So far the food has been good although I do think this is the first time that I have ever eaten ham for every meal. It was interesting to see some of the locals walking around in their formal attire. Let’s just say we had a very slow Sunday evening stroll. Their sidewalks make it hard to pass people so usually you are just stuck behind a group of people until there is a clearing. I guess it makes me slow down and take in the scenery.
Madrid’s architecture is very grand and beautiful. It seems like every building is different. Some people use their Juliet balcony for the air conditioner which seems like a necessity.
There are so many beautiful buildings and things to see in Madrid that it is hard to capture in a couple of photos. With perfect weather (86 degrees) and some good walking shoes, we walked around the city. We spent lunch by a lake with a lot of row boats and visiting a plaza that has a marker for the center of Spain from which all the roads in Spain start counting kilometers. Here are some of my favorite sights:
We arrived in Madrid at 8:00 AM and were welcomed to a very empty airport. We had no lines for customs or the taxi and we made it to our hotel by 9:00 AM. The first day is always the hardest for me since I don’t ever sleep on the plane. I took a decent nap and then headed out around the hotel. We were sitting in a square when a drumming group decided to help us beat the jet lag. It was a nice sunny afternoon in Madrid and I’m looking forward to exploring more the next couple of days when I’m not so tired.
Sunscreen and sunglasses are ready for my 2015 trip to Spain. Surprisingly this is my first trip to Spain. I guess I have always enjoyed the Alps and cooler countries but I’m ready to see a different culture and different environment. Since Spain is so large we will only be focusing on Southern Spain. Leaving Portland tomorrow and flying through Dallas before heading on to Madrid. I’m ready for my long travel day 🙂
All travels must come to an end at some point so I’m sad to say Edinburgh is it. We had a busy day touring around the city. We took some bus trips around the city and visited the very crowded castle. I was happy we bought a ticket earlier in the day to visit the castle because the line for the castle ticket office was an hour and half long. Edinburgh has more parks than any other European city so it is a good city for me. I really enjoy walking through green spaces rather than walking down the busy streets.
We had really great weather on the trip. We had a little rain this evening but it was still warm. I learned a lot about a country that I have ties to. Tomorrow we turn our car in. We drove over 1,000 miles and covered almost the whole country. They have an important vote coming up in September on whether or not to become an independent country so you might hear about Scotland in the news soon. We fly back to London tomorrow and then eventually get back home. I’m already looking forward to planning my next trip…but that won’t be until next year. I guess I should get back to work 🙂
We are heading to Edinburgh, our final city. We drove from St Andrews and stopped at Scotland’s Secret Bunker. It was built for the Cold War and they still actually have some rooms down there that are top secret and manned 24 hours a day everyday. After the tour we drove on to Dunfermline, Scotland. Andrew Carnegie was born there and they had a free museum of the house where he was born at. We parked at a park nearby his house. The park was a beautiful park full of kids playing and people walking around. It was actually a very large park and we may have gotten a little lost trying to walk through the park. I learned a lot about Andrew Carnegie and the guy at the museum was very exited to tell us what libraries in Oregon were funded by Carnegie. Andrew has an interesting life story that is worth a read if one has time.
We went for a little drive in the afternoon to the south of St Andrews. We stopped in 3 or 4 small towns and walked around. All had different charm and character. The fishing ports were all busy with either fishing boats just getting back or getting ready to go back out. At one stop, there were plenty of people playing in the water and on the beach. This was the first time I have ever seen a boat in Europe pull kids on a inner tube.
St Andrews basically consists of 2 main roads which plenty of shops and restaurants. It seems like the University owns most of the buildings in this town. We walked around the town and the castle remains after spending some time at the golf course. I was also surprised how many people were swimming in the ocean. St Andrews is about 1,000 miles north of NY and is on the same parallel as Kodiak, Alaska. We really are having nice weather here. I’m not sure I ever thought I would come home from Scotland with a tan. I didn’t bring shorts here but the weather has been very nice.
We took an interesting tour of the Old Course, St Andrews this morning. It was supposed to be 50 minutes long but the guy talked for closer to 1 hour 45 minutes. If you were here on a Sunday, you could do a 3 hour tour and walk the whole 18 holes which is 4 miles long.
I did learn that all property in Scotland belongs to the “people” meaning there is no private land which includes the golf courses. So you can walk across the golf course and there are even roads that go through the middle of the course and fairways. Golf is not allowed on Sundays at the Old Course and you will see people using it as a park instead of golf. You can belong to private golf clubs but that basically just gets you into a building not a golf course.
The open will be held here next year (it is here every 5 years). I can only imagine how busy it is here when they have a major tournament. If one is lucky enough to win the lottery to get to play on the Old Course, it will cost you 160 gbp and 45 gbp for a caddie.
Our tour basically was around the 18th hole. They build grandstands around the 18th hole when they have the Open so it looks different today than it will on tv next summer.
Fletch Travels 