Madrid

Here comes a dark confession. I have always wondered why retired Finns love to go to Spain time after time. Like sure, the winter is a lot more tolerable on Costa del Sol but there are other sunny places, too, and not even that far from Finland. You could go to Italy or Greece, Turkey even. Some people even go to Israel or Northern Africa. What is the point of going to the same place when you've once seen it already? I am starting to get it. I can't imagine getting tired of Spain anytime soon. I just wish I can find a way to move there before I retire.

First of all there is the food. Eating churros for breakfast every day is possibly addicting and thanks to that I have accumulated an alarming amount of belly fat in such a short time. I told my friend about my churro binge and she was surprised. Apparently it's not that common to eat 5 churros at a time, after all. But what can you do if that's what they serve with the coffee? Churros were not the only temptation, I also ate many other things, none of them too healthy. In addition I found Don Simon's sangria and that was the beginning of a very unhealthy, abusive relationship. A liter of it is cooling in my fridge right at this moment. I need to put myself on a diet now. Only green vegetables and buckwheat until Christmas. And sangria.

Speaking about eating out there is one aspect to restaurants in Spain that is not that familiar to me from elsewhere. Waiting the tables was done mostly by men, and most of them were actually middle-aged or even older. I was surprised. In Finland and in many other countries I have visited waiting tables is usually done by relatively young women. It made me think about the differences in work cultures. Is it difficult for women to enter the labor market in Spain? Are they likely to stay at home, taking care of the household and kids, if they have them? Is waiting tables considered a "manly" job? In Australia there were male cashiers in supermarkets, another job that in Finland is mostly performed by women.

Another word about customer service. Quite often, in my opinion, the service is in a way "indifferent". I don't mean to say the service is bad or the employees are unmotivated. But it's not that false-cheery experience you are likely to get in some other places. You are treated like a normal human being, not like you are something special just because you decided to eat in that restaurant instead of the next one. 

Who can say no to churros and chocolate?

I went to hair dresser to celebrate the holidays and because vacation is pretty much the only occasion when I have time to go and get my hair cut and dyed. The experience was hilarious, the hair dresser's English was as fluent as my Spanish, but somehow we managed to communicate and the result is perfect. Maybe she just looked at my hair saw how it was done before and gathered that I was trying to explain I want the same thing. Sometimes it's good to be predictable. 

I was thinking there must be plenty of tourists in Madrid and there probably are but in some places the personnel still speak to you in Spanish even when they understand English. My very limited vocabulary expanded very fast. Now I know how to order and ask for the bill at the restaurant. How cool!

Besides the food and the occasional trip to beauty salon there are plenty of attractions in Madrid and of course elsewhere in Spain, too. I went to see the royal palace. The admission is free from Monday to Thursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. but be prepared to queue. It was not possible to take photos in the palace, which is sad but understandable. The tour would have taken forever if photos were allowed. Now you can only trust my word that the rooms were amazing, so strong and deep colors. The royal family does not occupy the palace, btw. Their actual residence is in a smaller palace. Well, the official palace has more than 3000 rooms. Does one family actually need that much space, even if they are royal? No. 

Almudena Cathedral seen from the suicide point area.. don't worry, I forgot my ladder home

Next to the palace there is a Almudena cathedral and a crypt. The cathedral is the only religious institute this far I have seen offers a free wi-fi, or maybe I haven't been paying attention. Seriously, I always thought people go to a church because of their religious needs, not because their need to connect on social media or flip through someone's Instagram photos. Sounds a bit like heresy to me. What would inquisition say? 

Entrance to the Royal Palace

At least have the decency to read the Bible and listen to religious music..

There are free walking tours available in Madrid, too. I went for one and it was very educating. I got the see the oldest still functioning restaurant in the world and a common suicide spot. The spot is a part of Segovia viaduct and apparently people have preferred to end their days by umping from it. However, one very unlucky suicidee once jumped from the viaduct and managed to land on a person walking on a road below. That person died but the suicidee lived on because of that soft landing. Since then a barrier has been erected on the most logical suicide spot to prevent that kind of nasty accidents. As the tour guide said, everything is manana in Spain. When people go there and notice it's going to be difficult to end the suffering, they will go elsewhere or promise to come back manana with a chair. So no more suicides. 

I will tell more about Spain later. Arrived back to Prague this morning feeling quite deflated, all I need now is a cup of coffee and some rest. And later, a glass of sangria. I'm so bad..