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Published: April 30th 2011
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Day 1
I’ve been very busy lately and finally had a bit of time to finish posting on our Andulusian adventure.
We started our trip in Madrid and finished our trip in Madrid. We left the house in Las Pinedas on a Sunday morning and headed back to Córdoba. I think safe to say that we all napped some more on the two hour ride back to Madrid.
The check in process at our hostal was pretty slow. The landlord was overwhelmed by the number of people that were checking out and in that morning. A hostal is a small private run hotel that previously might have someone’s large multi-room home. The place I had reserved rooms at was small but clean and very cheap. We paid an average of 22 euros for each room. One of the students later commented to me that he had found the experience of staying in such a place to be more interesting than a run-of-the-mill hotel.
We left our luggage and set out on different agendas. Beth and I wanted to get something to eat first, find a place to go see flamenco dancing that night, and figure out the best route to get
Helpful waitress
Called around for info I wanted. out to the bullring. The bullfight season was starting and we wanted to go see a bullfight.
We lucked out and found a little restaurant straightaway. We settled back and had a small beer and burger ‘n fries. The menu said it was a “gourmet burger” and so we ordered it mostly out of curiosity. It turned out that it was just a patty. Fortunately for us our waitress was very helpful and she called around to find info on some venues that were having the dancing that night. She gave us directions to a place that wasn’t far from our hostal. After lunch we walked to the nearby club that featured flamenco dancing. We lucked out because the place was actually closed but a couple of people were coming out by a side door and were able to give me some info.
We then headed to the nearest subway station, Puerta del Sol. As you can see in the photos the plaza around the metro station was quite busy. There were quite a few buskers trying to make a few euros. We determined which line we had to take to the bullring then we went around the neighborhood doing
Puerta Del Sol
Metro station and good for people watching. some sightseeing and people watching.
We regrouped and checked into the hostal and then headed out to the bullring. The weather gods failed us on this occasion. We arrived at the ring and I bought some tickets from a scalper. This was totally unnecessary as there was a sparse crowd in attendance. Plus it started raining…as in a deluge. We waited inside one of corridors and watched the fight on tv. The fights go on despite the conditions. After a period of time the clouds broke and we headed out to our seats. The crowd was so sparse that we were able to go sit down close to the action.
Having seen other bullfights I have to say that this one was a complete waste of time. The ring was muddy and slick. Men and beasts were skidding around. I got the definite impression that the bullfighters were rushing through as quickly as possible because it was cold, wet, and miserable. Even when the sun came out the temperature was still chilly. There was no artistry or fancy capework. It was very pedestrian and uninspiring.
We left the bullring and headed back to the area around the Puerta del Sol
Defying gravity
or so it appears. and went in search of place to eat. We walked around until we found a likely looking place and indulged in another round of tapas tasting. After that we decided to go for a walk before heading back to the hostal. Everyone else was tired and wanted to head back to the rooms.
It was fortunate that Beth and I took a stroll. We chanced upon a place that featured flamenco dancing. It hadn’t started yet so we made a beeline back to the hostal to see if the troops wanted to go out a bit more. We intercepted them and we all headed to see the dancing.
We had to stand but that was alright as it gave us a good vantage point to watch the dancing. I’m no authority on flamenco so I don’t know if the dancers were particularly good or not. All I know is that it was thrilling and we all enjoyed ourselves immensely. We then headed to bed – it had been a full day.
Day 2
We slept in and then headed out for some breakfast. After that we split up into 3 groups and headed off to enjoy Madrid for our last
Las Ventas
Madrid's bullring. day. Beth and I headed to the bullring to take some photos since the previous day had been too rainy for photos. Afterwards we headed to the Palacio Real. We walked around the grounds and then went into the Royal Armory and then the palace itself. Although the king and queen no longer liver there, they do have formal state functions there. It was quite an extensive tour by the way, so be sure to set aside ample time to do the tour. Sadly no photos were allowed inside so I only have some photos of the outside.
The weather was quite cool. Little did I know that it was just a preparation for the return to crappy weather that was taking place back in Idaho. We decided to walk back to the hostal and just do some sightseeing. Along the way we stopped at the well known department store El Corte Ingles. Yikes! The place is very spendy. We saw people looking but not a whole bunch of buying.
At this point we ran out of gas and decided to go take a nap and rest up for one last outing in Madrid. Beth and I decided that we
Ole!
I dug this sculpture. had had our fill of tapas and that it was time to splurge on a fine meal. We had spotted an Italian restaurant on our earlier walk and we headed there later in the evening. It was closed. It was a Monday after all. I stopped a guy walking by and asked him if he might know a good Italian place nearby. What luck! He did! We found the place easily enough and were soon seated and ready to eat.
I explained to the students the structure of the Italian meal and we proceeded to eat our way through the courses of a very fine meal.
The maitre d’ was a very nice guy and we chatted for some time. It turns out that he had travelled in the USA. We received very good service and the meal was outstanding. They had a dish with orichiette which is my favorite pasta. It is the specialty pasta from the region where we lived in Italy. The entire meal was fab! It was a great way to finish our adventure.
The flight back was uneventful. We did fly back across the water in a smaller plane and we all agreed that it
Thank You Sir!
May I have another? was infinitely more comfortable. There was more leg room. The larger plane we flew to Spain was a virtual cattle car.
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