marvellous Madrid

Madrid

For 8 months of the year Madrid goes without any rainfall, and although there are many, many huge tress and  fountains throughout the city all of them use recycled water. The south of Spain is dryer than the north with a small desert down in the bottom right of the country called the desert of Tabarno. Just near here is where they grow tomatoes. 70% of all tomatoes used in the UK come from Spain and the best variety is Raff.

 As we’ve travelled around the countryside we’ve seen forests of Wind Farms on the tops of ridges and learned that de-salination plants were established on the Canary Islands because there was so little rainfall there. Franco was aware of this and in the last years of his ‘dictatorship’ in the early 70’a he created great reservoirs throughout the country. In Valencia they have a ‘tribunal of the waters’.

We’ve spoken a lot to the Spaniards about the global recession and the particular problems of Spain. Apart from the inequity of the 7% interest rate from the German global banks loans the political structure in Spain has become quite unwieldy.

There are 17 autonomous regions or communities and many of them have their own government with their own laws and languages. Andalucía (south) has 8 provinces each with their own local government. I’ve been told that there are 455,000 politicians on the payroll!

Another reason that Spain is suffering so much at the moment is that it has to support a brilliant infrastructure. It appears to me that all the small time politicians in the provinces stay in power by giving the people what they want, there are 52 airports in Spain as well as high speed trains (RENFE) connecting all parts of the country and fantastic, well maintained highways and historical buildings and gardens. The over abundance of politicians in each local government gains favour with the local people by providing excellent infrastructure. Compare the 52 airports in a country  one fifteenth the size of Australia which has 26 international airports (Ireland has 4) and 15 regional airports. High speed rail projects have been under investigation in Australia since the 80’s although it hasn’t progressed past the planning stage. Spain on the other hand has 9,000 kilometres of fast speed railway!

The payment from the government for unemployed young people is around 1,000 euros a month but this is only paid for 18 months. To rent a modest two bedroom apartment in Madrid costs about 1,000 a month. Most young people live at home until they are 32 or 33 years old.

The economic recession has hit hard and there are now around one million apartments that were in the process of being built but now vacant not so surprising when we were told that 40% of all apartments built in Europe in the last 5 years were built in Spain.

One of our Spanish friends who is an engineer gave us a fascinating talk about building roads in Spain. A normal stretch of road costs 3 million euros a kilometre and bridges and tunnels cost 30 to 50 million euros a kilometre. It gave us all a new respect for roads! Many areas such as Cadis and Seville to Leon are built along the original roman roads.

He spoke about the difficulty of building a road when so many excavations produce remnants of roman ruins. He told us that along that road Merida is a Roman City where you can see the Granite base of the military base which is generally 1 mile long and half a mile wide with manor houses and churches contained within it. Outside are the remnants of the Jewish quarter. Merida also has the best Roman theatre where you can actually watch theatre presentation in the ancient Roman theatre.  There is also a hippodrome nearby.

Our time in Madrid was far too short. Our last night in Madrid we took a tour bus around the city. Sitting on the front seat of the top deck, listening to a commentary with headphones in English at 8pm and 35 degrees was fantastic. We realise that to enjoy Madrid properly would take months. It is a magic city full of green leafy chestnut trees, amazing architecture and fabulous fountains and littered with museums and art galleries that we had no time to visit. It definitely deserves another visit.

Around 10.30pm after our bus tour we went back to our favourite tapas bar for wine garlic prawns and chicken skewers all washed down with a lovely crisp Spanish Verdelho. Sitting at the edge of the park being entertained by roving musicians, talking together and to our favourite Spanish waiter was a lovely end to our Spanish holiday.

Our bright and breezy disposition deteriorated as we left Madrid when we realised that  Jim’s new leather manbag complete with the new video camera (and a week’s worth of photos and video)  and Mukiem our travelling bear companion had disappeared. With no Spanish and a plane to catch we were forced to be philosophical about the loss, but the videos from our English program will be sorely missed.

Awesome Avila (Gredos)

Avila is located at 111km North West of Madrid the Capital of Spain.

Ávila de los Caballeros, the real name of the town, is also the capital of the province with the same name, it is now part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, In Spain few cities, like Barcelona, or Madrid are at the same time a city name and a region or province name.

The city is 1117 meters (3665 feet) above sea level, the highest provincial capital in Spain. It is built on the flat summit of a rocky hill, and is surrounded by a landscape strewn with immense grey boulders, and surrounded by soaring mountains.

This hotel is located virtually in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by farms and mountains in the distance. It is a lovely calm, rejuvenating place to relax.The rooms are comfortable and most have a spa bath (which they call a jacuzzi, but it really is just a normal bath with jets). The rooms are modern with huge timber beams and all the amenities that go with four star hotels.

Near the main house is an old shearing shed that has been converted into a gym, sauna and huge indoor pool with opening bi fold walls that look out to the mountains. We have set meals, three courses with wine and a salad bar.

  

It's a lovely place to unwind in the clean mountain air and there is a beautiful river within easy walking distance to swim in. We went down to the river and put our feet in and a million tiny fishes nibbled at the dead skin on our feet, so tickly.

We have only six wonderful Spaniards on our program, Fernando, L and Fernando, P, Julian, Manuel, Marissa, and Sol.

We also have thirteen English speakers, Gerry (Ireland) Linda, Barbara, Brandi, Cheri,  and Mary (USA) Taissa,Brazil, Glenys, Karen, (UK) Kaz (NZ) and Jim and I (Aust)

And our master of ceremonies Tom and Carmen the organiser.

  

Our day begins at 9am with a shared breakfast. Small tables each with at least one Spaniard. A smorgasbord of cereals, pastries, croissants, breads, smoked salmon eggs, tomatoes, juice tea or coffee and beautiful fruit, nuts, local peaches and cherries. Delicious!

10am till 1pm are either one to one (English with Spanish) sometimes teleconference or just sitting in the shade or walking and talking. At 1pm we come together for a group activity, which usually involves a lot of laughing and then at 2pm it is lunch for an hour, again a  shared meal with Spaniards.

Lunch is followed by a siesta till 5pm.

From 5pm till 8pm we have group activities, theatres sports, skits, improvisations and much hilarity. This is sometimes followed by a one to one before dinner at 9pm.

From 10pm onwards if free time but often means congregating in the bar for some songs, a game of bingo or just sitting chatting with the Spaniards.

Included in each day is an hour (or sometimes two) of free time where you can rest, do your washing, go for a swim or to the village (or write a blog) or look at stork's nesting on the cathedral.

The one on pone’s are fascinating. I look forward to them even though you must be totally focussed and concentrating for one hour. In these intense discussions you learn so much about the Spanish way of life. The people are warm, interesting and funny and very open to having fun. We have travelled into fragile territory discussing religion, politics, the economy, homosexuality – no subject has been excluded and the Spaniards are open, intelligent and quick to learn. I feel so privileged to have shared this week with them.

As part of the English immersion program the Spanish are required to make a short presentation in English, a daunting task for anyone but a colossal task for a fledgling English speaker. Each of our Spanish friends presented on a different subject.

How stressful presentations are, the stages of road building, a trip by barge along a canal, the history of the town of Avilla, the emergence of a shopping centre built in an old railway station and the annual festival held in Julian’s home town of Seville.

The presentations were great, informative, interesting and funny and the Spaniards were so brave to make them. There was also lots of theatre and skits that had us laughing till we cried. I was so sad when the week came to an end and we had to say goodbye. I will carry such warm memories of the Spaniards and the Spanish countryside from that week forward in my heart. It was an awesome adventure.