Speaking Spanish in France

Day 20

Today we rode to Madrid, stopping off in Saragossa for lunch at the Plaza del Pilar. The church in the square was beautiful.

We ate dinner at a tapas bar which was excellent! It was also our least expensive meal of the trip. With each drink we got a sampling of mini tomato empanadas which were very good. We watched Barcelona score in the last minute to tie in the Champion League. We then walked the entire city which was beautiful at night.


Day 21

We toured Madrid this morning which was very nice and a lot of what we saw last night was explained. Some of the highlights were the Cervantes statue and the palace where King Alfonso XIII was the last to live. It is now a museum and for royal parties.

We went to the Prado museum which was very impressive. . We got to see many works of El Greco, Velasquez, Rubens, Carvaggio, and Goya. Of course there were many others. There were over 100 works of Goya which was very impressive. There was an exhibition which was amazing. The exhibit revealed hidden drawings on some paintings of Bosch, Raphael, and Berruguete. It was amazing, you would see the painting, then through infra-red technology you would see the drawings underneath, it was unbelievable.

We went to Toledo in the afternoon, which was beautifully scenic. We went to a sword shop which was very impressive and so inexpensive compared to the states. I bought two beautiful swords which had the inscription of King Alfonso X. Alfonso was the name of my Dad and the Italian version of my first name, Alfonse. I’ll have to find a place to hang them. We saw a few fascinating churches and an impressive synagogue. They synagogue was built by Muslims and had a mosque like structure. The Jewish people were driven out by the Christians in the 1400’s. When I walked in I was wondering why there was art of Jesus and Mary. There was one pillar which still had the Star of David. We also went into a beautiful church called the Santo Tome which housed the The Burial of the Count of Orgaz by El Greco which was very beuatiful.

For dinner we went to another local tapas bar which was very good. After dinner they came by with a pinkish looking drink. I asked what it was and it was some sort of frozen raspberry concoction with no alcohol, which was fabulous. They then came by with a green drink which my friend had. His eyes looked as though they were going to pop out of his head. We were told after that it was 70% alcohol and 140 proof. I guess that was why. They brought us another shot of the frozen raspberry concoction, all which were gratis.

We then walked around Madrid for a couple of hours. We had been told constantly about how dangerous Spain was, especially Madrid. At one point we were walking down a fairly crowded street. I became aware of someone behind us and turned around and saw two guys walking. A little further down the street I felt a bit uncomfortable that they were too close. I stepped off the curb appearing to pass the two older people in front of me and then stopped and turned and looked directly at them. I did not realize, but my friend also realized that they were getting too close and also stopped and turned on the other side of the sidewalk. There were actually three guys who stopped and then looked like they were going to walk into a restaurant, then turned araound and walked away. It was weird because we had no wallets in our back pocket, no bags, nothing obvious. When I told the tour guide the strory, he said it sounded like they were going to pull out knives and demand money. He said that is very common in Madrid. It pays to be aware and follow gut instincts.

Day 22

We left Madrid on our way to Vitoria. We stopped at the Valley of the Fallen which had a huge cross in the mountain to honor the victims of the Spanish Civil War. The church was very big and beautiful. I am still not sick of seeing churches.

We then saw the Alcazar, which was a school, church, and museum. The church was fascinating, but we could not walk around because there was a mass going on. The art, murals, and architecture of the museum was quite impressive. The crypt rooms were unbelievable. One of the crypt rooms was for the kings, and their families which was very ornate.

We stopped at a functioning aqueduct in Segovia on the way to Vitoria.

We had dinner in the hotel which was very good. We had wild duck which I never had before. It had the consistentcy and color of corned beef. It was very good!

We then walked around with a group of about 12 people Vitoria was a very nice city, very busy, and very family oriented. It was a Friday night and many families were out and about in the walking areas of the city. We caught the end of some kind of performance art which included people climbing, dancing, and doing acrobatics on these stacks of freight containers. The music was very loud techno music. It was very good, what we saw. We then walked around for awhile until we found our hotel.


Day 23

Toay we rode from Vitoria to Barritz, to Bordeaux. It was a day of riding in the bus and not much else.

We had lunch in Barritz and we walked into a restaurant and I asked the man hablo ingles and he said si. He brought English menus and I said gracias. The man asked me if I wanted a Spanish menu or an english menu. I apologized for forgetting I was back in France and switchd back to Bonjour, Sil Vous Plait, Oui, and Merci. :)