Spain - Madrid

29-Mar to 2 Apr 2015.

After a long drive(5 hrs) from San Sebastion we arrived at our apartment, right bang smack in the centre of Madrid which itself is located in the exact geographic center of Spain. Yet again I had been overly optimistic in choosing an apartment in the historic centre. Great location but hard working getting to it or actually reaching it through the insiders one-way system of streets.


5 hour Trip from San Sebastian to Madrid

Santa Ana Square at the end of our street.

 



Lunch in Santa Ana Square.



'Tag' in Santa Ana Square.

View from our apartment - it was 'loud' outside even on the fourth floor

Outside of Appartment







Enhanced by our weight-training session of unloading the years worth of luggage from our car in the car park(located under Santa Ana Square at the end of our street), dragging it through the square and street and finally lifting it up the four flights of stairs to our apartment,  we decided to quickly  throw ourselves back into the enticing chaos outside. The boys stamina has to be applauded. My head-space went into it's dream-state as we wandered  through the squares and lanes venturing towards the main 'tapas' area lured by the anticipation of some of the 'best tapas in Madrid'.  The liveliness and temptations of the streets proved too tempting, the distractions of the street performers all part of the delights of Madrid. Far outperforming any street performers I have seen in any city. Constant squeals of surprise coming from passer buyers who had ventured to close to a human statue, people looking intrigued trying to fathom how such impossible human poses could be possible(all very clever tricks). 

Lachlan running excitedly from the 'Bronze Man'.

Within a very short time I had come to my conclusion that this was a very beautiful city, full of  beautiful looking people, with beautiful cobbled lanes and squares endlessly connecting together the beautiful shops, building and restaurants that spill out onto the lanes and squares. People were enjoying their lives here in a city alive with Spanish flair!

Soon we were inside a huge Plaza, this had to be hugely significant, it was ringed with tourist (even though we are just this, 'tourists', we like to think we aren't) restaurants and shops and contained a mass of people. With later research I discovered this to be 'Plaza Major', the most  famous plaza in the city. This plaza was once host to bullfights, markets, symphonies, tournaments, and even executions.

Just outside of Plaza Mayor we reached our dining destination. The Beaux-Arts market 'Mercado San Miguel ' - a reported 'must-do'. This impressive glass and iron structure housed a multitude of tapas stalls, we could understand why it had such a reputation. A little overwhelmed by the choice the boys opted for cones of chips and Chris and I for a selection of little skewered goodies like giant green olives with fish, cheese and tomato. Of course this where the variety of olives are enormous - huge and utterly delicious. Also too a wonderful and affordable selection of wines. High marks for it's non-touristy feel it was a great way to observe the locals. Chris and I managed a quick adult revisit another evening when we got a seat. Unfortunately the lack of anywhere to sit this evening with the boys and no great space to stand either drove us onwards.

We observed the religious Easter procession through the streets as we left. How odd, the boys stood on the concrete bollards to get a better look at the white-robed and hooded people slowly carrying religious symbols through the street - the costumes gave me a sense of discomfort.

We finally found a wonderful spanish place for dinner down one of the lanes (packed with local-looking people, it had to be good). Here I enjoyed the first of many Sangrias to come (now Lachlan's 'favourite wine'). The boys delighted the staff. A bright light shot into the dimming sky and caught the attention of the boys.
Three of these flying-quizmos in hand proved a great way for the boys to interact with the vibrant night-life in the squares, except from the odd surprised glare when they flew too close to someone.


The following morning we walked through Madrid, on the way I finally broke my camera lens with another drop - opps. I later did some shopping in Madrid and purchased a Nikon lumix(just a little robust camera that I anticipated I could later drop without such dire consequences). We made our way to Retiro Park (Parque del Buen Retiro)   - “The Retreat”. What an amazing retreat it was. 350 acres of park, used to be speckled with palaces -- where the royals rested after gallivanting in their green space -- but many of these were destroyed in the early 1900s. I couldn’t quite comprehend how fabulous these gardens were. The formal gardens quite incredible, so amazingly maintained. I suggested to the boys that we join in with the others and have a lie down in one of the multitude of inviting hedged off grassed spaces, each perfectly maintained with only one hedge entrance per space causing impatient people to jump them.  The heat got the better of the boys and myself and after a few over-priced ice creams we left.




Retiro Park, unexpectedly fabulous - a wonderful oasis in the centre of the city.

Wondering why we all seemed to be staggering in the heat, I was quite relieved to see an electronic sign displaying the temperature to be 34C, we weren’t all complete wimps after all. How could Madrid possibly be 34C when San Sebastian had been 11C two days earlier?

Having read that the Prado has one of the largest art collections in the world (some of Spain's most famed artists, including Velazquez and Goya), I decided that the boys and I were in need of some artistic enlightenment. I set them a task of drawing a piece of art in their journals and writing it up in their blogs. Lachlan looked particularly adorable sitting on the floor of the gallery drawing sculptures, amusing himself by finding the  ones with the largest ‘privates’. Jarvis choose a Goya painting, Saturn eating the head of his son to prevent the line of succession – sounds like appropriate material for an 11year old.

We all took a walk via le Grand Via (Madrid’s most famous street) to the “Palacio Real de Madrid” (Royal Palace of Madrid). 


Grand Via

 This former home of the Spanish royalty is an opulent over-the-top rococo palace. It sits on the site of a 9th-century fortress, called “mayrit”.The palace has 135,000 square metres of floor space, the largest palace in Europe by floor area and contains 3,418 rooms.  Though it’s the official residence of the royal family, they don’t actually live here anymore and the palace is only used for official state functions. It is owned by the Spanish state . We started our walk through the palace at the grand stairway and wandered through the lavishly decorated staterooms. We knew our limits (well we actually went over the boys' limit) and only managed a little of the 50 visitable rooms. The green porcelain room and the dining room (two overly elaborate rooms joined together to house state dining functions) were pretty amazing. In some very surprised by the luxuriousness and the grandeur of the palace, but also quite disturbed by the extravagance (so extreme) which presumably came at a public cost (maybe I am wrong).




Lachlan and his 'grin' in the hedges of the Royal Palace Gardens

   




 We enjoyed our last evening meal in square at the end of the street where we were staying, ? Paella, buffalo mozzarella salad, calamari and a dish recommended by the staff for the boys of fries topped with cured meats topped with fried eggs. Last impressions of Madrid were that it is a beautiful vibrant city, designed for people to enjoy. More classically ‘grand’ than San Sebastian, but with the lack of beaches and breeze, I suspect that the heat of the summer to come (still 2 months away) might be too much.

Last nights dinner in Santa Ana Square.

 

Spain - San Sebastian

24-29 Mar-2015.

 

I guess it is easy to love a city when you flick into and out of it and don't live in it - it is full of unexpected surprises , no negative feelings no associations. My second stay in San Sebastian has reinforced that this is a city to love. Beautiful, fun, seemingly underpopulated (population of 186,000), gastronomic, exuberant, quirky.
It seems that Spain has it truly sorted here - maybe I am under an illusion - I have a lot of Spain yet to visit. 
On the downside there are beggars tucked away in the car parking buildings or around an unexpected corner, which makes me realise things aren't completely sweet.

We stayed in the Parte Vieja (Old Town),  the traditional core area of the city. Not an easy apartment to access with the one way street system. I thought we would be 'OK' because our street was one of the few that a car could access. But there was no chance to stop and unload bags, certainly not to park - the police officers were a very present force. Not stopping we just had to make do with the nearest car parking building we could find and lug our luggage, wheels rigging over the cobbles to the apartment.



Apartment location in the Old Town.

All worth while because the apartment and it's location was incredible. We were on the sixth floor with views to the ocean and over the old town we were part of. The 'Statue of Christ' on Mount Urgull looked down on us.

View from the apartment.

On one side on us there was 'Zurriola Beach'- waves, surf and youth.  Huge seawalls held back the sea spray breaking over onto the footpaths. On the other side, 'La Concha Beach', also known as the 'Pearl of the Cantabrian Sea' and considered one of the most beautiful urban beaches in all of Europe.
 

Zurriola Beach

 

After my first walk I returned to rave endlessly to Chris about the fascinations outside. Off he went for a run and came back saying much the same.
I had walked some of  the 5km pedestrian promenade alongside La Concha Beach, admiring the white railings(symbol of the city), admiring the beauty of its monuments and the streets in Belle-Époque.
The buildings are slightly more flamboyant then you would expect. Even the modern buildings have a quirkiness to them, they blend well but can be differentiated from the surrounding historic ones. The scale of the city has been well preserved. there is a modern city council building, built into the wharf - dramatic and slightly brutal(very appropriate for the ruggedness/storm of the coastal site) yet sympathetic in scale and material.
Even the shops all present something unique. There is only one McDonalds , only one mall(comprising of maybe a dozen shops). The shops are so inviting - very little is 'normal'. I have yet to see a supermarket. I have bought food from the most intriguing food shops - full of a wonder of cured meats which I don't understand at all, cheese, breads and preserved food(obviously a great passion here - especially preserved fish). The fruit and vegetables are displayed outside in the most beautiful displays.


The topic of food in San Sebastian is a big one. I must leave this place if I don't wish to become very large. You need incredible self-restraint here, the food is overwhelmingly appealing  - little mouthfuls of amazing gorgeousness everywhere - who can resist? If you peer sideways on your wanders you see into a multitude of places selling tempting morsels on counters. San Sebastian has accumulated 16 Michelin stars , the highest number accumulated per square metre than any other place in the world.
Parte Vieja (Old Town), where we were staying,  contains more bars per square metre than anywhere else on Earth. During the day the bars are calm morning-coffee hang-outs, but at night they transform into to pintxo-laden delights before finally transforming into  noisy bars. Days in San Sebastian start late, confusingly shops usually open at 10am to then shut for a midday or early afternoon siesta of 2 hours and then often another closure late afternoon too before reopening early evening to perhaps 8 or 10pm.
Nights in San Sebastian start late and go until well into the wee hours, we were grateful to have an apartment up high on the 5th floor escaping the noise.
San Sebastians have their own version of tapas, which are smaller than other regions -they call them "pinxtos". They are one of the gastronomic treasures of San Sebastian, which are small bites, from sliced bread with toppings to small creations of high quality Basque cooking. It is considered an art form.

We decided for dinner tonight, just Chris and I,  to do the done thing and to hop from bar to bar in the historic centre. In the end we couldn't bring ourselves to move from our delicious spot. Just like the city and its eccentricity, anything went - fabulous to not feel out of place looking like obvious novice tourists who did not know how to order let alone how to eat things, we blended with all types of people. We choose carefully from the small pieces of bread upon which towering creations were constructed, often melded with flavoursome mayonnaise and then pinned in place by large toothpicks e.g . skewered bread, pickled aubergine, cheese, cured meat, mayonnaise and basil. I sampled my first, and best, salted cod, grilled with cheese upon bread. Another delicious 'two mouthful' of pepper stuffed with tuna and topped with preserved chilli. None of this can be eaten with any sense of decorum. The wine is good too and so well priced, perhaps a third of the price as a glass in NZ. I demolished the three euro crème brulee - a deep vanilla bean crème with a thin crispy shell and a scoop of cinnamon sorbet on top. If I was not so full from dinner I would have quite happily eaten my way through the entire dessert menu.

Another night we took the boys for tapas. The hospitality towards children was wonderful. Patatas bravas and Spanish Omelette were no-brainer choices. Ollie opted for more elaborate creations, as you would expect.

Unfortunately we didn't have the best of weather in San Sebastian. a high of 11C and a lot of rain.
So heading for the cover of the aquarium with the boys, we passed through the 'Plaza de la Constitución', the heart of the historic zone. This central building was the San Sebastian Town Hall up until the 1940s. It was previously a bullring, the numbers above the doors(areas were people could watch from) remain. Later I walked past and witnessed some sort of balloon festival - the plaza is now often used for local celebrations.

 

The aquarium was a great respite from the rain. There was a great display of very 'odd' looking fish. The walk-through tunnel (sharks over and under you) was a hit.



Returning from the aquarium the 'Basilica of Santa Maria' had now re-opened from it's siesta.
The Basilica of Santa Maria, built between 1743 and 1774, is a striking 18th Century baroque work. The typical tourist photo, viewed from Nagusia street, is of it's baroque façade with Churrigueresque (artistic movement relating to the work of José Benito de Churriguera) differences.

Because the weather wasn't good we chose the best day(second to last) to walk to the top of 'Mount Urgull', located at the tip of town. Now a public park it had been a military fort in the 12th Century, falling into the hands of the French in 1719. We walked up past the surrounding low castle walls that circle a grand statue of Christ on the very top. It was s very peaceful, the views so very breathtaking.
Such a spectacular location. There was a small museum at the top within the small castle(La Mota Castle). The castle guide was curious about Lachlan, "he should be on television or perhaps a politician" he commented. This was of course in reference to Lachlan being heard talking loudly and non-stop .

 

 

 

Hopefully this will not be my last visit to San Sebastian.

 

France - Sadillac

22-Mar-2015

A pretty weird feeling driving to 'Sadillac' after almost 10 years since we were last there.

Ollie had just turned three(even managed French school for a week to keep the roll numbers up - they needed one more student to keep their teacher) and Jarvis 18months(just started to walk) when we stayed last in 2005. This is when we were still co-owners with Lynne and Bryan , but have since sold our share to them. 

Chalmazel-Duras 4:55hr

Lynne and Bryan and their three children Zenya, Sebastyn and Devlyn now live at Sadillac permanently.

They have made an incredible transformation of what was once a very basic farmhouse(with no bathroom - had managed to install one by our 2005 visit), into a gorgeous and enormous house. The house is full off character difficult to capture in photographs, the views over the new pool outwards the fields are so tranquil.

 

Pool and view(fields waiting to be planted)

 

We had the pleasure of two nights in the renovated cottage(once the outhouse pit), while the boys sleep in the main house. It was great to see the boys all get along , some welcomed 'child' company for our boys. As was the adult company, very welcomed! It was fabulous to see Lynne and Bryan again and to enjoy their hospitality in such a wonderful and nostalgic atmosphere. Adriana and Jocelyn, neighbours whom we had previously known, came for dinner the first night - a great catch up. For a starter Lynne and Bryan served up three types of pork sausages they had made . Fully immersed into the 'French' way they had processed a whole pig. A little difficult for me to stomach(especially the blood sausage comprised of mostly blood and some apple) - not eating red meat and all - I gave it a go , all of it was very  good.  The boys now have a new dinner favourite, tuna pasta.

 

  

Bryan turning part of the 'pig' in the salt (to be hung later).

 

Lynne took we for a quick whizz up to the Monday 'Duras' (town in the SW of France , Lot-et-Garonne department, region Aquitaine) market - old time sakes. The market was a little quiet out of summer time but still bought back a flood of memories. Gone was the 'Shoppie', replaced by a Carrefour Market located a little further away, little else seemed to have changed.



Duras chateaux and town.