back to Salamanca.

The sights were stunning and the company was great. Yet another successful adventure.