More New Things
We were privileged to travel to Madrid, Cieza and Murica to see a little kingdom work on behalf of RMM and do some sightseeing in the process. We stayed at a quaint little hostal on the fifth floor of a building in the heart of Madrid. This old cage elevator took us faithfully up and down.
Madrid is huge compared to Granada. In the very center of town is the Plaza del Oro. Many important historical events took place here, including the beginning of the war against Napoleon in 1808. This building was used during the Franco dictatorship as a police headquarters. It’s now the governor’s office.
The guards of the city government buildings have these funny hats with a square back. Some think it may be to permit them to rest their head as they lean on the wall behind them to take a smoke.
This marker in Plaza del Oro marks the center point of Spain, kilometer 0, from which mileage (or kilometrage) is marked throughout the country.
There used to be bears in the king’s hunting grounds around Madrid hundreds of years ago. This is probably the only bear you’ll see now. The “madroño” tree produces a berry which was (is?) used to produce a local brand of liquer.
Plaza del Oro at night. This “Tío Pepe” sign was the first billboard in Madrid some 100 yrs. ago.
Plaza Mayor is just what the name says – ‘major.’ It’s a huge, enclosed plaza that throughout history saw major events take place, including Inquisition trials and execution of Protestants. Sobering! Now it houses government offices, ‘touristy’ restaurants, and various and sundry exhibitions. Mexico was featured the weekend we were there. By the way, the populace of Madrid consumes 1,000 tons of seafood a day!
There are some interesting ways of making a living in Madrid, apart from “normal” jobs. How about being a “living statue?” I’m not sure who this lady represents.
But it’s pretty clear what this one does! They stay rigid until someone throws a coin into the box, then they move around a little. I don’t know how they can paint themselves up and dress like that, and stay stick-still in near 100 degree heat!
Or if you can sing or play something, there are options – this Mexican mariachi group
Or what looked like a Thai musician sawing on this one-stringed instrument,
Or you can get creative like this glass musician. Nice music.
Madrid is home to the Royal Palace, the former home of kings and queens. It’s still used by King Juan Carlos for official state functions, mainly the hosting of foreign dignitaries for receptions, dinners, signing of important documents like Spain joining the European Union in 1985. We were not allowed to take pictures, but if you can imagine… sumptuous decorations, paintings, tapestries, chandeliers, royal bedchambers – it gives new meaning to the phrase, “fit for a king.” In one room was a Stradivarius string quartet: two violins, a viola and a cello – behind lock and key, of course, but the instruments are still played on special occasions. How many thousands (millions?) of dollars do they represent. We also toured the armory, full of medieval-looking armor for various and sundry kings and their steeds. Sorry we can’t provide pictures! We also spent some time in the Prado Museum, looking at some magnificent paintings, including an extensive collection of Francisco Goya, a Spanish artist.
The U.S. has their 9/11. Spain has their 3/11 of 2004, the day of the terrorist subway bombings in Madrid. The Antoch train station, shown here, was a main target.
There is huge, 300 acre park in the middle of Madrid, “El Retiro,” where you can walk and walk and walk (or run, or bike), and on the way see fountains,
Lakes,
And flower gardens.
Of course, all the walking can make you tired, like these guys in the photo!
We visited with Fred & Mary Kay Eichelman in San Agustín de Guadalix, 40 min. north of Madrid. They were getting ready to do a week-long English day camp for children in the town.
Dion & Naty Peachey and Matt & Mim Roggio, among others from Belleville, PA, came to help out in the camp. Matt is a nephew of Mary Kay.
From Madrid we traveled southeast to Cieza, passing fields and fields of vineyards,
Peaches,
And wheat. I bet Kansas doesn’t have in their wheat fields many remains of old “mesones,” ancient lodging places for weary travelers. You can almost imagine Don Quixote and Sancho Panza stopping here for the night,
Then sallying forth to slay the “giants”, only to get tangled up in one of the windmills still visible in parts of central Spain.
Cieza is a small city of 30,000 people or so, with four small evangelical churches: Brethren, Pentecostal, Gypsy and Latino.
Miguel and Patricia Nuñez live and work in Cieza. He’s from there, she’s from Nicaragua – we’d met her in Feb. when we helped out on the eye team there. It’s good to see how the Kingdom is growing in many parts of Spain. They both have neat testimonies!
An old Muslim lookout dating from the 13th century guarded the city
From Cieza we went to Murcia and spent several hours with Fernando and Nancy Rodríquez, Ecuadorians, who are pastoring a church of mainly latinos there. Unfortunately, Fernando was not feeling well that day, so we didn’t stay long.
Nancy treated us to Salcedo ice cream, made in Spain by an Ecuadorian, but typical of a town in the mountains of Ecuador. We always got some when we would travel through that town.
It was good to see more of Spain, but it was also good to get home to our little apartment in Granada