Saturday, August 11, 2012

Tuesday 12 Jun - Buses, Trains and Flamenco


Woke up at 6 am, showered, made tea and went out onto the balcony to watch the sun rise and listen to Madrid wakeup. Breakfast of bread, balsamic vinegar & olivo oil al fresco in my Roots long sleeved shirt and fleece ( Madrid is cooler than Granada in the morning). Wrote in the journal. Checked out and walked down to the prado stopping in at a coffee shop to use the washroom and pick up a couple of croissants. No need to get to the apartment until 9 as Maureen will be asleep.. walked over to Heurtas street and up to # 10. 
Marc, the manager of the building let me in and took me upstairs once he realized who I was and who I wanted to see. Maureen was in fact still asleep at 915 am but was glad to see me anyway.
Chatted and planned and shared our adventures of the past few days. Moved into action after a lovely breakfast of croissant with cheese.  After going to Marc for some more TP and towels for both the bath and the kitchen we Talked to Marc about flamenco dancing and where we might go to see some great flamenco. He steered us toward the Casa Pata.
 We left the apartment and found our way, just around the corner and across two streets, to the Casa Pata and made reservations for dinner at 9 and the show at 10 that night.
With dinner all taken care of we went and picked up tickets for the red bus. Well we traded in mine for a two day and Maureen got one for a two day. We headed off to the train station. The plan was to take the train to Oviedo and then take the bus to Luarca. I had printed out the dates and times of the trains and buses that I thought would get us there in a timely fashion so that I could just show the ticket agents and they would not have to listen to my atrocious Spanish.
We got off the red bus at the Plaza Castilla and walked the three blocks on the C Augustin de Foxa. the Train Station is very large and a little confusing.  we took a number ’341’ and waited our turn. Maureen is not one to sit and wait a turn so we went shopping in the little stores in the station, just keeping an eye on our number and when it was getting closer we headed back just in time to miss our number. I tried to get one of the ticket people to take care of us as our number just went by but the man was a grump and wouldn’t do it  just kept pointing at the number he was going to take care of which was one number away from the ticket I was holding. 
Maureen said she was not going to get another ticket or wait any longer and tried someone else and had luck so we got our tickets with out having to get a new number.  The time for our train was at 1110 am on Thursday.
We headed back to the red bus stop. about 10 blocks away but stopped in at a cafe/supermarket and picked up some groceries and some lunch, heuvos espanol (potato omelet) and ensalade tomato for me. the eggs were very nice but the tomato salad was not as good as the one I had in Granada. Maureen had a salmon salad that she said was too soft. 
I said 'It is the water. Atlantic is warmer than the pacific so the fish will be softer'. We made it back to the red stop and back to the apartment intact with train tickets and groceries.
We decided to go to the Prado for 6 as that is when you can get in for free. All you have to do is stand in line for a couple of minutes. We made it in by 615. Lots of paintings. Raphael , Goya, sculptures. Maureen had discovered that her favorite painting by Murrillo was there the night before and so we found it again and she admired it further. Prado is a good size so we planned to come back the next night. 
First we hit the gift shop and picked up a few souvenirs to give away at home: Coasters, puzzle, post cards, a lovely horse head document holder and a plastic doc holder. 30 Euros worth.
walked back up the hill and found the Villa Rosa, more flamenco dancing, and Booked it  for the next night. 730. Back to the apartment to drop off our souvenirs.
On the way to and right next door to the Casa Pata, there was a beautiful little church that was having a concert, a mixed choir. We had some time before dinner so we went in and listened. 
The first song they sang was “Summer is a coming in loudly sing coo coo”. It just seemed funny that the first live song that I heard in Spain was a lovely old english folk song.
 At 9 we went next door to the Casa Patas for dinner. It was not that busy. which surprised me. we were told that reservations were needed as it got full very fast. the Casa Patas is a family owned (40 years) restaurant  under a flamenco school. the manager is the son of the owner who came to talk to us very often during our very good meal . 
I had a vegetable ratatouille and a marvelous sheep cheese of Mancha. “Queso Manchego”. is the cheese of the province that Madrid is in. like white cheddar but more with a bite like parmesan. so good. Maureen had a salmon which she said was also very good (if a little soft). People started coming in about 10 sitting at the bar having drinks. Everyone in Spain eats late. 
At 1025 we went into the back room for the show.  A tour bus of people came in and filled up the place which was alreaady half full. It was packed but we had a reservation and a table. The show was great.  Two dancers, 3 singer/ clappers and two guitar players.  3 glasses of wine and home by 1230. 
I will probably sleep in.

Monday 11 Jun 2012 - I love Madrid


I woke up early and was ready for my cab at 8 am with time to spare.  Brought my things downstairs, (one backpack and my purse) had a little breakfast and we were off. The young man, who spoke a bit of english, made the trip interesting with conversation about Spain, Granada and the economy. I got to the cute little Granada Airport and bought myself a water and some nuts. the flight was good. flying over ‘olivo’, orange and lemon orchards . The farms follow the hills, all squiggly and wandering. The terrain is actually very hilly in Andalusia and the tops of the hills are black. (maybe they were covered in brush of some kind). My cab driver told me the Sierra Nevada’s are the mountains on the south east side and the not the sierra nevadas (big hills) are on the Nwest side.. the Sierra Nevadas  have the first ski hills in Spain and there was snow on the mountains when I saw them..
The closer one gets to Madrid the flatter the terrain becomes. the farm fields  fan out like the spokes  of a wheel with the little towns being the centers. it was very pretty. they looked like they were already to harvest and it was only June. I wonder how may crops they can put up in one year?
Madrid pops out of the landscape like a button on a bedspread. I didn’t really see it from my side of the plane. Maybe that is not a good analogy.
I Love the Madrid airport. It has very high ceilings made of wood slats that undulate across the width of the airport.  The cross spars that support this ceiling are brightly coloured.and run lengthwise down the center of the airport, like a rainbow with the dark blue spars at one end of the airport and the red at the other. It feels huge and airy and light. lots of light as there are floor to ceiling windows and as I said the ceilings are very high. It did not feel crowded even though there were lots of people there and the signage was good enough that I did not even get lost once finding my way out of the Airport.
I wondered how I might get into the city. In Dublin I caught the bus. but here they have a Metro. The girl at the information desk gave me a metro map and told me how to buy tickets. I figured it out and off I went into town to find the bus depot to go to Avilla.
That accomplished I stood in line. There was a very long line. I looked around and saw signs for the buses and their departure times. It seems I just missed the bus to Avilla and the next one was going to go at about 430, which would put me there about 5 or 530. 
I figured that by the time I got there everything would be closed so I decided that I would save Avilla for another time. I would just find a hotel and spend the night in Madrid before finding Maureen at the apartment in the morning.
Finding a hotel was a wonderful experience.  I took the metro downtown and found Narrow streets off of one-way narrow streets off of busy wider avenues, Quite a few pedestrian only plazas. In one plaza I found an ice cream (spumoni) place with violet ice-cream so got half and half violet and lemon sorbet. So good. 
It was very hot out. I do not know how hot but I would hazard a guess it was easily in the mid thirties.
 Now, I could have gone to the apartment and got lucky and found Maureen but If she was out then I would just be standing around waiting for her. No the best thing to do would be to catch her in the morning as I knew that she likes to sleep in and so she would definitely be there then. I remembered our apartment was off the Gran via and fairly close to the Prada. This very busy street is full of hotels and shops and restaurants.
 I went into the Senatore Espana Spa hotel and got a room for 50 euros. A nice new clean room with a TV and a balcony. I asked the very helpful friendly staff for a map of the city. If l had brought a swimsuit I could have used the facilities for free. But I was not here to swim. I headed out and found a national geographic store on the corner and bought my souvenir shirt of Madrid.
Took the metro to the Retiro Park, which is a huge park right in the middle of Madrid. 
It is a beautiful park with lakes and boats, ponds and fountains and benches. There were statues all over the place. I did sprinkle a bit of mom and dad in the park in a quiet spot. I loved the sculpted gardens and the trees, big trees and quiet areas with Plenty of roads and paths for easy access. A huge Rose garden with hundreds of varieties of roses, some on trellises and arbors, some espaliered. There were Gorgeous old world roses, tea, and climbing and regular roses all in a veritable rainbow of colours.
I took the Metro quite a bit, from the Airport, to the bus station to downtown to the park . It is very impressive, layers of tunnels and clean and fairly bright too. I almost got lost a few times but everyone was very helpful. The Spanish are a lovely people.
But I decided to walk back to my hotel that on the map did not seem that far. I zig zagged through the streets checking the map occasionally to get my bearings. At one point I think I went down ‘hooker’ lane as each doorway had a lady sitting /standing on the step dressed in short skirts and smoking. 
There were a few men standing around chatting with a few more ladies. I left that street pretty quickly.
Went down one street with shoes. 6 foot tall shoes all decorated differently.  Art . I love the high apartments and narrow lanes, little balconies and colours, so many colours. Little shops tucked into little spaces. They need the big open Retiro park with its’ giant trees, black swans and playgrounds for the children to run and play.
I can still smell the rose garden.
I did find the hotel and did manage to pick up some supper.  some restaurants are closed on Mondays. some have no vegetarian, some don’t open till late. .I looked for Tapas but I could not find any. Just restaurants. I am sure they must have Tapas bars in Madrid. Somewhere. I did find one right around the corner. It served little beers and good food.
 I put some away to bring home for breakfast. filled out postcards and tried to watch some TV soccer, world cup. very big over there. Mostly I watched the people in the street  and the traffic. Interesting one-way lanes turning into either one-way lanes in one direction of an intersection and two in another. Were they using their car horns to determine the right of way? Will that bus make the corner? No, only if he backs up and does another try. There are magpies here. The evening is very warm and still I head back to the hotel and  mail my postcards on the way. I find the three english channels and choose the BBC but not for long. Very tired and going to sleep now.