Madrid and Segovia : Kicking off the trip.

The first thing that struck me as I landed at Madrid , at well past midnight that July night , was the weather. There was this sort of heat which hit me as I came out of he airport which I have only previously experienced in Bombay and Madras. There was this night breeze which was anything but chilly. It only reminds you that you in a very hot place and gives you an indication of what is to come during the day. Though the feel of summer was refreshing compared to the damp rainy setting of Gothenburg, soon things went sour. A cab driver duped me by charging me extra for the trip from the airport to the hostel. Since I had landed at 0030 and the options of public transport had died out. He used the tried and tested method of a doctored meter. It doesn’t take a genius to dupe me I suppose, ol Pietro( that’s his name) walked away with some extra bucks. And I thought such things happened only in my part of the world. Its alive and kicking in Europe as well. So people , be careful of these smooth talking cabbies of Madrid.

The rest of the gang were only arriving the next day and so there was not much activity happening on the first day. Me and Kamal went to Puerta de Sol , which is the heart of the city and walked around the place. Checked out the famous statue of the Bear and the Madrono tree. Puerta del sol is regarded as the Kilometer zero , the centre of Spain form which all distances are calculated. I had not heard much of the statue and it is a good thing that this statue is not hyped up , because , if it had been , it would have ranked along with the statue of the Pissing boy in Brussels and the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen as the most hyped and equally disappointing tourist attractions. So go without any expectations, take a few photographs of the bear and tick off your list.
Because of some confusions with flight arrivals and cancellations, we had to travel to the airport twice to pick up the friends and so by evening I was an expert in the Madrid metro and the Barajas airport layout. Either I get to spend nights in airports because I miss flights or my flights get cancelled, or I get to loiter around airports waiting for people. The patron saint of airports has got a grudge against me. By evening , the rest of the party arrived and it was time to kick off the Spanish Summer. And we kicked it off with a wild night in the pubs of Madrid. The hostel we stayed in organized a pub crawl and we went pub hopping from one place to the other, drowning a few drinks and dancing away the whole night. By the time we got back to the hostel it was almost the wee hours of the morning. It was quite a start to the trip.

The first place we chose to visit the next day was the SANTIAGO BERNEBAU. you could have given me a thousand other options and places to visit but I was not going to miss the chance to visit the home of REAL MADRID and pay my respects. We went up to to the top tier to get a magnificent view of the playing field of the Galacticos. It was an unreal feeling to be there and looking down into the field. The images of all the superstars over the years ran in my head. And later I got a chance to see their images for real , at the Real Madrid musuem. All the trophies the club has won over the years , the maximum for any club in the world , were on display. Pictures of famous victories and of legendary players adorned the museum. After which we got down to the ground level. We are of course not allowed to step into the grass, standing one feet away from the field is as close we get. But the tunnel, the dug out and the visiting team’s locker room were within bounds . The press room and the Real madrid store also was visited to round off an exhaustive trip to the Bernebau.

After a long lunch break , we visited the Retiro park. A sprawling and beautiful green lung in the centre of the city. Officially known as the Parque del Buen Retiro , this park was initially the site of a royal palace, now a favored retreat for the citizens of Madrid. The lush green pathways and ample open spaces are ideal for a break. There is a large artificial pond in the centre of the park and people were seen on paddle boats enjoying a ride. The park looked a perfect place to relax on a nice summer afternoon and that is what we did.

Next morning the road trip kicked off. Hiring a 8 seater Volkswagen Sharan from the Avis office in airport we set out for Santander, up on the Northern coast with a stopover planned at Segovia. With confusions over the right exits to take and getting used to the different way of driving (which Sid, I must say adapted very quickly to , unlike me who struggled throughout) we went off track and gave up on going to Segovia. But luckily we found a state highway to Segovia and quickly changed back to the original plans and must say it was indeed a lucky break , for Segovia is a place not to be missed.

Segovia is a UN world heritage city , which retains a lot of buildings from the Roman era. The most famous sights in Segovia would be the Roman aqua duct dating back to the 1st or 2nd century BC and the Alcazar castle, which sorts of towers over the entire countryside. The castle is also famous as the inspiration for Walt Disney to create his Cinderella castle. The city is itself is a quaint mix of the old and the new. The narrow pathways retaining the history of the olden days is dotted with souvenir shops and cafes. The church of Vera Cruz and the cathedral of Segovia are other famous attractions of Segovia. Located just one hour away from Madrid , Segovia is easily accessible as well and so anybody planning a trip to Madrid should definitely be covering this wonderful ancient town.

From Segovia , we set forth to Santander , and as the journey progressed so did the scenery of the country side. The parched, brown rolling plains , gave way to rocky mountains , which as we climbed higher soon became mist covered and even chilly at one point and we were wondering if we were going to a wrong Santander.. a Santander in the hills and not on the beach. Soon we reached the plains again and it was a world away from the dry and bare landscape of Madrid. It was lush green all over ,with an overcast grayish sky. And yes we were in the right Santander, on the coast.