Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon, Portugal! First of all, Portugal is one hour earlier than Spain because for some reason, it is on UK time. Also, Portuguese is more unlike Spanish than I had suspected. For example, “thank you” is “obrigada”, which in no way resembles “gracias.” (And if you’re a man, “obrigado”.) I also saw a sign with “chocolate” spelled with an X instead of the “ch”. (?!?!?!)

The first thing I noted when I landed at the train station was that I had to pay to use the bathroom. (I would soon learn that outside of Spain, this is actually the norm. Carry change.)

The area around the train station is a little sketchy, and at first I thought I had made a Bad Mistake. Everything seemed dirty and trashy, with lots of graffiti and bums, some of which were sleeping in actual broken cardboard boxes.

However, as I kept walking, the neighborhoods kept improving. The walk was very pretty, with the river/port to my left and the city to my right. I passed a US Coast Guard pirate ship thing – no idea what that was about.

The woman on the train had told me to never start out speaking Spanish to the Portuguese. She said that they have some sort of inferiority complex with the Spaniards and if they meet someone from Spain, they will assume that person is going to snub them or insult them, so the Portuguese are likely to put on their attitude first, kind of as a defense mechanism.

So, she said to first ask if they speak English, and when they say no, *then* ask about Spanish. So, that’s what I did, and everywhere I went I spoke Spanish – but as the “second choice”.

So I’m in the center of town, which is a square with the river to one side and a statue in the center. It’s called the Praça do Comércio, “praça” being Portuguese for “plaza”. (Very frequently “r” was where I expected “l” and “ç” where I expected “z”. “Ç” is not even a letter in Spanish.)

I go to get on the trolley and the lady says “two”, which I took to mean two Euros so I forked over a 5, and she just gave me some loose change in return. Apparently, she was asking if I were paying for two *people*, and by smiling and nodding, I inadvertently bought the way of the guy behind me. So, if you don’t speak the language, don’t smile. Or nod. Very expensive habit.

The trolley was a crazy trolley (much like the crazy taxi, if you’re familiar with arcade games) and if I hadn’t held on with both hands, I wouldn’t still be here now. (Why don’t we have opposable toes?)

The first thing I did (once I got off the trolley and kissed the ground beneath my feet) was to visit the Monasterio de Geronimo. It happened to be free on Sunday, which was cool, and it was the 500th anniversary, which was even cooler. Apparently, people were allowed to touch all over everything and use flash photography, neither of which I felt was cool, so I abstained from both, keeping my hands and flashbulbs to myself.

I loved how gothic it was – it was the most gothicky monastery I’d ever been in, and it is awesome. (Not that I’d been in any monasteries prior to this trip – the most goth you’ll find in the US is Marilyn Manson.)

Next, I ate at the Pastéis de Belém. Mmm. I don’t know why I’m not still there, getting fatter and fatter. Run, don’t walk, to the nearest airport, fly to Lisbon, go to the original 1800’s blue-tiled Pastéis de Belém restaurant, order yourself a cappuccino and as many pastéis as the table can hold. This is now officially my favorite food in, I think, the world, and I am discovering it across the freaking globe. (Can I open a Tampa franchise??) I started with two and when the people next to me at their first and asked for a carryout box, I just ordered some more. (As my pal Ashley would say, “Get it in me!”)

The café Pastéis de Belém looks small, but don’t be fooled. It is secretly massive, and has lots of rooms that you go through one to get to another, so you’re never really sure how many there are.

Random people keep thinking I’m speaking Portuguese when I’m forced to mumble some Portspañol. I’m doing a lot of vague smiling, then wandering away when it seems opportune.

I went into the Coach Museum (or carriages, depending on how you look at it), which was celebrating its 100th year. It was wild to see all the golden, ornate coaches and imagine being carted about town secreted inside one. On my way out of the museum, I passed a vending machine – a KitKat machine! Be still my heart! Nothing but varieties of Kit Kat bars! Who knew there *were* varieties of Kit Kat bars?!

I ducked into a gift shop to scope out the shot glass selection for my collection, and on the counter I see this very sketchy iced-tea jug with something other than iced tea inside. It has a hand-made sign taped to it: “Ginja. Com chocolate: 1€”. Thanks to the book I borrowed from Danielle, I knew that ginja was (quoting here) “Portuguese firewater”. I had no idea about the chocolate, but hey, you only live once, right? So I slid my euro across the counter and the lady pours me a shot of ginja into a chocolate cup. And when I say chocolate cup, I mean a teacup – with handle and all – made completely of chocolate! It was an alcochocoholic’s *dream*. (And yes, before I went back to Madrid, I had another one. How could I not?)

The next place I went to was the Porto de Lisboa, which had a fabulous view of the boats and the bridge. Next, I went to the Monumento des Descobertas, or Discoveries monument, where my English/Spanish ploy completely fell apart. No English, no Spanish, no French – she spoke German. I managed to stumble through a “Would you please take my photo here?” in my broken German, which punctured my self-confidence a bit and I stopped talking for a while. (German?? I should have studied more!)

An interesting quick about Lisbon is that the roadside vendors have all the indulgences – everything from ice cream to hard liquor. (I didn’t have either one, because as you’ll recall I was quite stuffed with pasteis and ginja at this point.) I saw a lot of free public roadside parking, although I also saw a guy running a hustle where he flagged cars into (free) open spots for tips/money.

Next, I went to the tower of Belém, which was very cool. It had a dungeon with bars, and barred “windows” in the ground floor above which I imagine you could drop in prisoners or food or snakes or whatever to the dungeon below. I climbed the skinny, winding staircase to the top of the tower and was rewarded with an awesome panorama of Lisbon.

I saw the giant cross on the hill known as the Cristo Rei (I assume “Christ the King”) and I learned that Portugal is roughly the size of Indiana.

I walked through the Museu de Marinha (Maritime Museum) which had every manner of model ship and maritime relic, and was therefore probably a much more complete museum than really necessary for my taste. (That’ll teach me to go into Maritime museums. Everything’s all maritime-y.)

Next I hoofed it 4 miles to El Corte Ingles, forgetting it would be closed because it was Sunday. I’m glad I walked it, though, because I passed all sorts of cool views, and a street filled with vendors and sidewalk artists. The Corte had an open movie theater, so I flashed my student ID and got to see War of the Worlds on the cheap. Before the movie (which was in English) there was a preview for the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which was in Portuguese, so I didn’t understand a single word. I’ll be glad to see that one back home.

After the movie, I caught a taxi back to the Santa Apolonia railway station. Europe is big on roundabouts – most are two to four lanes wide. If you’re not a roundabout fan, don’t rent a car – take the metro or a taxi.

Tags: cathedrals, food, museums, random facts & history, travel tips, wine

El Escorial, Spain

This morning after breakfast I boarded the bus for El Escorial. I saw the oldest theater in Spain and the Monasterio de San Lorenzo. Here’s the quick and dirty regarding the monastery. Felipe II married his cousin, his aunt, his son’s girlfriend, and then his niece. (Sequentially, not all at once.) When the last of these died, he decided to build a monastery – a “palace for god and a cottage for me.” It took 21 years to build, which is lightning fast. How did he accomplish such a feat? It’s all about the money. Pay increased or decreased depending on how quickly or how slow construction progressed, and nobody got any money at all until the whole thing was completed. (Talk about your incentive program!)

The monastery has statues of the kings of the Old Testament. It also has a statue of Christ on the cross, which they had to “dress” with a piece of cloth, because he was sculpted naked and apparently women flocked to stare, rather than attend service.

Felipe II had a traveling chair because of his gout. A traveling chair is a contraption where he gets carried by inserting two poles through a set of holes and then hefted up on (someone else’s) shoulders. He could also put up the top and sides if it were cold or sunny.

His son died at age 31 with a record 16 girlfriends. He was the first playboy of Spain, and on whom the infamous Don Juan is probably based. (In case you didn’t know, it was social suicide for a woman to be with don Juan or any man, because the second you were no longer a virgin, you were “ruined” and would never marry.)

The mausoleum is called the Royal Pantheon and has kings on one side and queens on the other, except for one queen on the man side because she was very kingly, and one king on the female side because he was very… queenly.

There are large paintings of bible stories on the walls because most text was written in Latin and the average person could not read.

Next, we visited the Valley of the Fallen, which was very impressive. It is a huge monument carved out of rock by Franco’s prisoners to commemorate all those who died in the fierce, bloody – and recent – civil war.

Tonight I went to the train station and hopped aboard the night train with service to Portugal! Tomorrow is a free day from school, and I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to visit Lisbon.

The night train had four bunks, two on each side. I roomed with a grandmother, mother, and daughter from Portugal, all of whom were very nice and full of useful tips.

Tags: cathedrals, random facts & history, theatre & shows, trains

Madrid, Spain

Today the second bombing attempt took place in London. This is getting crazy. I keep thinking about the Londoners and how awful it would be to be scared in – and of – your own home town.

“Madrid” is from the Arab word “Maharid” meaning “where water comes together”. This is because of the river and the lake, both of which today are very small.

Random Idiom: In Spanish, “un huevo” (an egg) means “a lot”. So, when they say “te quiero un huevo”, they mean “I love you bunches.”

Tags: random facts & history

Aranjuez, Spain

I boarded the bus to Aranjuez with my class. Aranjuez is 30 miles south of Madrid. There are six royal palaces within 60 miles of Madrid, of which the biggest is the Royal Palace in Madrid, which is also the winter palace. Aranjuez has the spring palace.

There is also an even smaller palace, created by Felipe II in the 1500s, which is where the prince has his rooms before he becomes king.

The small, princely palace is two miles away from the main palace, and the entire distance between is covered with gardens. Spain in this area is hot and dry, and the gardens flourish because of the proximity to the river. There’s lots of dams and wells – a whole complicated mechanism keeps the gardens alive.

The cemetary was intriguing because it was crowded with headstones, and had niches for ashes.

Tags: castles & palaces, random facts & history

Seville, Spain

This morning, we piled in the bus and trekked to Sevilla. Seville has a population of 700,000, with another million if you count the suburbs. The only larger cities are Madrid and Barcelona. Out of Seville’s 700,000 city inhabitants: 50,000 are college students.

Two Roman emporers were born here in Seville. Amerigo Vespucci also lived here, as did Magellan.

The walls around the city were built by the Arabs, and the gate is called the Macarena. (And you thought it was just a song!) One week every spring, Seville has a flemenco festival.

Cartuja is the new section, with an island and bridges. There’s an amusement park open from 11 am until midnight. It has a section that’s a copy of the Seville harbor during the 16th century.

Valenque is a tent-covered square that actually has air conditioning. Concerts and the like are held here.

A mudéjar style Cathusian monestary here was converted into a ceramic factory by an Englishman. It has since been reconverted back into a church. St James is the patron saint of Spain and his festival is next week.

Seville has the famous bridge you may have read about in the Guinness book of world records. It’s long, flat, and with zero suspension. Oh yeah, and it’s not just foot traffic, either – our bus rolled right across it, and I amazingly lived to tell the tale.

The new bridge in Seville has a funny history. The bridge came first, and the water came second! Once the construction finished, they released the dams and put the river underneath the bridge.

I also saw the cacharro – a statue of Jesus on the cross. The sculptor witnessed a gypsy getting caught and killed on the street and captured the gypsy’s expression for the one on the face of christ.

The Plaza de Toros in Seville is one of the oldest in Spain. (But not *the* oldest – do you remember where that one was?) It is the bullring featured in the opera Carmen.

Seville also has two towers – the tower of silver and the tower of gold. Also, you may have seen the square on film – Lawrence of Arabia was filmed here, as were parts of Star Wars Episode II.

Seville has a monument dedicated to El Cid Campeador in front of the university, magnolia trees with big whilte flowers, and five remaining arches of a Roman aqueduct.

Kansas City, Missouri is the the sister city to Seville, and the name of the avenue to enter Seville for the airport. (That bit of info is for you Missourians, you know who you are.)

The Holy Cross square used to be a synangogue that (of course) was converted into a Catholic church. But then it caught fire and was destroyed and now a monument stands in its place.

Seville also boasts the largest gothic cathedral in the world. It has the mummified “el lagarto” (which is like a crocodile, but more about the size of a large iguana.) Interestingly, “el lagarto” sounds suspiciously like “alligator”. (Things that make you go hmmm…)

The tomb of Cristobal Colón (Christopher Columbus to us) is also in this cathedral. Next year marks the 500th year of his death. He died in Spain and his remains were in the church that became the old ceramic factory that later re-became a church. (You followed that, right?) When his son died in Seville, his widow took the remains of both father and son to the island of Santo Domingo. 200 years ago, Spain lost this island and moved the remains to Cuba for safe keeping. This turned out to be a bad plan, and in 1898, the remains (in terrible condition by this time) were brought back to Spain. Seville recently decided to DNA test everything that was left, so actually, Columbus is in a laboratory somewhere in Houston right now.

In this cathedral, there were lots of glass cases featuring the bones and other visible remains of various saints. As mentioned recently, this is the first time I ever knew people kept this sort of thing in churches for general viewing, and I am getting used to the idea, since in old European Catholic churches, it seems to be the norm. I also learned that the Catholics like to pray to the saints when they can see part of them. I’m guessing this is to feel a connection with the person. (If you’re Catholic and you have some insight on this, please confirm or deny).

This Church has a huge baptism chapel, which is still in use. Just two days ago, some kids were baptised. The walls are adorned with paintings by Murillo. On one, someone cut out the saint and stole it. This was back in the 19th century. years later, someone came across it in the black market. (What they were doing perusing the black market and how they recognized a piece of this random painting, hard to say.) So, it found its way back to Spain. I can clearly see the marks where a big rectangle was cut apart and put back together.

I also climbed 35 floors to the top of the Giralda tower, which has a magnificent view. Afterwards, I ate some ice cream at Rayas, which was delish. Europe not only has a sweet tooth, but very specifically has tons of ice cream.

Tonight we went to a (choreographed) flamenco show, and although it was well-executed and entertaining, I enjoyed the gypsy flamenco much better. Also, the theater we were at tonight had us sitting thigh-to-thigh with the person next to us. People were smoking and ordering drinks, even during the performance. (The girl to my right got a vodka and fanta. Ew.)

I won’t name any names since this is the Internet and all, but there was one girl on the trip who cracked me up continuously because she was always saying the zaniest things. First of all, she said she disliked Spanish cuisine because there weren’t any twizzlers, and she likes to eat a pound a week. (???) She was going to pack five pounds of twizzlers in her carry-on, but she knew she’d eat them all the first week she was here. (!!!) Also, when I asked her if she knew what we were doing tomorrow, she said “Yep – we’re going to see Dante’s windmills.” I blinked, and when I realized what she meant, I cracked up laughing until I got the hiccups (which didn’t faze her in the least, so she must get that a lot.) “Actually,” I mention casually when I finally catch my breath. “I believe Dante is known more for his Inferno. Maybe we’re going to see Don Quixote’s windmills.” (To which she said, “Whatever. All I really want to do is go to the movies, because I’m a big fan of the Fabulous Four.”)

Tags: cathedrals, festivals & fiestas, music & concerts, random facts & history, theme parks

Granada, Spain

Today I finally got to see La Alhambra. (Which, side note, is technically redundant. All Spanish words beginning with “al” are Arabic, and “al” is Arabic for “el” and “la”, so saying La Alhambra is saying “the” twice. OK I’m done.) The Alhambra is absolutely amazing.

Carlos I of Spain (But V of Austria, if you’re keeping track. He’s also son of Felipe and Juana la loca, and grandson of Fernando and Isabel). Anyway, Carlos I began its construction, and Felipe II had a second level put on. No one lives here because to this day, it isn’t “finished”, although plays and concerts are held in its auditorium. It was created in an italian rennaissance style with wide staircases, as opposed to the narrow ones typical of the middle ages.

The Alhambra is more of a city than a palace. It is that huge. The water in the fountains is natural water, flowing from the Sierra Nevada. To have running water (as opposed to having to take a pail and go get some from a river) was a sure sign of richness.

The entranceway has two doors. One from the outside leading to a waiting room, the other from the waiting room to the real inside. Uninvited or unwelcome guests never made it past the waiting room into the palace.

The designwork frequently utilized octagons, symbolizing the seven levels of heaven (with the eighth side being god himself). The hand sign Americans use to say OK is the same sign they used to symbolize Allah. Incidentally, I also learned that it’s very American to say “oh”. The Spanish say “ah”. I wonder how many other signs we throw off that we’re not even aware of!

Next I got to visit the beautiful Generalife gardens (Not “General Life” – say it like a Spaniard: hen er ah LEE fay). These are right next to the Alhambra and absolutely gorgeous.

Tags: castles & palaces, random facts & history

Grenada, Andalucía, Spain

This morning, I packed up and headed out for my four day Andalucia excursion (through the school). I had the choice of Andalucia or Barcelona, and since I plan to hit Barcelona later, I chose Andalucia.

The first stop was Grenada. We checked into our hotel rooms and I went walking around the city. I hopeed on a bus and got out at the Science Museum. It was pretty cool. There was an entire exhibit on Velociraptor. (For those of you aware of my dinophilia, you can imagine the gravitational pull that flung me into this room.)

Velociraptor is in the Dromaesaundae family. So what, you say? Well. This family includes dromaeosaurus and deinonychus, and in 1999, a dromaeosaurus was unearthed with *feathers*. This was probably to regulate body temperature and means that it is extremely likely that Deinonychus and Velociraptor also had feathers. (Kind of changes the whole Jurassic Park imagery a bit, doesn’t it.)

Scientists have long suspected that birds are descendents of dinosaurs, and this is just another nod in that direction.

In the hands-on section of the museum, I did an experiment with a beach ball hovering over an air jet, and was surprised to verify that I could not easily knock it off course.

I also learned about hermetism, introduced to Europe by the Arabs. In the middle ages, doctors looked to the stars to determine the most auspicious times for treatments. (I also learned the Spanish words for several types of trees and unusual animals, but I won’t bore you with all that here.)

The Sierra Nevada is the mountain range you see in Granada. Usually there is snow at the peaks, but this summer has been so hot that it all melted.

Tonight I got to go to the caves and experience gypsy flamenco. It was incredible, and I am forever ruined for all future choreographed flamenco shows by having seen how much soul the gypsies infuse into every movement.

This was also the day I realized all the photos I was taking with my digital camera were blurry – the autofocus stopped working. (I was later to find out that most of the photos I had taken for the past week or so were also blurry, so I only have about 20% usable, if that, of the pictures I had thought I’d taken. I do still have my video camera which does take digital pictures, but very few and of smaller size and poorer quality. I’m not even sure they’d make a 4×6 print.)

Those who know me well can just imagine how devestating this was for me – no camera and no clear photos. No sir, I didn’t like it.

Tags: museums, music & concerts, random facts & history

Madrid, Spain

Today I finally made it to the Prado Museum. I went with my class and stayed practically all day. I saw a ton of paintings by Velazquez, including several of Felipe III. They even have the portrait Velazquez did of him that earned him the title of court painter. An interesting tidbit about Velazquez is that he doesn’t pre-sketch before putting paint to canvas. Now, before you think that this is because he is a genius or that there is no such thing as an artistic error, let me explain. If he decides to paint a different pose, for example, he doesn’t start with a fresh canvas – he paints right on top of whatever he’s already got down. And due to the passage of time – and with a little help from museums’ arch enemy, tourists who illegally take photos with flash – in some paintings you can see a “ghost” image of an extra leg, eye, hand, etc. And in others – you can see it *really* clearly. It is actually a little funny in a way – I bet he never thought anyone would ever know, and here it is – on display to the world, mistakes and all.

I also got to see his other works, like El Triunfo del Baco (or Los Borrachos) as well as Retrato de Familia (aka Las Meninas). I can talk for a good half hour on these two paintings alone, so if you’re interested, just ask and I’ll be glad to wax poetic as well as divulge all my cool trivia. Same with Vulcan’s Forge, Cristo (de Velezquez) and Las Hilanderas (aka The Challenge Between Arachne and Minerva). In the latter, the tapestry in the back is Ruben’s Europa.

I learned some gossip about the people in the portraits, also. Carlos II, for example, was the last of his line. He couldn’t… procreate, due to problems stemming from too much royal inbreeding. He had to choose a French prince as his heir and he picked Felipe V, which began the Bourbon dynasty. On a similar vein, all the Hapsburgs have massive jutting jaws, also a defect due to too much inbreeding.

Here’s another “Did you know?” fun fact. Wigs were not only a fashion statement, they were an accent with a purpose – to avoid lice. (Thank god the fashion changed, or I’d have had to wear a white curly wig on school field trips as a kid, instead of my trusty Cubs hat.)

An interesting fact about La Maja Desnuda (other than that the only difference between this painting and La Maja Vestida is that in one, she’s clothed, and in the other – not) is that this marks the first time a real woman was shown nude. Before this, the only naked females were goddesses, cupids, etc.

I also got to see Goya’s Dos de Mayo and Tres de Mayo, the latter of which is based on the executions he witnessed from his home, which haunted him for the rest of his life. (I can also tell you tons about these two paintings, so if you’re interested, just holla.)

Next I saw El Greco’s Holy Trinity. An interesting fact about El Greco is that he never called himself El Greco. He was given that nickname fairly recently, in an attempt to dumb down art for the lay people. They call him The Greek because he was from Crete. And now an interesting fact about Crete – at the time of El Greco’s birth, it was part of Venice, not Greece.

I also got to see La Rendición de Breda (aka Las Lanzas). By the way, all these “also known as” names were also created in the same attempt to simplify art for us commoners. So there’s a “real” name and a “common” name for many artists and paintings.

I also saw several works by Hieronymous van Acken Bosch, and if you have no idea who that is, you should definitely check him out. The Garden of Earthly Delights is amazing, especially given the time period.

One thing that was weird about El Prado (other than it being obnoxiously loud, naturally due to running and shouting tourists from the US. I could go on and on with stories of ridiculous things done by US tourists that I’ve witnessed during my travels, but that would fill an entire book.) Anyway, one thing I found a bit odd was that there were a lot of people painting the paintings. I don’t mean painting *on* the paintings, but standing ther behind easels, palette in hand, the distinctive smells of oil and turpentine in the air, to paint paintings of the paintings. Surely something is wrong with this?

Since I stayed later to hang out at the museum some more, I apparently missed some excitement on the bus ride back to the dorm when the bus sideswiped a parked car and just kept on rolling.

Tags: fashion, museums, random facts & history

Madrid, Spain

This morning, I headed out with my art class to the Royal Palace, which is on Orient Square. It was begun by Felipe V, the first Bourbon king, and took 30 years to build. It’s made of granite and white stone from the mountains. And here’s the kicker: it has more than 2800 rooms.

The first room I saw was the Salon de Alabarderos, who formed the royal guard. The fresco on the ceiling was done by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

The second room was the Salon de Columnas, or hall of columns. This was done in a rococo style and was used for royal ceremonies and banquets until 1899. The fresco was done by Corrado Giaquinto. Interesting fact: On October 30,1991, this room was the site of the Middle East Peace Conference.

The third room I visited was the throne room. The thornes in this room are symbolic – the king and queen don’t really use them. The fresco was done by Giovanni Battista Natale (OK I’ll stop telling you – can you tell I’m in love with frescos? Don’t be surprised if the next time you come over, I’ve painted my ceilings). The chandeliers in this room were made in Italy, with silver and rock crystal. The canopy is gold on velvet. (Why oh why did we do away with frescoes and gold on velvet and decide that paisley and splatter paint were better choices?)

One of the rooms I visited was the Porcelain Room. In the 18th century, Spanish porcelain was considered the best in the world, and was known as “white gold”. Another room boasts the only Stradivarious Quartet – still played twice a year at private concerts! That’s right, not one, not two, not even three – *four* stradivarious originals.

For those with a morbid bent, you may be interested to know that in the royal chapel, there’s a glass case with the mummy of Saint Felix. I learned on this trip that it is very Catholic to keep bodies – or parts of bodies – of saints. These are typically housed in glass cases for viewing and called relics.

After the Royal Palace, I bopped next door the the Catedral de la Almudena, which had a free art exhibition themed around the immaculate conception.

Today I also went to El Corte Ingles to pick up some toothpaste and I ran into a cousin of somone you P&Gers might be familiar with… Don Limpio! =)

Tags: castles & palaces, museums, random facts & history, shopping

Madrid, Spain

Today, I spent the morning in class and the afternoon and evening tethered to my laptop. While I was inside, Paula was outside – unfortunately getting pickpocketed.

It was so fast and so smooth that she didn’t even know it happened. She was getting off the Metro (I believe) and a lady said, better watch yourself – your purse is open. Paula looked ddown in trepidation because she had definitely closed it – and yes. Pickpocketed. 50 or 60 euros and all her credit cards. I felt so awful for her.

(Luckily, she was able to contact her bank right away, and they immediately shipped her new cards.)

History time: Before the 60s, there was almost no industry in Madrid. Then, the government gave permission on condition of no pollution. So, most factories make furniture, kitchen appliances, etc.

Spain has lots of olive trees and is famous for both the olives and the oil. Green and black olives come from the same tree. Black olives are used to make olive oil, and green olives are mixed with spices to soften them. Olives are harvested between December and February.

Madrid also has the Temple of Debod, an ancient Egyptian temple from the 4th century BC. It was brought here stone by stone, as a gift and a thank-you from the Egyptian people for lending a hand when they needed help.

Tags: food, random facts & history, travel tips