Viewing Madrid in a new light

Irrelevant thought: Spain could learn a bit from Cuba in terms of queuing protocol (see previous blog). Standing for long periods of time in the blazing heat of a Spanish summer day to get into a palace, however splendid, can't have been any fun for these tourists. Surely there has to be a better way?

It’s interesting to come to Madrid direct from Cuba, and before that Peru. You can’t but see the country in the light of its colonial heritage in South America and the Caribbean. All those grand palaces, lavish churches and golden domes in Madrid built with gold plundered from the Incas and the labour of slaves on Cuban sugar cane plantations. Spain as Bad Guy. Madrid as visible representation.  

Still beautiful tho.

Why, if you haven't already, you should go to Granada

Granada is a truly lovely city. One of those places you think you would like to live. It is small - about 300,000 people - but with enough café-loving locals, tourists and students to mean there's plenty going on. The city sits in a dramatic setting, with the steep, dry, rocky Sierra Nevada mountains on one side and agricultural plains on the other. 
The centre is beautiful, reflecting an interesting history involving Arab Muslim roots, Catholic Spanish conquerors and early gypsy and Jewish immigrants. It still retains lots of Moorish influences in the architecture, the decoration of the buildings, the food and the music. Your bog-standard post office or Government department might well have some fine mosaic tile work around the walls or the staircases. Or a little key-shaped doorway. 
And the influence of the gypsies, who arrived in Granada about 600 years ago and settled in caves in what is now the Sacromonte area of the city, is seen in the preponderance of Flamenco dance halls, often in souped-up versions of the original caves.

Granada is dominated by the Alhambra, a fortress/palace/city/garden complex built strategically on the steep slopes above the city, and visible from practically everywhere. Until they were ousted by the Spanish monarchs, the Alhambra was the court of the Nasrid Sultans, and it was a city within a city; inside its walls are palaces, mosques/churches, baths, gardens, fountains and halls, as well as houses for soldiers, artisans and others. 

These days there are also lots of tourists. According to the useful GranadaInfo website, run by my former school friend Sarah and her husband John, the Alhambra is Spain's most visited monument, with an average of 8,500 people heading there each day. The buildings within the Alhambra tend to look plain and austere from the outside, but inside are amazing, with lace-like latticework windows, mosaic tiled walls, finely carved wooden doors and masses of exquisite plasterwork decoration. Totally beautiful.

(NOTE: this is a gallery - click on the photo for more detailed shots of the Alhambra)

The Alhambra has a turbulent history, having been built by a succession of Nasrid Sultans from 1237 onward, but then taken over by the Spanish monarchs Isabel I and Fernando II in 1492. At that stage the "become-Catholic-or-die" techniques of the Spanish inquisition (which went on for an astonishing 350 years in Spain, from 1478 to 1834) were much in evidence. In Granada. Muslims and Jews fled, converted, or were tortured and killed. Mosques all over the city were destroyed or converted into churches. 
Then in the early nineteenth century, Granada was overrun by Napoleon's troops, as part of the French occupation of Spain. As they left they blew up a couple of the towers in the Alhambra. Just because they could.

We spent pretty much one whole day at the Alhambra - it was just gorgeous. And views of the complex from the rest of the city, particularly the hilly Albaicín area across the valley (and vice versa - views of the city from the Alhambra), make Granada a great place.

When you aren't visiting the Alhambra, or going sightseeing on a Segway (see previous blog), there are a plethora of pavement cafes, tapas bars and restaurants of every hue. The Spanish go out late, often emerging for dinner or a drink and an evening stroll at 9pm or 10pm - a time when Anglosaxons might be pondering cocoa and bed. And in Granada (and perhaps elsewhere in Spain; I am far from an expert), when you order a beer or a glass of wine in a  bar, it automatically comes with a small bowl of tapas - an aubergine dish, for example, or a plate of roast potatoes, pasta, chorizo, olives, crisps etc.

It's a very civilised way to relax.

A Segway tour of Granada

The tourist pose in front of the wonderful Alhambra palace

I've always thought Segways were naff. Uncool. If you wanted to go around on two wheels, a bike was far better, I reckoned. I looked with scorn at strung-out lines of tourists on their Segways, clogging up the pavements.

Other people agree. They've been banned outright in several cities around the world, including London, New York and Prague. Apparently councils reckon they are unsafe, annoying and clog up the roads. 

The trouble is that it's all very well to sneer - until you try one. Having been on my first Segway city tour (of Granada in southern Spain), I swear Segways are an awesome way to be a tourist. They are super-easy to ride, much more maneuverable than a bike, and far less dangerous than bikes (for the rider at least!) on cobbles or uneven roads. They are easy to park, and a quick way to see the sights - which in Granada are pretty spectacular.

Traditional musicians posing in front of the Alhambra

Geoff in his sexy hi-vis jacket posing in front of the musicians posing in front of the Alhambra

One of many spectacular views of Granada

They are also possibly the only way to get a 14-year-old to not only head out sightseeing, but to actually enjoy it. 

So with apologies to the residents of Granada, who may have gnashed their teeth watching us swoosh by, we found our Segways altogether a Good Thing. 

Doing nothing - a Cuban national pastime, boredom, or a better way to live?

The first thing we noticed arriving at the Atocha railway station in central Madrid, just off the flight from Havana, was that there were shops stocked with things that you might want to buy. Now there's a novelty. 

The second thing was people running. This way and that - up from platforms, down onto other platforms, late for a train, hurrying to work or a meeting. And that urgency was also noteworthy, because it made us realise that Cubans don't seem to rush about in the way people do in busier countries.

Rather the reverse. Sitting and chatting - or just sitting - looks (from the outside at least) like a national pastime.

Perhaps it's the heat, although it's hot in Madrid at the moment  too. Perhaps there isn't much else to do - Cuban TV is pretty terrible, there's no internet, no money for distractions, and precious few things to do with your spare time, even if you had money. Perhaps when you are doing a Government job for minuscule wages, there's no incentive to do anything but sit around and have a good natter with your workmates. Certainly we went into plenty of cafes, bus ticket offices, shops etc where serving customers appeared to be an annoying break in the business of catching up on the gossip

Or maybe it's just that Cubans like to sit around and chat - or just sit around. Women do it a lot inside their homes. When they aren't shopping, cooking or mopping the floors (a good Cuban housewife mops her floor at least once a day), Cuban women spend lots of time in each other's houses talking - unfortunately my Spanish isn't good enough to know what about.

For men, the front door step is a favourite place, or a shady park bench. They might start quite early. Go to a park first thing in the morning and there will be a few men (not all elderly) setting the world to rights. 

I wish now I'd asked if these are enjoyable conversations, or if people wished they had something more constructive to do. But I didn't. They may be bored and frustrated. They may be enjoying themselves. Or a bit of both.

Still, it made me think that in New Zealand, Europe and I suspect elsewhere, people probably do far too much rushing about, and far too little sitting and watching the world go by.

Here are more results of Geoff and I watching Cubans watching the world. If you click on the photos, you should be able to scroll through the gallery. You may recognise some characters...