Buenas tardes,
I have had a busy and exciting couple of days in Madrid. On Wednesay, I spent most of the day in Chinchon, a small town about 30 miles or so from Madrid. Although not connected to the train, it was easy and cheap to get to by commuter, bus passing through olive groves on the way. Chinchon is a popular day trip from Madrid for tourists and Spaniards, especially on the weekends. Fortunately, I was there in the middle of the week and had it all almost completely to myself. After having second breakfast (more Iberian ham!) at a cafe on the Plaza Mayor, I got a map at the tourist office, and started to explore. I stopped first at the Ethnographic Museum which had a lot of artifacts of Chinchon from various time periods, donated by local residents. They had tapestries, clothes, lots of horse riding equipment, tax receipts, pictures, etc. It was quite enjoyable. After that, I really just walked around. Chinchon has lots of narrow old streets and is quite hilly. I got some great shots from the little park in front of the Church of Our Lady of Assumption. The church has an altar painting by Goya, but I didn't get to see it because it was closed. I also saw the nearby clock tower which used to be part of a church but the church has long been gone. This gives rise to the saying, "Chinchon tiene una torre sin iglesia, y una iglesia sin torre" (Chinchon has a tower without a church and a church without a tower). I had a nice quiet lunch at a cafe near a former convent that is now a hotel. Afterward, I walked to the ruins of the Castle of Chinchon which is almost completely surrounded by a fence as it is private property. However, there was a space between two posts that didn't have fencing and so I walked through and was able to see it more up close and walk on the bridge over the dry moat. Despite not being able to go inside, it was worth it for the views of the Jarama Valley and the skyline of Madrid off in the distance. And that was it for my trip to Chinchon. I picked up the bus and came back to Madrid, where I spent several hours just resting and cooling off. The sun has been unrelenting. Although it's only been in the low 70s, it has felt like an oven at times. And it doesn't seem to matter at all that it's a very dry heat. Can't imagine being here in July. There is AC at my hotel but it's just so so. The Europeans just don't do AC like we Americans.
While I cooled off, I watched a little bit of the Rafa Nadal tennis match on the TV. This was as close as I got to seeing him in Madrid. But I did have a ticket to the night session (8pm) at the Madrid Open. The tennis tournament takes place this time every year in the Caja Magica (magic box) tennis venue on the south side of Madrid. This is the nicest sports facility that I have ever seen. It was practically sparkling it was so clean and modern (the concourses were carpeted!). It was hard to believe I was still in Spain because there was nothing like this when I lived here 30 years ago. My ticket was for the main stadium and I got to see American Jessica Pegula play Spainard Sorribes Tormo and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas play the Frenchman Lucas Pouille. Ironically, I had seen Pouille before at the US Open in an amazing match where he beat Nadal. He wasn't playing near as well last night. Tsitsipas won the first set and I was so tired and it was so late, that I decided to leave and go to bed, knowing I had an early morning today. But I am glad I went and got to see some tennis on clay in a foreign country. And as nice as the stadium was, I do have a few critiques: You could not take any food into the stands (probably why it is so clean), there were no water fountains (I realize they're a rarity in Europe), and when you bought bottled water they kept the lid, preventing you from refilling it in the bathroom. No me gusta. Another strange thing was that despite having to go through a gate and get your ticket scanned to get into the larger facilty, every time you left the stadium to do anything, you had to have it scanned and then rescanned when you went back in; I have no idea why. Nevertheless, it was a nice evening and I'm glad I got to see such an amazing facility. Spain has certainly become wealthier in the last 30 years, for better or worse (I don't remember seeing homeless people here before, for example).
Today, I met Almudena "Almu" (who had given me my tour this past Monday), an expert on the Battle of Jarama, Severino "Seve" Montero, and guide in training, Carlos, at 9am near the Atoche train station and we drove out to the "valley" of the Jarama river to explore about 10 sites related to the battle that took place there in Februrary 1937 (I say valley because it's really more like a large plane surrounding the river with hills in various spots; an enormous area of many sqare miles). During the Civil War, many foreign volunteers came to Spain to fight on the side of the Republic, including many from the United States. These groups were known as the International Brigades and one of the battalioins within the brigades was the Abraham Lincoln Battalion. Most of the tour today was about and in honor of the International Brigades. Seve is an expert about the brigades and the battle. He knew dates when troops arrived, where they were stationed, the names of those who died, etc. We spent most of the morning speaking Spanish. I understood almost everything and when I didn't I asked Almu to translate. We stopped in numerous places, hills covered with weeds, olive groves (many that I had passed the day before), almond orchards, a small town, and a cemetery. Everywhere we saw evidence of the war: machine gun nests, lots and lots of trenches, discarded shells, and many monuments. It was a fascinating day. At one point, we stopped at a memorial that Almu and her husband had made to the Abraham Lincoln Battalion near an olive grove where a lot of fighting had happened, some of at very close range. I asked for a moment to just look and reflect which they were happy to give me. I found it very moving to think of so many Americans giving their lives for a cause they believed in in a country that wasn't theirs. Many of the volunteers who made it back to the US were later black listed during the red scare and couldn't find work. So they sacrificed a lot. Many African Americans volunteered in the brigades where they were treated like any other soldier and completely integrated into the battalion. At the end of the tour, we stopped in the town of Morata de Tajuna where we stopped for a beer and then went to the local cemetery to see a monument over a mass grave. The monument was put there during the socialist premiership of Felipe Gonzalez in the 1990s at the insistence of Edward Heath (former Conservative British PM) of all people. As we were reading the inscription, a man came by with flowers that he was going to put on another grave and he told us that he and his father (the local grave digger) had built the monument. He told us all about how the grave had been moved from one part of the cemetery to the spot where the monument is now, how they built it, the trees they planted in memory, etc. An amazing coincidence and I loved hearing his story. It was a great way to cap off what had been a fascinating tour. Seve dropped us all off near the train station once again, and I took Almu to get a drink and had a light lunch, before returning to my hotel to rest and write.
Thirty two years ago when one of our professors took us on a tour of Hapsburg Madrid (most of the historic center), we passed a restaurant called Sobrino de Botin. We were told that Hemingway at eaten there, that it was the oldest restaurant in the world (according to the Guiness Book of World Records), that the painter Goya once worked there, and that it was one of the best, if not the best, in Madrid. At the time I didn't even think of going there because I didn't have much money as a student. Well, I finally got to eat there tonight and it was worth the wait. The restaurant has been in continuous existence since 1725 and their specialty is roast suckling pig (20 weeks old, I think). I was seated in the basement room which was more like a cave and ordered the house menu which consited of garlic soup, 1/4 roast suckling pig with potatoes, dessert, half a bottle of wine, water, and bread. It was wonderful. However, eating a quarter pig on the bone with a knife and fork was a bit of a chore and I resisted the urge to pick it up and eat it with my fingers. Part way through my meal I had a lovely conversation with a couple next to me who was from Argentina but who now live in Weston, Florida near Fort Lauderdale. I took a picture of them and promised to send it to their email address and to keep in touch. That is the kind of experience that I never have when I'm traveling with another person; one of the benefits of solo travel. And when I eat by myself I always take something to read so I don't feel awkward.
Anyway, after dinner I decided I needed a walk so I walked down to the Cibeles Fountain in front of the Palacio de Comuncaciones and took some pictures. This is one of my favorite spots in Madrid and just stood and stared at it for a while. It is normally surrounded by Spanish flags but for now they are flying the flags of Spain and Ukraine. After taking several photos, I walked up the Gran Via and back to my hotel to finish this entry and go to bed. I am not setting an alarm tomorrow and have no firm plans other than to get a COVID test so that I can get back into the US on Saturday. I am having a wonderful time!
Good night.
Bill aka Carey aka Guillermo
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