OVER FOR ANOTHER YEAR (phew)....

 

 
Well, that's the Yuletide season over for another year. How was our 2nd Navidad in Espana? Fabulous. We managed to experience the traditional 'White Christmas' of legend in Munich and Salzburg, partake of our own Antipodean rituals, and immerse ourselves further in the festive traditions of this fabulous country.

Santa helps everyone.....

 

La Moraleja's pre-Xmas finest car parking hour!

Job done - nice one Santa

When you think Christmas in Spain, it's about 2 things - Nativity and Los Reyes Magos (the Three Kings). Nativity scenes dominate across the country; they are literally everywhere, from private homes to markets to department stores, to one of the best we have seen at San Lorenzo de El Escorial. This is the ancient town 45 minutes out of Madrid that is also home to El Escorial, the magnificent monastery and historical residence of the King Of Spain. In the main plaza of the old town is the most amazing Nativity we have seen. It depicts various scenes from Christmas story by using life size papier mache figures - it is truly extraordinary, even more so given the whole setting remains in place rain, hail or shine.

El Escorial

Papier mache Nativity

Spot the humans

Hard to believe it's paper!

Extraordinary

What the fuss is all about

Only one is made of paper...

 

 
Although it was near dusk, on our way back we dropped into the Valle de los Caidos (The Valley Of The Fallen). Without getting involved in Spanish politics (it's hardly my place to make comment after all), the monument (a giant cross) and its Catholic basilica is still a controversial location within Spain, having been conceived by General Franco as a monument to the fallen from the Spanish Civil War. The cross is a towering 150 metres high, perched on a granite outcrop 150 metres above the basilica, and visible from over 30km away; regardless of its notoriety, it is a spectacular sight. The basilica itself is tunnelled into the granite mountain and possesses a chilling sombreness we have not experienced anywhere else (even Liam and Aimee noticed the it, pointing out the art deco angels wielding swords and with black V-wings like eagles). Nonetheless, it was a new experience for us.

Breathtaking

 

At dusk

On the 23rd December, the postman delivered letters to Aimee and Liam from Santa saying they had made it onto the 'Good List'. Liam in particular was ELATED - he was fearing the worst (perhaps with good reason!) The biggest surprise for us on the 24th was going to El Correos only to find it had closed for the remainder of the year - really, one should have been outraged but, hey, everyone deserves to celebrate, right? Nochebuena is the evening when Spanish families gather to have dinner together around the Nativity, and so we too had a special Xmas Eve dinner whipped up by Don L (wasn't too bad either!) and then tried to get 2 excited children to bed.

Anyone fancy cerdo for Xmas dinner?

 

.....maybe....

....2nd thoughts, mini gourmet burgers are the go.

4:00am!! I repeat - 4:00am!! Thank goodness it's only once a year is all I can say. We'd only been in bed for an hour....sheesh, but managed to delay them for a few hours before los ninos tore into their booty. Highlights for Aimee were her new iPod Touch (WiFi mode only, and I'm still not convinced!) and a Kindle from Santa, whilst Buzzy revelled in a new iPod Nano and also a Kindle from Santa. He's pretty smart Papa Noel; both Aimee and Liam love to read and the Kindle was a great idea as it appeals on a technical level to kids, is easy to carry around, and books are much cheaper than hard copy - if it gets them reading then I'm all for it.

 

No comment about the star please!

 

You simply can't beat that look - such overt delight

No comment about Santa's jimjams please!

YEEESSS!! Just what I wanted....

NYPD Blue to add to his Nawlinz outfit

 

A jamon pillow - aren't the Spanish happy just eating it??

 
Time for some Skyping, and we got to speak with our families over the course of the day. It's a bittersweet experience for obvious reasons; it was special for Dulcinea (and the rest of us) to hook up with the Terkuile family celebrations and we got to see just about everybody, including new boyfriends and girlfriends and babies and...phew, there must have been 30 of them. 17,000km is a long way apart so we have a lot to be thankful for with technology, and whoever invented Skype deserves a knighthood. And so to lunch...By once again going to the Westin Palace for the traditional Brunch De Navidad, we have started our own Madrid tradition. The LegsyBoys looked elegant in our finery as we indulged in haute cuisine whilst an operatic duo entertained us with lyrical pieces of the season. The food and service were both spectacular, los ninos on their best behaviour and trying new culinary experiences, and all in all a spectacular success.

The LegsyBoys do The Westin Palace

 

Los Ninos

Las chicas

Los chicos

  

OMG - the food.....

.....foie gras however you like it...

....crustaceans galore....

Let's eat!

.......to die for....

...yes, that's marshmallow...

....foie gras tiramisu, believe it or not...

Don't ask - I was eating everything by this stage

 
Fast forward11 days. The 25th December isn't the 'big ticket' day in Spain as it is in Australia, UK and US, it is the arrival of the magi that is at the epicentre of celebrations. At 6:30pm on the 5th January, the Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos (the Cavalcade of the Magi) rolls down Paseo de la Castellana, featuring 30 floats, international marching bands, endless waves of participants throwing confectionery into the crowd, and of course culminating with the final 3 floats bearing Melchior, Caspar and Balthasar on board and drawn by 6 white horses. It is such a rite of passage for Spanish children that we decided to go along, where we were just 4 in a cast of 500,000+ spectators! The parade is shown live throughout Spain and other European countries, as well as being beamed into all the Spanish speaking countries of South America, with an estimated viewing audience of over 200 million - so this is serious business. It was amazing; the crowd was 30 and more people deep, thousands standing on stepladders to get a better view (it is apparently part of the tradition to bring a ladder!), and you can only imagine the free-for-all that evolved as bucketloads of lollies were hurled into the throng - children and adults alike were duck diving to the ground and coming up with fists of sweets. At times the crowd jostling was overwhelming (let's face it, mass spectacles bring out the best and worst in people), but we had people close by who were kind enough to let our littlies stand at the front to see it all (and glean copious amounts of goodies!), and it was really special to be enveloped in the moment, and the genuine excitement of children and adults alike as the final 3 floats passed by ("Aqui Balthaser, aqui").

Stormtroopers at the ready

Bob The Builder would be very comfy at the parade

Imagine lugging that ladder on the metro!

Sorry, no toilet breaks allowed

Don't ask - I have no idea!

Aladdin

That is one CRAZY woman!! Spectacular to see.

Merlin - this year's theme was 'magic'

Melchior's chariot

Caspar

Balthasar - crowd favourite

Spanish (indeed Hispanic globally) children leave a shoe out, often filled with carrots or straw for the camels and horses of the Magi, hopeful that when they awake on the Epiphany (6th) that the Magi will have left them gifts - for those who have been naughty a bag of charcoal is left instead of gifts! Aimee and Liam pushed their luck by putting out Dulcinea's knee high boots and were duly rewarded for their behaviour, although curiously both also received a bag of 'charcoal' - perhaps Balthasar was giving them a friendly reminder!! Traditionally, Roscon de Reyes (twisted roll of kings) is eaten on the Epiphany, but we bypassed that this year as we didn't find it all that appetising last year.

Carbon de Reyes - for the not-so-good

And so there you have it, what a great and rewarding time we had. All that's left is to fill you in about our viaje por carretera to Andalucía, but that's another story altogether!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!