Real Madrid

Church, Palace, & Soccer

My fourth day in Spain was Sunday. I located a Church of Christ, and made my way there. Their service was later in the morning than we are used to in the USA, and worship lasted longer. I was happy to find it, though. The worship was a little more progressive than I am used to, with women fulfilling more roles in the service than is common in American Churches of Christ. The facility was in something like a strip mall. Many of the most active and friendly members were either in Madrid on mission work or were recent immigrants from Central America. I talked mostly to a few young brothers from Nicaragua. We visited about the preaching school there, and I mentioned our recent brief stint in San Juan del Sur. One of the coolest things about worship that morning was that they sang a “welcome” song that I remembered the Iglesia de Cristo in Chihuahua singing for me when I visited that congregation in the summer of 1993.

There did not appear to be any fellowship or further activity after the service, so I reengaged the Madrid metro system and headed back toward the Royal Palace, where I had reserved an English language guided tour. The Muslim rulers of this part of Spain had built an alcazar here in the 9th century. After they were pushed out, the rulers of medieval Castile used the facility for some time. The old alcazar burned down on Christmas Eve, 1734. The Bourbon monarchs constructed the current Palacio Real de Madrid on the site and lived there for the duration of their rule over Spain. The current Spanish royal family does not reside there. It is used only for state ceremonies.

The Bourbon palace is a major tourist attraction. It sits right in the Madrid city center, and looks like the baroque royal residence it is, its garish style drawing in visitors. I am certain the place gets more traffic during peak tourist seasons, but even in February there was a constant stream of large groups going through the open parts of the complex. The tour goes primarily through the royal apartments. Photography is not allowed in these areas. This part of the palace is arranged in the standard European castle way with outer and inner chambers and bedrooms for both the king and queen. During this period, tapestries were common wall coverings, used both for warmth and decoration. The Palacio Real follows this tradition. Tapestries adorn most of the walls and the décor is dominated by the overly ornate style common to baroque buildings.

(Continued)

Iglesia de Cristo, Madrid
Palacio Real
Palace Entry
Ceiling Art
Modern Royal Family Portrait
More Ceiling Art

The tour was relatively short, but covered the highlights and allowed tourists to continue to explore at their own pace. I met an Air Force couple, down for the weekend from the Netherlands. I was a bit jealous of their Air Force experience, as it differed so much from mine. I did get to go to a few air shows, and I had a cool first assignment in Alaska. But Eielson had been what I was awarded for volunteering for an “overseas” assignment. I also did deployments to Guam and Oman, though the latter was very short. In both cases, we were barely let off the Air Force bases even in these very friendly places. Guam is a U.S. territory, yet we were treated as if we were surrounded by terrorist camps. I certainly was not able to take weekend jaunts to tourist locales. I enjoyed my Air Force career and the exciting job I had as a B-1 air crew member, but I think the Reconnaissance crews got to go to much better places and were accorded significantly more freedom in their travels.

After I had seen all I could at the Royal Palace, I headed back to my room. I had a decision to make. Soccer, of course, is a much bigger deal in most of the rest of the world than it is in the United States. I am not a huge soccer fan, but I have had employees and hosted exchange students who have followed it. I was also aware that Real Madrid is one of the most famous professional soccer clubs in the world. They had a home match against Seville that very evening. I had looked online. I knew that there were available tickets, but that they cost about as much as my round trip airfare – each! Ultimately, I decided that this was a pretty important part of the Madrid experience and bought the very expensive ticket. I downloaded it to my electronic wallet and headed to the game.

I had some trouble getting the e-ticket to work. Initially, I was allowed to buy the ticket, but I was blocked from downloading it due to the system thinking I was in the USA based on my phone number. Retrospectively, I should have gotten everything purchased and downloaded before I left my room. I eventually got in, however, and enjoyed watching the game.

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Charles III, Prominent Bourbon King With a Very Prominent Schnoz. They Always Want to Portray Themselves as Roman Emperors

The stadium was huge, and there was a large crowd. There were many significant differences from major American sporting events, however. First of all, everyone brings food into the stadium. There is a lot of security, but the proprietary method of forcing spectators to purchase ridiculously expensive stadium food is not part of the scheme in Spain. Everyone brings in a hard baguette style sub sandwich called a bocadillo, which they eat during half time. There are also large scoreboards, but there is no massive screen for showing instant replays, kiss cams, crazy dancing fans, and that sort of thing. An early Real Madrid goal was waved off in my game. I think this was due to an off-side violation, but I am not sure because the referees are not miked up, and it was never announced. The crowd went berzerk in protest. This is the sort of thing that would have been replayed several times on the giant screen had we been in the U.S., but we could only either sit and wonder, or complain vociferously. Most of my neighbors did the latter.

The most rambunctious fans all dressed in white and set in the section immediately behind the South goal. This is said to be the lucky goal. Apparently, if Real Madrid wins the toss, they elect to attack the North goal in the first half rather than taking the ball. Opponents tend to just take the ball, allowing Real Madrid to nearly always attack the lucky South goal during the second half. In my game, Real Madrid attacked the South goal in the first half, but won anyhow.

The rambunctious fans spent most of the game chanting and waving huge flags. They appeared to be having the most fun. I had a good time, too, though I was in a much more subdued area. None of my neighbors were too interested in what I was doing there, and none of them wanted to visit much. I was a bit disappointed by this, as I would have liked someone to explain some of the traditions and to offer a few observations on the game itself. It was a fun experience anyhow.

As I exited the stadium, I was surrounded by vendors selling various real and imitation Real Madrid soccer kit. I was tempted to purchase some of the scarves. For reasons I have yet to understand, it seems that fans of big time European professional soccer all must wear large elaborate scarves embossed with the team name, colors, and emblems. In no case would I ever wear a scarf, but they seemed like a cool souvenir that could at least be displayed on the wall. No one at home seemed interested, however. It was kind of late, but I had not eaten and did not have a bocadillo on me, so I hit up a late night restaurant on the way back to my room, then called it a night.

 

Decent Seats, Indecent Price
Raucous Section
Bocadillos, the Halftime Meal of Choice
Action Shot
Post Game
Spain
Prado