After all the excitement of Morocco, we settled into the 2 hour Iberia Airlines flight bound for Madrid where we would be staying for 2 nights before catching a train across Spain. The primary reason for coming to Madrid was to catch up with our very good Spanish friends Pedro and Elena.
We have found getting through European immigration formalities a very different experience when compared to entering say the UK, USA and our own country. Landing into Madrid simply involved a physical passport check, no documents to fill out, just a quick check of passport and walk out through the ‘Nothing To Declare’ gate. The same thing happened when we landed into Amsterdam.
Pedro was at the airport to meet us and despite having last seen him in 2004, the conversation just picked up as if we had been chatting yesterday which was great. The plan was for Pedro to drop us off at our hotel and then we would all meet again for dinner later that night.
Over a beautiful modern style Spanish meal, as their guests, we caught up with what had been happening in our respective lives and it was delightful that Elena was equally able to join in as a result of the hard work she had been doing learning English. They now have a 7 year old daughter called Claudia, so we naturally heard a lot about her and were looking forward to meeting her the following night when we would join them for a home cooked Spanish dinner in their home.
During dinner we learnt first hand from our friends, just what impact the GFC had had on the Spanish economy with unemployment soaring to 27% and youth unemployment hitting 55%.
Unlike Greece, Portugal and other European countries, the very proud Spanish have been steadfastly working on recovery. Pedro told us that hundreds of thousands of people, including friends of theirs, are now living in South America to find work and restart their lives.
This certainly made us appreciate just how Australia has fared during the same period.
We had been to Madrid a few times previously through work, but had not really spent time exploring it or truly appreciating it, so with our self guided walking tour and additional tips form Elena in hand, we set off early the following morning to slowly amble throughout the city.
Some the highlights of our meanderings were...
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| Sobrino de Botín |
* strolling around Plaza Mayor built on the site of a 15th-century market and used over time as a bullring, royal parade field and executioner’s stage. Talking of bullfighting, in Torre del Oro, a tiny Andalusian tiled bar in the plaza are gory bullfighting photos.
* enjoying the aromas and colours of all the fine food on display in the Markets of San Miguel* weaving our way through numerous small alleys which exposed us to fine examples of historical buildings and their fine, elegant architecture.
* admiring Palacio Real a solid granite structure comprises 2,800 rooms spread out over nearly 1,500,000 square feet (139,354 square meters), making it Western Europe’s largest palace.
* learning about a little of the Spanish monarchy’s history at a monument remembering the deaths of bystanders, killed during an assassination attempt by bomb attack during the wedding procession of King Alfonso XIII in 1906.
* admiring the large number of jamón legs hanging from the ceilings inside many shops. Jamón is dry cured ham and as we found out during dinner at Pedro and Elena’s home, it is both delicious and cut very very finely when served.
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| aaah.. jamón |
* enjoying watching the locals as we wandered through a beautiful autumn coloured park with its lake and families slowly rowing on it.
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| Spanish families enjoying themselves |
* experiencing the annual parade of traditionally dressed sheep farmers through the city. This happens once a year as a cultural tradition and we were surprised to see them playing a form of bagpipe as well as what they wore as shoes.
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| traditionally dressed sheep farmers |
All this was possible because of the unusually warm daytime weather during our time in Madrid. It is certainly a very elegant and historical city.
Dinner at our friends was both a privilege and a treat. We were genuinely quite overwhelmed by how much trouble they had gone to, ensuring we not only learned more about traditional Spanish food, but to enjoy extremely good quality food and wine.
The meal was based on a traditional tapas theme and during our meal we learnt about the right way to cut and serve the jamón and pintxos, the Basque form of tapas which is regarded as a key part of their local culture and social interaction. We also enjoyed freshly cooked live clams, fine Spanish cheese, chorizo unlike anything we have tasted before, two types of exquisite anchovies, empanadas, yes it was quite a banquet combined with very good company.
Our very sincere thank you to Pedro and Elena and we hope we can return their hospitality sometime in Australia!
It was an early start the following morning as we worked our way to the main railway station in Madrid, Etosha to catch the first of two trains taking us north into Basque country, where we would be staying for 3 nights in the city of San Sebastian.
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| From Madrid to San Sebastian and then Bilbao |
During our time away on this trip, there had been numerous times during casual discussions with other travellers when responding to their question of “where are you going?” and then mentioning San Sebastian, they would typically say, “its beautiful!”.
Well lets simply say… they were all right… it really is very beautiful!
The risk here is that I’m going to over do it and wax lyrical about this city, so it is simpler to say that almost as soon as we got off the train and starting walking across a very ornate bridge towards the main part of the city, we fell in love with this place.
It is undoubtably a holiday destination and a charming one at that. There are two beautiful beaches here, one called Playa de la Concha with its large curved bay, two headlands at either end and an island in the mouth of the bay.
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| 'The Beach'... one of the headlands and island |
Locals and visitors were promenading along the large walkways following the curve of the bay from one end to the other whilst at low tide others enjoying the large beach and at high tide you can watch surfers and body boarders surfing on waves rebounding off the bays sea walls.
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| sea kayak surfing the sea wall |
Then there’s Playa de Gros, a long golden beach back across the river, perfect for people wanting to surf their holiday away.
San Sebastian seems to be broken into sections, each of which offers a different experience. There is the very active old town located across the bay’s eastern headland and then there is a commercial and shopping district, full of late-19th-century buildings extending to the banks of the river.
On the opposite side of the river where the true surfing beach is, we wandered through a very relaxed little enclave and down at the western end of Playa de Concha where the funicular is located, there are very large upmarket and expensive homes.
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| pintxos on the bar... |
Then there is the food! Our friends in Madrid had educated us about the specialty we would find in San Sebastian… the basque form of tapas… the pintxos!
Every night whilst we stayed in San Sebastian, we visited the old town section of this beautiful place, found a quaint pintxos bar and made our selection from the large number of very creative choices, right off the top of the bar.
Typically it cost €2 per pintxos and we could easily feed ourselves by sharing eight of them and when combined with a fresh glass of sangria, it was a very pleasant meal indeed.
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| ...and so many to choose from |
We really enjoyed our time in San Sebastian and Spain, but alas our trip was drawing to an end, so it was time to return to London to watch the rugby play off for 3rd place between South Africa and Argentina.
Next was the big one, the grand final between NZ and Australia to be played in Twickenham. We weren’t originally able to buy tickets for this match but just days before the match was to be played, tickets were available at a minimum of £500 or $1,070 each. Hmmm… let’s think about this for 2 milliseconds… nup!
So on the afternoon of the big match, Jarad and I dressed in our Australian tops, wandered off down the street from his place in Twickenham, found a very typical small British pub with a big TV and settled in for a few hours to watch the game with the rest of the crowd, enjoying perhaps just a few too many pints, well that’s what it felt like the next morning. It was great fun but a real pity we didn’t win!
The time had come however after 7 weeks and with farewells made, to start the long trip back home, but we had one last little flurry of exploration to make whilst avoiding all the pushbikes, back in and around Amsterdam for two nights.
During our camel trekking time in the Sahara, we had shared that experience with a couple from Holland and they had suggested we visit Delft, a 1 hour train trip from Amsterdam.
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| Delft and yes the church leans |
Heeding their advice, it was a great recommendation because Delft is a charming medieval town, founded around 1100, with numerous tree lined canals we enjoyed strolling along with numerous quaint cafes everywhere.
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| Delft |
Delft is synonymous with its famous Delftware, that distinctive blue-and-white pottery and you were certainly constantly reminded of this, with shops around the edges of the main square with pottery in all forms on sale.
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| Centre square - Delft |
There had been many parts to this trip, the rugby, the beauty and history of Scotland, the challenging of our sight, sound and smell senses in Morocco, the elegance and style of Spain and the pushbikes and canals of Amsterdam. Then there was having that very special time with our family and close friends.
As promised, below you will find a few links with a limited selection of additional photos from the various primary places we visited during this trip which we hope will give you an additional sense of them.
So till next time, stay well, enjoy and have fun!
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