Last day in Madrid, Friday, October 14

Good morning.

I'm back in the states and up early with jet lag so I thought it'd be a good time to finish journaling about my trip. I spent Friday morning on a tour of the sites involved in the Battle of Brunete. Located west of Madrid, the battle took place there in 1937 when the Republic was trying to break through the fascists' lines and relieve pressure on its troops elsewhere.This battle area was a little different than the Jarama battle sites that I had seen in May in that most of the Jarama Valley is still undeveloped olive groves whereas most of the Brunete area seemed to have been developed with housing subdivisions (urbanizaciones) dotting the landscape. But like Jarama, the International Brigades played an important role in the fighting. Once again my guide for the day was Severino Montero aka Seve who is a retired high school history teacher who now leads tours and does research about the International Brigades. We saw several important sites: the spot on the banks of the Guadarrama River that were a base for the International Brigades; the town of Brunete that was rebuilt in a grid pattern after the war by prison labor but made to look like it was old and always that way; fascists' fortifications and tunnels; Mosquito Ridge where Oliver Law, commander of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion and the first African American to lead white troops in battle was killed by a bomb; and also where photographer Gerda Taro, a colleague of photographer Robert Capa was killed in an accident with a tank. I especially enjoyed getting out of the city, seeing the countryside, and learning more about the Civil War and the International Brigades. We were joined by Andres, a young colleague of Seve's who he is training to lead the tours in the future. I enjoyed practicing my Spanish with them as neither of them knew much English.

Back in Madrid by early afternoon I decided to go back to the Malasaña neighborhood and find a place to eat away from all the tourists. A lot of restaurants (most I think) in Spain have a "menú del día" which includes two courses, a drink, bread, and dessert at a discounted rate. I found a small bar where I ate salmorejo soup (similar to gazpacho), a thin rib eye steak, bread, beer, and chocolate pudding for about $12!. Incidentally, alcohol in Spain is treated as any other beverage (no special taxes or regulations), unlike in the US, and is often cheap by our standards. After eating I went to the nearby Museum of the History of Madrid, located in a former royal hospice (whatever that means), which chronicles the history of the city from 1561, when it became the capital of Spain, up to 1919. I would have liked it to have included the Civil War and the 20th century but I was not surprised as Spain is still divided as to its legacy (sound familiar?) and no matter what they did it would be controversial. And there is only so much space. There was, however, a special exhibit of photographs from the daily newspaper ABC of Madrid between the years 1900 and 1936. What was most interesting to me was that many pictures taken around the same time showed starkly different sides of Madrid, both the wealthy bourgois city and the poor working class areas.

After visiting the museum, I decided to take the Metro to the Chamberí neighborhood where my school was and walk around a bit. But I didn't do that for too long as I was very tired. I eventually took the metro back to my hotel, packed, and watched a Spanish game show while I ate a baguette of Iberian ham, tomato paste, and olive oil that I bought at a nearby street vendor. I was very tired and went to bed early. Saturday morning, I left for the airport a little after 8am. The flight back was uneventful, but it took about an hour to get through immigration as the line was so long. One of these days I will get Global Entry which will make the process a little bit quicker. Thanks for joining me on this journey. 

Until next time.

Bill aka Carey aka Guillermo

Madrid, Thursday, Ocober 13, 2022

Greetings once again from Spain.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, exploring the palace and gardens. I took an early commuter train from Madrid that traveled along the railroad right of way of the first railroad in Spain, connecting the capital to the summer home of the royal family. The royal family no longer uses the palace as a residence--a security guard told me there isn't even a working kitchen--but it is still sometimes used for ceremonial occasions. You can read more about the history of the palace at the hyperlink that I created above. However, I will say that the palace was very ornate and much nicer looking than the El Pardo Palace that I visited last Sunday. Two rooms of the palace were especially unique: the Salon Arabé (Arab Salon), an ornate room decorated to resember the Alhambra and that was used by the King for smoking (supposedly Charles III (the Spanish one) was a big smoker); and the porcelain room where all of the walls were lined with porcelain figurines representing scenes from the orient--this was also one of Charles III favorite rooms. When I arrived at the palace, there was no line to get in; when I left the tour, there was a very long line. Yesterday was the national holiday of Spain (Día de la Hispanidad) and many people obviously came to Aranjuez to enjoy the palace and gardens. The gardens were quite large and included trees from the new world, such as Magnolias from North America and palm trees from South America. I especially enjoyed seeing many Sycamore trees lining the walk along the Tagus river. I spent well over an hour in the gardens and definitely got some good walking in. I ate lunch at a nearby sidewalk cafe in the town before returning in the late afternoon to Madrid.

As you may remember from my trip in May, I had tried to see Susi, the daughter of the Señora that I lived with 32 years ago when I studied here but was unfortunately unable to connect. So abot a month ago, I wrote to her and included a photo of us from all those years ago. In the letter I gave her my phone number and asked her to contact me through WhatsApp which she did. And last night we met up in front of the old apartment, where she now lives, and went to have drinks and some food at a nearby outdoor cafe (there are thousands of them in Madrid, much like Paris). We talked for four hours and it was like the old days when we all used to sit around the table after lunch for what they call la sobremesa (after table), a time for conversation. I was able to learn more about her mother and her condition. She is in a nursing home and just turned 100 years old. Her mind is fine but she has macular degeneration, poor hearing, and can no longer walk having broken both of her hips during a fall a few years ago. Susi and I talked a lot about the civil war and what her mother went through. I was able to fill in many of the gaps in the story of her mother that I always wondered about. The Señora, Ana, did not like to talk about the war or the dictatorship and whenever we asked questions, she would answer but would become so upset that I was afraid to ask more. I have never seen that kind of pain and anger in another person. 

According to Susi, Ana was about 14 when the war started and 17 when it ended. She lost friends, saw dead people in the streets after numerous bombings, and faced great uncertainty when her father was imprisoned after the war for being a socialist, even though he hadn't killed anyone or even been in the fighting--he was an accountant at a bank. I knew he had been imprisoned, but I didn't know why. According to Susi, he was tricked into turning himself in when the francoists announced that if you hadn't killed anyone, you could go to the police station and receive a light sentence instead of death. This he did and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, although he was released after 10 because he was sick. I have read about the francoist jails: they were overcrowded, and the prisoners were often tortured and starved. I can't imagine what that was like for her. Susi also told me that for her mom, the post war period was much worse than the war itself. According to Susi, there was almost no food in the cities. The francoist government distributed to each person each week one egg, one loaf of bread, and one cup of oil (or something like that). Her mom remembers being so hungry that she frequently fainted. The post war period and repression went on throught most of the 40s. No wonder Ana never liked to talk about it. These stories made me cry. A lot of other things suddenly made sense, such as why she would get angry if we didn't eat everything on our plate (which I often didn't do, being a very picky eater at the time). But we didn't just talk about war. We also talked about our families current events in Spain, life, etc. It was a delightful evening and the best part of the trip. In fact, the whole trip was worth it just for that. 

Susi wanted to try to arrange for me to see Ana today, but it did not work out due to the demands of Susi's work and the rules of the nursing home which require that I be accompanied by a family member. I am disappointed but also confident that I did all that I could. Susi showed me some videos of Ana and I am going to record one for her to show her when she sees her this Sunday. Susi also promised to stay in touch and let me know if anything happens to her mom. I assured Susi that she and I would see each other again as I intend to visit Spain more in the coming years.

I have not done much today as I am exhausted from all the walking in the cemetery two days ago and the palace gardens yesterday (I am out of shape). This morning I rode a city bus up the Castellana, a large tree lined boulevard that connects the old and new parts of Madrid. For me, this is one of the most beautiful streets in the world as it is broad and lined with trees and cafes, and has monuments at several intersections. The neighborhood where I once lived is just off this street by the Santiago Benabeu stadium, the home of the Real Madrid soccer team. I came back by way of Metro and ate a calamari sandwhich and patatas bravas (fried potato wedges with a slightly spicy sauce) at a cafe in the Plaza Mayor. I walked around a tiny bit afteward but have been resting in my hotel most of the afternoon. Tomorrow, I have a morning tour of the Brunete battle aread west of Madrid and I want to be well rested for it.

Hasta luego!

Bill aka Carey aka Guillermo

Madrid, Tuesday, Ocober 11, 2022.

Greetings once again from Madrid. 

Today I spent most of the day walking around the enormous Cementerio de la Almudena. The cemetery lies on the eastern side of Madrid and is one of the largest in Europe. There are an estimated 5 million people buried there which is larger than the population of Madrid. I am pretty sure I walked at least 5 miles today as I visited numerous graves of famous Spaniards, most of them involved in the Civil War. I found the graves using Google Maps which had them marked online. I wouldn't have been able to find them all without it. Love technology. Anyway, the most moving spot for me was a spot along the western wall of the cemetery where there were several memorials to people shot during Franco's post war repression. One of these involved picutres hanging from string against a wall where at least 3000 were shot during the repression. Each picture was laminated and had a QR code that I could scan with my phone and then read about their life. I did this for several. I also tried to say as many of the names outloud as I could because if I'm ever shot against a wall I hope someone will remember my name. Adjacent to this was the memorial to las Trece Rosas (13 roses), 13 very young (some teenagers) members of the socialist youth who were executed against this wall shortly after the fall of Madrid. I stayed in this area of the cemetery for sometime. While there, I noticed a flowere stall just outside so I walked over to it and bought some carnations to leave by the wall. There were many flowers and other makeshift memorial. I also saw numerous graves of Franco's fellow conspirators. other leaders of the Republic, Spanish singers Lola Flores and Cecilia, and Dolores Ibarurri, la Pasionaria, wartime leader of the Communist Party of Spain and fanastic orator who fled in 1939 for exile in the Soviet Union and then returned to Spain in 1978 and took up her same seat in the Congress of Deputies, representing Asturias as she had before the war. She died the year before I studied here. At the time, I had never heard of her. You can see a short clip of one of her speeches here. I actually listened to that on my phone while I stood there. Fortunately, there was no one around in this part of the cemetery which is set apart for all non-catholics, mainly atheists and protestants; the small adjacent Jewish cemetery was closed.

After about three or four hours of walking (and I forgot to put on the sunscreen that I brought), I took the Metro back into the central part of the city and ate lunch at a sidewalk cafe in Madrid's gay neighborhood, Chueca. About 30 minutes after sitting down, I was afraid I would fall asleep. I hadn't walked that much in a while as my exercise routine is still out of whack since the pandemic (what that really means is I haven't been very good about exercising lately; I know; I know). Fortunately, I didn't fall asleep and had a lovely slow late lunch while I read the Economist and watched the crowds walking by. I got back to my hotel with enough time to rest before meeting up with my friend Almudena Cros who had given me a tour of Civil War sites in Madrid back in May and arranged my visit to the Jarama Battlefield. Since tourism has picked up, she has been very busy but we were able to spend about an hour togehter catching up. I would have loved to have had more time but I am also happy that her work is going so well. We will see each other again I am sure and we text all the time on WhatsApp.

And that's basically it for today. I am exhausted and going to bed early. I am really enjoying seeing some of the not so familiar parts of Madrid that I heard about when I lived here but never visited, such as the cemetery. More to come. Hasta luego!

Bill aka Carey aka Guillermo

Back in Madrid, Monday, October 10, 2022

Well, it didn't take me near as long to come back to Madrid this time as it's only been 6 months (compared to 32 years when I returned this past May). I decided to come back because there was more I wanted to see and I have saved up vacation time and money from not travling for two years. I've now spent three days here and decided to write a little bit about what I've done so far. I do this mainly for my family and friends that used to read the emails I would send back from my travles (a tradition started by my cousin Will). Just saying this because I don't mean to brag or boast. I hope whoever reads this enjoys it and gets something out of it.

I arrived in Madrd this past Saturday morning, exhausted from a flight that was just bumpy enough to make sleeping on the plane even harder than it already is. I checked into my hotel (my room was ready!), found a place for a quick breakfast, and then took a three hour nap. When I got up I headed to El Barrio de las Letras (the literary quarter) where many Spanish writers once lived, such as Cervantes and Lope de Vega. I saw the spot where Cervantes once lived and where he died although the building is not the same. I also was able to see the patio in the Lope de Vega house, but the rest of the house was by appointment only. Oh well. I found a tapas bar and enjoyed a slice of Tortilla Española (Spanish potato omelette) and a local IPA (I was suprised that IPAs even existed here) before heading to the Thyssen Bornemisza art museum. This is the massive private collection of Baron Thyssen Bornemisza that after it toured the world for much of the 80s, he decided to sell most of his collection to the Spanish government (775 paintings for $350 million) in 1992, after I lived here as a student. I enjoyed the museum but not as much as El Prado, and after a while I got tired of seeing paintings of Mary and Jesus. The Thyssen has paintings from many epochs, from medieval to Renaissance to modern. I enjoyed the modern most of all. There was a painting by Richard Estes of telephone booths in NYC that my brother used to have a poster of in his bedroom when we were kids. He had seen the painting on a middle school field trip to NYC when the Thyssen collection was there on tour. He no longer has the poster so I bought him another one in the gift shop. One interesting  thing about the museum is that they had a very large collection of art from the United States. In fact, that was what I saw first which was a little strange having just arrived in Spain from the US. Later that night I went back to the Casa de Champiñones (houst of mushrooms) for dinner. Deliciosa!

Yesterday, after breakfast, I took a commuter bus to the Palace of El Pardo which is to the north of Madrid and was built in the 15th century as a hunting lodge for the king. It was later expanded under the Bourbons in the 18th century into the palace that it is today. From 1939 until 1975, the palace was occupied by dictator Francisco Franco as his official residence. Today it is used as a guest house for visiting heads of state (sort of like Blair House in Washington, DC but bigger and outside of the city). Almost all of the rooms we saw were decorated with tapistries, many based on paintings by Goya, from Belgium and Spain. The only rooms we saw that had anything to do with him were his cabinet room and his office. The office is still set up as it was when he was dictator. As I looked at the desk I wondered to myself how many death warrants he had signed from that desk; certainly thousands. Thinking about that gave me the heebeejeebees. I was very tempted to spit at the desk but somehow resisted. The entire tour was in Spanish and I was able to understand almost everything. It was a beautiful day and afterward I walked around a bit and had lunch at a nearby cafe. In the gift shop of the palace I had bought a book of photos of the Civil War and a couple of post cards. I forgot them when I left the cafe and didn't remember until I was on the bust back to the city and did not feel like getting off, waiting for a bus to go back, etc. Oh well. At least it was only a small book and post cards. I'm sure I can find that book elsewhere.

After resting at my hotel, I headed for the Malasaña neighborhood where I went on a pre-arranged Tapas walking tour. There were six of us on the tour plus a guide who was from Madrid. We all got a long great as we wandered the neighborhood, learned a bit about its history, and went to four Tapas bars. We were all from the states and got along really well. It was a delightful evening and I enjoyd seeing this neighborhood that was the center of La Movida Madrileña in the 1980s but that I had never been too (why?!) when I lived here in 1990 and didn't go out (I know; I know). The Movida was a virtual explosion of culture, art, and, yes, partying that resulted from the death of Franco and the transition to democracy when most Madrileños had their first taste of freedom. I had no idea when I lived here that I was living through the end of such an important time in the history of Madrid and of Spain. But I really appreciate it now. The films of Pedro Almodovar from this time period, such as Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, What Have I Done to Deserve This?, and Tie Me Up Tie Me Down are examples of the artistic expression that flourished during this time. If you haven't seen these, you should at least see Women on theVerge... his best film in my opinion and the colors and the technology (or lack thereof) remind me of my time here.

Today I spent most of the day with my former art history teacher Marisa Marina Lopez. In the morning, I met the students from Furman University who are here now doing the same program (at la Universidad de Nebrija) that I did 32 years ago. Afterward, I walked over to the Parque del Oeste (Western Park) to see the gun fortifications from the Civil War. There were three of them in a row at the top of a ridge with no historical marker or notations of any kind. If you didn't know there had been a war, you wouldn't know whey they were there. While looking at them, two older women came by talking about them and so I asked if they knew if they were fortifications of the Spanish Republic or of the Franquistas and they said they were the latter. We talked for a few minutes in Spanish about the war and about Madrid. They complimented my on my Spanish which I appreciated. I met Marisa back at the school at 1:30 and we walked to a neaby tapas bar. After an hour or so, we went to another where we sat outside, ate and drank, and talked for about 5 hours! All of this in Spanish. I'm pretty comfortable with my Spanish but it is not easy and it is not natural for me like English so when Marisa complimented me it really meant a lot. We talked about our families, the Civil War, Spanish politics, food, movies, etc. It was a wonderful afternoon and I'm so grateful to have reconnected after all this time. Well that's it for now. Thank you for sharing this experience with me. Hasta luego. (Please forgive any spelling or grammatical errors).

Bill aka Carey aka Guillermo