FRIDAY-11.15.2-Day 14 –

Madrid
Homeward bound

The alarm was getting good at jarring us from a deep slumber. I nudged the groggy Cuban Lady out of her cocoon and did the morning rituals in a slight fog. Since we packed the night before… it was just a matter of zipping it all up, and heading down for a quick Desayuno before the cab to Barajas Airport.

We were a bit concerned about the traffic, as we were told that everyone brings their car in on Friday so they can head out early after work for the weekend of partying in the outskirts. As a result we headed out early ourselves expecting a long wait at check in. The ride in was smooth, and the line at the airport was long as expected.

Not much incident in processing, we got a security trainee at the first leg and a broken baggage label machine at the second leg of check in but all in all, pretty much expected.
Last minute goodies at the duty free shop were in order, and we settled in with a cup of coffee to wait the departure of our flight, which was running late getting in for the turn around. We actually started boarding only 30 minutes late and had a chance to settle in comfortably for take off.

Now the trip to the airport was about 25 minutes from the hotel…. The airport in Madrid is soooooo large [how large is it] it’s soooooo large that our aircraft taxied about 20+ minutes before reaching the take off runway. If my calculations are correct [and Illy swears they are] after all that taxi time, we took off about 2 blocks from the hotel… Had I known this… I would have saved the cab fare and just had them pick us up on the way up the runway and bypassed security!!!

The flight home was very uneventful. We chased the sun all day and had two reruns of some old sitcoms in 3 languages. I had the chance to write the last two NOWAT from Barcelona before the battery on the laptop started to give out. I found a DC adapter in the seat behind us and was able to finish most of the notes before we landed.

Arriving at MIA along with 4 other international flights was a nightmare. Signage to Immigration at MIA is not much better than the streets of Granada. And the staffing was deplorable. We landed at 3:15 and did not clear INS until 430… and we were in the short line! Of course we were behind several Naturalized citizens and with recent events they took longer than normal to process.

After that we headed down to custom. They must have felt sorry for everyone because they literally hustled us though customs with out a wink. We were off to the nearest phone, to find our ride was already in the area so the wait at the curb was short.

And so dear friends, family and innocent bystanders, thus ends the most recent saga and exploits of the Wacky American Tourist and his ever-patient White Knuckle Navigator Illy on their search for her ancestors, a little Ancient History, Great Photo Ops and a bottle of Fine Spanish Brandy. But wait…. There’s just a little more…

Unfortunately… we did not have much luck with the Ancestral search [hopefully the Magical Lt. Amerigo will come through]. We did get our arms around a LOT of History and art, The Photo ops were outstanding, 27 rolls worth [the processing bill will be outrageous] and Yes Annie, we found that Bottle of Fine Spanish Brandy…

[Ed. Note, Lt. Amerigo of Barcelona DID come through and received her Great Grandfathers full Military records in the mail in January 2003, this will go a long way in anchoring the Ancestral search in the future.]

In this our Last NOWAT - ESPAÑA we’d like to take a moment for some final observations about Spain in general and certain cities in particular.

We had a BLAST even though it was a bit of a whirlwind at times.
Sorta like “If today’s Wednesday, this must be Seville”.

While overall it was a most enjoyable adventure, we do not recommend as aggressive an itinerary as we had. Were it not for the need to include Barcelona in this trip, not only as a “Must Do” according to friends, but also because of the ancestral search, this really should have required two separate trips to do the country justice, one trip to cover the North and one for the South. Almost two plus days cumulative time was spent driving. While we got the chance to see some fabulous scenery, some of the smaller villages we blew through truly deserved closer inspection as they too held some rich history. The country is dotted liberally with castles and historic monuments that deserve closer investigation.

It would be great to organize a Castile Leon tour of nothing but castles and Alcazars, [although I'm sure some one already has]. We missed getting to Segovia and Avila, with their Roman aqueducts, still in use today. It would have been nice also to get down to the coast, from Cadiz to Marbella, and possibly over to Mallorca to investigate some more leads on some of her relatives

A suggested itinerary for future travelers might be:
Madrid – Toledo – Cordoba – Sevilla –Granada – Madrid, covering the plains of La Mancha and the southern region of Al Andalus with side trips down to the coast from Seville and Granada
For the north it might be,
Barcelona – Taragona – Zaragoza – Santandar [Rioja] – Gijon [Asturias] and Corunna [Galicia].

Just a thought. Besides if you don’t want to do all that driving, there are plenty of Tour groups that have these identical itineraries.

A special note regarding Sleeping arrangements: When traveling with a significant other and booking reservations, including the Paradores, do not ask for a double room for two people unless you want twin beds. If you want a Full sized or Queen Sized bed, you must ask for a “Cama Matrimonio” [Matrimonial bed]. Once again, we found this out all too late but at least the twin beds were pushed together at most venues except Granada.

When it comes to lodging, the more Paradores that you can book the better. These are the State owned and operated hotels that are located in many national treasures such as monasteries, fortresses, convents etc, and are as long on art and history as they are on hospitality. They rival most 4 and 5 star hotels anywhere and the staff in each one is the most gracious. The mix of a typically decorated guest room coupled with ultra modern baths is a contradiction that is well appreciated. They have several special deals and discount plans including the Tarjeta Cinco Noches [5 night’s card] where if you book a minimum of 5 nights the cost is significantly discounted. And of course there is the Dias Dorado [Golden Days] for those over 60 that Chuckie booked. Go to, www.parador.es Online, they have it all there, and you can either book online or through the various agents in the US. [Hey…. does this entitle me to a commission???]

The women of Spain are very elegant and dress quite stylishly, however we did note that they wear very little make up. [The classy ones that is] Of course you always have that garish few, especially the very young, where piercing and multi color hair seems to be the rage.

Madrid is exceptionally clean whereas Barcelona and Seville are a bit on the grimy side. Granada was sort in the middle, but Ohhhh the Grafiti. Everywhere! Political, nonsensical, Hip etc. As with any graffiti culture, you had your budding artists as well as the typical gang taggers. Nothing was exempt from the vandals, a shame because several monuments were defaced along with everything else.

We had been warned by so many different folks, tour guides, locals and the like, to beware of the thieves, pickpockets, gypsies etc., that it curbed our desire to mingle more with the people and get the true flavor of Spain as we did in Italy. It should be enough to say, “Be aware of your surroundings, and don’t get caught where you could be in jeopardy” otherwise, go and enjoy yourselves.

In spite of all her Oooofffing and Eeeeekking the White Knuckle Navigator remarked often that Spaniards drive much more politely than the Italians, except for the Moto’s [who she swears must have gone to a special Kamakaize school] and a few rude city truck drivers. For the most part, though the long haul drivers are extremely courteous and often helpful.

To all who have received all our notes, we sincerely hope you have enjoyed traveling with the Wacky American Tourist and the ever lovely if not sometimes Feisty Cuban Lady. Thanks for bearing with our little diatribe, we pray that we haven’t bored you too much with our fun, follies, adventures and sometimes anal details of what was a truly fun step back into the ancient past, as well as a fabulous taste of Modern Spain.
The 850 photos [!?!] will be developed in the next couple days and while Illy compiles the albums [Gawd…that will be a chore] I will contemplate doing as last year and uploading a mini album on my yahoo photo site. I’ll let you know when they will go up, for those of you not fortunate enough to enjoy the forthcoming “Illy’s Traveling Album Show.”
Drop us a note with your comment s and questions [please keep it civil…] and lets know if it was “Good For You Too”.

Thanks again for traveling with us, we just wish each and every one of you could have been along to savor the sights, sounds and flavors that are exclusively España.

Wishing you all Peace, Love, And Happiness, and reminding you to:

Work like you don’t need the money.
Love like you’ve never been hurt.
Dance like nobody’s watching.
And… during life's darkest moments...
Remember the 4 most important words:
"This Too Shall Pass!"

Ciao 4 NowChuck and the very tired, jet lagged but highly content, Cuban Lady