Friday, July 10, 2015

May 13-June 1 Playing tour guide in San Sebastian, Madrid, and Andalucia (part 2: Madrid)

Almudena Cathedral
May 20-22 Madrid
In Madrid we enjoyed a tour of the opulent Royal Palace, modeled  after Versailles.  It's got over 2000 rooms.  The current royal family lives in a different palace, but this one is still used for ceremonies of state.  We wandered through the plaza del Sol, plaza Oriente, Plaza Mayor, Plaza de Cebiles, and were awed by the gorgeous architecture as the sun was setting.  We split up to each savor the Prado, each at our own pace, and made a visit to see Picasso’s “Guernica” in the Reina Sofia Museum.  

Now the City Hall (Palacio de Communicaciones) built early 20th century in gothic neoclassical style as postal service offices
We stayed between Plaza del Sol and Plaza de Angeles, which was a perfect location to see the sites on our plan, and we had easy access to lots of fun bars and restaurants, metro, and Atoche train station.                                                            

A few events stand out.  My friend and I went to a “Pulperia” with a local Spanish friend and aside from the fact that the guy behind me barfed his brains out after falling off his stool, we had a delicious Galician specialty of octopus and potatoes.  We also went to a bar that serves “gambas,” or shrimp, in lots and lots of different ways.  Shrimp tails and napkins littered the floor, as they have for well over 100 years at this elaborately tiled gamba establishment. 

On one of our sunset walks we apparently were on the pedestrian street where hookers vie for business.   A dozen very young, very beautiful girls, who all looked under 22, wore what appeared to be the “uniform” for their occupation...very short shorts, worn with nylons and very high heels…and any kind of revealing top will do.  It made me wonder about their individual stories, and what the prostitution laws are here in Spain.  I read that it’s not illegal to prostitute, but it is to pimp, though penalties are pretty weak.  There is a growing number of Eastern European women, and human trafficking issues in which family members back home may be under threat if the girl refuses prostitution.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/spain-the-world-capital-of-prostitution-2151581.html
Royal Palace
Royal Palace


Inside of Almadena Cathedral





Atoche train station
As we were crossing a wide street with a group of pedestrians (2 of whom had dogs) an adult skate boarder flew by at warp speed just in front of us, nearly taking out a dog while going through the red light.  One guy with a dog ran after the skate boarder while hollering at him for almost hitting his dog. The skateboarder stopped, showing a cocky “yeah, so what’cha gonna do about it” kind of a attitude…only to be backed up by the second guy with his dog, and a bunch of other people who had been crossing the street in the crosswalk at the same time (I’m sure they all had places to be, but this was far more interesting).  The shouting match didn’t last long, as the police were there within 5 minutes.  I’m pretty sure it was about to come to blows…Spanish people can be very tolerant, but don’t mess with their “perros” (dogs)!  As one Basque friend told me, “They are family!”



Another guy on a horse!










No comments:

Post a Comment