Day two, Madrid: a feast day

Unbeknownst to us, Sunday is the feast day of Santiago (St. James, the patron saint of Spain), so we were thrilled to attend Mass at the Catedral de Santa Maria de Almudena and witness all the pageantry. The cathedral was packed, the Mass was televised and the cardinal of Madrid was the celebrant. The procession of musicians and dancers from Galacia lasted more than 10 minutes. Galacia is the province where Santiago de Compostela is located, and that is where St. James was reportedly buried, hence the The Way of St. James pilgrimage.

In his homily, Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela discussed the Spanish economic crisis, noting that people know Jesus through pain and suffering. He talked about the importance of faith, hope and love during the crisis and urged the Spanish to pray to St. James, who is the country’s patron.

After Mass, the church-goers gathered on the steps and were treated to performances by the musicians and dancers. It was interesting that the Galacians mostly used bag-pipes, but as Caitlin noted, they are Gaelic in origin.

The Cardinal was among the crowd and greeted people for at least 30 minutes. I was able to snap a photo of Caitlin and Maddie with him in the background!

Caitlin and Maddie pose in front of the Cardinal at Catedral de Santa Maria de Almudena.

We wandered over to the church gift shop, and Caitlin found some bracelets of scallop shells, which is the symbol of the Camino. So we each bought one and will wear them on the walk.

All in all, the feast day celebration was a great way to commemorate our walk, which we officially begin in two days.

Monday morning we will have to say goodbye to Madrid and board a train for Pamplona.

At last, Madrid

Landed in Madrid in the morning and had a full day of city sights, including an Occupy-like demonstration down one of the main boulevards. Considering that many of the recent protests have been violent, we kept our distance, but managed to video a snippet.

It seemed to be a very routine and well-mannered protest. No one seemed overly angry or agitated. It reminded me of the protests we saw in Buenos Aires, which ran like clock-work on certain days. Pretty routine and unemotional.

I have a feeling that the true import of Spain’s crisis hasn’t really hit home with the people. Everything seems somewhat normal — there certainly were plenty of shoppers taking advantage of the July sales. But you can sense that under the surface there’s a uneasy sense of foreboding.

Even in Madrid, there’s a piece of Nebraska! This restaurant serves what else? Beef!

We toured the Prado art museum and saw a fascinating exhibit of Rafael’s late years. The Prado has an amazing collection of the masters. My favorite was the Goya exhibit. The Prado was jam-packed; it was heartening to see so many people standing in line to see art.

After the museum, we grabbed a bite at a cafe, then headed back to Hotel Europa for a much deserved siesta! Instead of napping for an hour and a half like we planned, we slept for three hours!

But not to worry — there was lots of daylight left in Madrid. We headed out for a very intense two-hour shopping spree right out our front door, followed up by a great dinner of tapas — calamari, potatoes with cooked egg, cheese, bread and croquettes (essentially deep-fat fried mashed potatoes) and of course, a glass of the famous Rioja red wine that Caitlin has been raving about.

Caitlin and Maddie are are amazing Spanish speakers — so I just sit back and let them order for me, check in at the hotel, handle the restaurant bill, etc.

We ended the evening with a little dessert on the Hotel Europa outdoor terrace, watching all the throngs of people walk by. I’ve never seen such crowds; it was jam-packed with Madridlenos shopping and eating and hanging about.

First stop: Madrid!

This famous corner is not far from our hotel.

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Hard to believe that in a few days I’ll be in Madrid, where we begin our big Spanish adventure. After a few days there, we’ll take a train to Pamplona and spend the night in that famous Basque city. Then it’s on to Sarria, where we begin the 60-mile journey to Santiago de Compostela.

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