Spain in 1964

grandmaRgrandmaR Registered Users Posts: 1,942 Major grins
edited September 26, 2013 in Journeys
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=241153 Coming from Lisbon...

We slept until Madrid, where the conductor nearly had an apoplectic fit when he saw that we weren't all ready to leap off the train as soon as it entered the station. My sister was still groggy, and was ready to spit nails at him for shouting "Vamoose" at her at the top of his lungs (My mom's note -- I have laughed and laughed over this, knowing her (my sister) in the morning!) We were all ready to go -- it was only a matter of disentangling the stroller from the ceiling rack and waking the baby up. But my sister was sans stockings and tousled when we emerged. We were wearing yesterday's dresses - my sister had my blue nylon that I lent her.

Taxi to the Valencia station, checked our bags, tried to get WL to Valencia. The only place left was for officials and we'd have to come back in a hour to see about it. With foreboding, we finally caught taxi to AmExp (Taxis are cheap). They had nothing at all for Valencia, but my sister could have a flight to Nuremberg. So at 10:35 we decided she should take the 1:15 plane. No time to take the airport bus -- taxi back to the station.

I disappeared into the depths to get the bags. My sister had the baby in the stroller, diaper bag, food bag and garment bag and I carried our two suitcases.

Taxi about $1.75 to the airport -- like going from downtown to Friendship. Weighed in at 10 lbs heavy (She had been, supposedly 18 lb overweight on the trip down with all the diapers and baby food).

After repacking, throwing out, and giving away (powdered milk donated to stewardesses nino cousin) they accepted the bags -- weren't so
picayune as the Germans were).

Everyone into the ladies room where we convulsed the attendants by my sister giving the baby and herself a sponge bath while I performed the magic act , standard form (consisting of washing bottles and making powdered milk and orange juice from a concentrate. This never failed to astound the Spanish). My sister changed clothes, gave me back my dress, combed her hair, took her leave from TA, exited through passport control. She said that in Spain, the Stewardess takes the baby from the mother. In Germany, the stewardess offers to carry the diaper bag.

My sister at the airport

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Then I tried to get a train to Valencia where Bob's ship was coming in.

I wrote my mother - This has been a most frustrating day. It need not have been if anyone knew anything and communications were better. After I left my sister at the airport, I went to the information bureau and they said *Certainly* I ought to be able to get a train space and a hotel booked. They gave me the name of a travel agency, but it wouldn't be open until 4.30. And there was an Express at 7 that got in at 10 (Madrid to Valencia). So I went down to get the airline bus -- they don't leave anymore until 2:30 (it was then 1.30). Well I waited anyway and in about a 1/2 hr. one pulled up and so I got in. Then we got to the Palace Hotel and they almost wouldn't let me have my bag because I had no airline claim check -- after all, what was I doing on the bus if not coming from an airplane?

Got a taxi to the station (RR) and again checked my bag. The station was packed.

What I *should* have done was stand in line and get a reservation, but I felt that would be ungrateful to the travel agency. So I got lunch and finished my postcards and mailed them, and took a taxi out to the travel agency. I was still 1/2 hr. early so had to wait.

At the travel agency, they said that with a Eurail pass I'd have to go to the station to get a seat and they wouldn't book me a hotel, but Valencia was a big city and no one stayed there for a holiday because the beaches weren't near. So I should have no trouble. And they gave me some addresses and indicated which were big hotels.

So I took the Metro (1.5 psts against 25 psts) back to the station, which was a madhouse. I stood in line *3 SOLID HOURS* only to discover that I couldn't get a seat reservation except on the train.

I met some of Spain's youth, who were very nice, although there was a communications barrier and I read "The Little King" comic over another man's shoulder. There were families with every size child, luggage of every miscellaneous sort. All are going to the beach for a holiday.

I was very tired, so I got my bag out of hock (did I say that it was the baggage man who set me straight about what time the train really left? He seemed most anxious that I understand) and went to the Wagon-Lits office on the off-chance that there *might* be one, and there was!! Maybe having to produce 2 together made it difficult. Or maybe the other man wanted his palm crossed with silver, but this time it was zip-zip and there I was 318 psts please, which is between 5 and 6 dollars. So here I am in luxury accommodations again

Of course I still had to walk around and find the right train. It was early enough that the train was not marked. My bag gets heavier and heavier (no wheelie bags in those days - I had a 20" Samsonite bag for the 5 weeks I was traveling) I'm going to have to give some of my travel literature to Bob.

My roommate has a DOG! She speaks nothing but Spanish. One of the men next door speaks English and offered translate for me, but I haven't taken him up on it. He asked if was traveling alone, so I told him I was going to meet my husband. I work that into all conversations with men if the language barrier doesn't prevent.

This custom of Spanish wearing their wedding rings on their right hands makes everyone think I am a Senorita. I was even sold a senorita ticket last night, and he just put my maiden name on it too.

I had only two cokes for dinner, so it is a good thing I had some lunch. At the station there were men and women with two spouted pottery jugs. The big spout is to fill it and one drinks from the little one without touching it. They sell drinks of water.

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25 July - Well I had a good night and am now up. The country side is much greener looking and I see orange trees and palms approaching Valencia.

Sat was fiesta day. The travel agency in Madrid was WRONG WRONG WRONG about being able to get a hotel easily here. I walked my feet off and finally found a vacancy in a 2nd class hotel. They insisted that we take a full or demi pension and the food isn't bad actually. It costs us 120 pesetas a night ($2.00) for a double and 185 psts each a day for board. That is about $8.00 for 2 full room and board. We are on the 6th floor. We have a small room with a sink, which is clean, but not elegant. We have a balcony on the main street.

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You can ride a streetcar for 0.5 to 1.5 psts and get anywhere. I've not been in a taxi since I had a suitcase to get to the hotel with.

Our hotel was very European. The first floor was a stamp collecting shop. The Prime floor (one floor above the ground) was above that and was our hotel lobby and dining room. The secundo floor was mostly doctor's offices. The testro floor was a another hotel (Hotel Orientale) and the Quatro floor was most of the rooms of our hotel, with some on the floor above also. There was another floor above that, but I never went up there.

The elevator was the kind that you ride up and walk down. If you stopped off at the lobby, one of the bellboys had to be sent down to get the elevator. The keys, therefore, were all kept upstairs and not at the desk. After 10.00 at night the main iron grillwork doors were locked and if you wanted to get in you clapped for the "vigilante" who unlocked the gate for you. You also clapped for service at the cafe if you wanted if in a hurry. One day one of the elevators was out of order and then as we were walking downstairs that afternoon, it came down from the top floor with a workman calmly riding on the top. Then we heard staccato cries in Spanish and two workmen came running down the stairs after it.

The concierges spoke German but little English. The one who was new at his job got all the expenses balled up and tried to charge us for a shower the previous tenants had taken.

Bob's schedule has been changed. They did go to Cannes, which they missed on the first go-round. They went after Naples and they are now supposed to hit Marseille instead of Toulon. So it's a good thing I had no reservations.

At night we went to a fair and saw the midway and had a coke and watched an opera on Spanish TV and listened to open air bands. We also got caught in another cloudburst. We huddled under a canopy until it was almost over.

Saturday, Bob and I walked around the city this morning and saw some sights on our own

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Everything possible seems to be for sale here in the way of food. The guide said it is the best market in Spain. It is all decorated with tiles

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“"..an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered." G.K. Chesterton”

Comments

  • grandmaRgrandmaR Registered Users Posts: 1,942 Major grins
    edited September 26, 2013
    We went to the beach for the afternoon.

    Sunday, we went to a bullfight -- much more expensive than Madrid -- 465 psts for 2 against 250 psts, but it is festival time and top matadors and Sun. etc. The bullfight started out slower than in Madrid and the bulls just *wouldn't* die. Then it started to rain and we ended up vaulting several bales etc. to get to the roofed section of the ring and hiding under the bunting in the Spanish national colors that was draped around it. We left after the 7th bull because it started to rain again. The 7th matador put in his own bandilleros and got tossed for his pains and also got knocked down by the bull when doing his cape work. He wasn't hurt -- he is something of a hot shot I hear.

    Bob took some movies and also of the colored fountain in the main square.

    Monday we took a city tour (90 psts each).

    This is a resort town and not used to American tourists. The shops won't take traveler's checks and they don't mail things for you.

    There is a little girl at our hotel between my daughter's ages [probably about 2] and she is real cute. They keep the kids up to all hours and I don't know when they sleep. This one fell fast asleep at lunch yesterday. Everywhere on the street they sell lottery tickets. Mostly people who are cripples do the selling. They have real street sweepers who sweep up the trash, which is a good thing because there are no trash cans. Our room lacks a wastebasket.

    After Bob got back from the ship, we went to the Ceramic Museum, which we had somehow missed.

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    The original Gothic palace dates from the fifteenth century. It was the home of the a Valencian noble family of the Marquis de Dos Aguas. In 1740 it was re-modeled by Hipolito Rovira,

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    who added an amazing alabaster Baroque entrance. The entrance is one of the Valencia's landmarks.

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    It was fantastic.

    They had all kinds of tiles, plates, etc. (me reflected in the mirror)

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    Picasso ceramics

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    kitchen set up
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    “"..an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered." G.K. Chesterton”
  • grandmaRgrandmaR Registered Users Posts: 1,942 Major grins
    edited September 26, 2013
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    (more mirrors)

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    and some things I'm not sure why they were there such as this Egyptian thing

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    They had a room dedicated to Lucretia Borgi. Borgi who apparently was an opera star (Mom's note: Her grandmother would have a fit over that "apparently" She sang in the Metropolitan Opera).

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    They had saumari armor, carriages and old costumes.

    View from the window

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    window in the courtyard
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    Then we went to look for a restaurant and walked out to the fair where we had heard there was a good one, but all we could find was two maternity hospitals. I didn't have my camera and I was sorry because one had a statue of a stork delivering a baby. So we took a trolley back to town and got out the guide books and sure enough there *was* a restaurant out there somewhere. Since I didn't want to go out there again and since it was supposed to be expensive, we went to the only other one we could find on the map. Herman Cortes 9 -- the Palas Fesol -- which was very good. Bob had coverec soup which was a meat base and had chicken livers and bread in it and also chateaubrean. I had chicken. Both were very good. The restaurant had white walls and iron grill work, lanterns and decoration and the kitchen was out in the middle so you could watch the cooking and it was tiled and the table cloths were blue and white. It cost us about 140 psts total with tip (we had ice cream for dessert) which is $2.30 for two.

    Plans for the following few days

    Weds - 29 July - Bob's leave ends at 24.00
    Thurs - 30 July - check out of hotel and take 8:30 train (2nd class
    only) with seat reservation obtained from AmExp/ to Granada. stay at
    the Washington Irving Hotel which is practically in Alhambra - 250
    psts a night for a room with bath and breakfast. They have no rooms
    without bath.
    Fri. July 31 - spend in Granada
    Sat - 1 Aug -- leave Granada 14.15 on express to Madrid - arrive
    Madrid 22.30
    Sun - 2 Aug - leave Madrid 13.30 express to Barcelona, arrive
    Barcelona 23.40 and spend night.
    Mon 3-Aug - leave Barcelona 9:30 -- express TEE, arrive Marseille
    16.45
    Tues - 4 Aug - Bob arrives Marseille
    Sat -- 8 Aug. Bob leaves Marseille
    I leave Marseille 20.00 arrive Paris
    Leave Paris 21.30
    9 Aug - Arrive Nurnberg 9.35 (times approximate) to visit with my sister.

    The best laid plans ..
    “"..an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered." G.K. Chesterton”
  • grandmaRgrandmaR Registered Users Posts: 1,942 Major grins
    edited September 26, 2013
    Thursday, July 30, 1964 - en route to Granada

    Dear Mother,

    Well the train is a madhouse. It is a good thing I have a seat reservation altho there are some unreserved which I could fight for.

    I don't know what I have written that makes your hair stand on end (Ed note: She's forgotten about the temporary loss of her pocketbook and RR ticket and washing her dress and putting it on again and many other things!) I'm glad you can get my somewhat disjointed documents into good form. (Ed note: when I gave her very thin airmail stationary. I had NO idea she would use it for anything but the first letter, nor that she would write on jiggly trains on BOTH sides of the paper!)

    I'm sorry to hear the summer there is so bad. I don't know what the heat here has been, but it has been dry.


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    I have now been on the train all day - since 8.00 (leaving at 8.30) and it is now 5.30. We arrive in Granada sometime after 9 if the train is on time. I shall be a little surprised if it is. The rule on Spanish trains is: take an express and expect to be late. Also the rule is --travel first class if possible -- you will still see as much of Spanish life as you desire. And a third rule -- if humanly possible get a seat reservation.



    This particular train is new and modern and consists of only one car, which contains its own engine, WCs and snack bar. It is wide and has 3 seats on one side and two on the other. The seats are padded (in 3rd they are frequently just wooden benches) and reverse like the old trolleys used to do, so the train can go either way. It is a one-class car -- namely II. The train stops at every town.

    On the way here until 2.00 a man and his wife and a boy and girl about 4 and 2 shared my triple seat with me. Actually, the man stood in the back most of the time. He looked like a Spanish James Cagney. I just saw within one minute of each other, a woman washing in a stream and a house with a swimming pool.


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    Well I am now at the Washington Irving (Granada) which seems a nice hotel. I was given a nice room -- single bed wider than any I've seen, a bath, shower, and bidet and even an anteroom. I washed out my clothes of yesterday and found a hole near the hem of my traveling dress from wards. I will mend it tonight. The concierge sold me stamps and postcards, but I discovered 3 addresses I hadn't pasted on and mailed. I have found, in a Spanish bookstore, in paperback, a book I've been trying to get for Rev. Galloway to read. It is called "Daughters of Time" by Josephine Tey. I got it to read on the train.

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    Friday July 31st

    I had breakfast at the hotel this morning. Two rolls and tea loose in the pot instead of in a bag. Maybe this is the difference between a first and second class hotel --at a first class hotel you get two rolls and at a second class hotel you only get one. I don't know what you get in a 3rd class place. I set foot outside and was immediately accosted by gypsies trying to sell me castanets and wanting to tell my fortune. Ice men at the hotel

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    I had a morning tour of the Alhambra

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    “"..an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered." G.K. Chesterton”
  • grandmaRgrandmaR Registered Users Posts: 1,942 Major grins
    edited September 26, 2013
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    Well it never occurred to me before really, that all the decoration in the Alhambra, with the exception of some wooden ceilings (inlaid and sans nails) is plaster that is molded when wet like a child at the beach molds her sand.

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    Court of the Lions

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    “"..an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered." G.K. Chesterton”
  • grandmaRgrandmaR Registered Users Posts: 1,942 Major grins
    edited September 26, 2013
    They split up into French/German group and Spanish/English group so you don't have to hear the whole spiel in four languages. They took us to a lace shop afterwards which was interesting, but I haven't bought any lace.

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    Afternoon tour of the town

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    And the cathedral where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried

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    Sacristy

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    One of the things that happened on the tour was that our bus, coming down the hill met another bus coming up the hill and they were both practically flaking off paint on their sides the road was so narrow. So were eyeball to eyeball and had to back up.
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    “"..an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered." G.K. Chesterton”
  • grandmaRgrandmaR Registered Users Posts: 1,942 Major grins
    edited September 26, 2013
    On the afternoon tour we saw the gypsy dancing (which wasn't much) (Gypsy Mama)
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    and the inlaid wood factory -

    The hotel concierge offered to get a seat reservation to Madrid. That is only an 8-hour trip instead of 13 hours. But he could not get one. He tried to persuade me to take the 13 hour train trip back to Valencia, when he found he couldn't get me a seat on the train to Madrid today. But I put my foot down on that, so he did get me a seat on the train that comes up from Granada Fri. night and I cancelled out what the hotel owed me for a room for the second night with two dinners and everyone was happy, including the hotel who had a use for my room.

    In Madrid, AmExp provided me with an explanation - the Spanish holidays end and start at the end of the month.

    Last night (July 31st) on the train I shared a compartment with a Spanish couple, a Spanish man (who spent 3/4 of the night in the corridor) and a couple of California ladies named Kelly and Dolores. Kelly was Spanish and Dolores was American. They have apparently been over here for several months. They were traveling with just a large handbag apiece. We had tea with their teabags and the RR hot water and rolls in the morning for breakfast. I lent (gave) them wash n' dries to clean up with. I think I persuaded them to go to Lisbon. They were on the morning tour (in Granada), but didn't like it

    August 1st

    This morning, I checked my bags and found all trains to Barcelona were filled for the next 4 days! I could just get on and stand for 8 hours, but even with a book (which I hadn't bought yet of course) this was not really appealing. Everyone seemed to think once I got to Barcelona, I'd have no trouble on the train. I discovered I could fly to Barcelona for about $15.00 if I took a night flight. I couldn't get one tonight, so I have one for tomorrow night. So I am improving the shining hour tomorrow by taking the tour to Toledo.

    The Nacional gave me a room with no fuss, and I am now having a lemonade in the lobby. (View from the hotel room of Carlos V fountain)


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    I suppose I should have gone to the Royal Palace this morning, but I just rinsed out my clothes and ate an orange and a roll in my room and took a long siesta

    August 2 On the daytrip to Toledo, we saw the Cathedral, churches, synagogue, Alcazar, hospital (now are a museum), El Greco's house and museum and had lunch. Altogether it was a full day

    Men doing damascening

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    “"..an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered." G.K. Chesterton”
  • grandmaRgrandmaR Registered Users Posts: 1,942 Major grins
    edited September 26, 2013
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    Flying Madrid to Barcellona August 2-3
    I got to the airport early, and mailed my daughter a card, and had dinner etc. Then when the plane was supposed to be announced, they apparently said that there would be a delay. Earlier in the day they had been making announcements in French, English and German, but about 10:00, they abandoned that and went back to only Spanish. Anyway, we were supposed to leave at 11:30 and we didn't leave until 1:30. The mystery stories I had bought to read were a godsend.

    Since I got to Barcelona finally at 4 am, I didn't go to a hotel, but just to a train station. [Another thing I did not write to my mom. The taxi driver in the taxi that I got at the airport to go to the train station was extremely concerned about my safety in the station, which he said was overrun with gypsies, and the ticket windows wouldn't open until about 6 am. He had me stay in his cab until the ticket windows opened and I don't think he charged me anything extra for that. He was right about the gypsies]


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    Very dark photo of the station

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    August 3rd

    I am safely over the Spanish border and have two remaining hurdles. One is to change trains at Narbonne, and the other is finding accommodations in Marseille.

    There was no dining car on either the French or Spanish trains, so I bought a box lunch at the station. For 9.50 NF I got a chicken breast, 4 slices of French bread, a large slice of ham, an orange, banana and a lemonade. Changing at Norbonne became very simple. As our train pulled in and I got out (haven't seen a porter since I left Spain) another train pulled in on the other side of the platform and that was our train.

    Aside from a few minutes confusion provided when a conductor said the train was "complet", everything went smoothly. (There were plenty of seats). I had a compartment first with a mother and two children --French, who had obviously just come from the seaside, and then with two old ladies. Another daughter also came later. I slept a lot on the trains as I didn't get much the night before.
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    Touring in France http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=241303
    “"..an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered." G.K. Chesterton”
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