Christmas with family in Madrid & Sevilla

Friday, January 9, 2009
We are back in Rota again after 2.5 weeks away. We went up to Madrid to see my daughter, Nancy; son-in-law Isaac; and grandchildren Diego and Quique. And of course, we saw Isaac's parents Enrique and Maru and all the related siblings and cousins. In short, a massive gathering of young and old. We mostly gathered at the family's country house outside Madrid since there was more space out there. After a few days, Andi's daughter, Elinore and boyfriend Robin flew in and we got an english-speaking group going. We managed to work in a day trip visit to Segovia.

Here is a small group of us. When everyone was there, it was three times this size.

Then we were invited to a contest of Christmas Carols held in a nearby community, Guadalajara. Now these are not the carols we all know from english - they are regional carols from the Province of Castilla. They are accompanied by a variety of instruments, the most wierd of which is called a Zambomba. This is a sort of crude drum with a smooth stick coming out of the middle of the head. You slide a wet hand up and down the stick and it makes a crude noise that would warm the cockles of a junior high school boy's heart. There was one band that had about 20 zambombas in it and the racket cannot be imagined. But they sing carols to it. You had to be there!
Here is one of the group playing a zambomba.


Then we went with Elinore and Robin down to the house in Sevilla so that we could show them a bunch of our favorite places.

While in Sevilla, we visited the Alcazar, the old moorish palace that has been converted into a home for the Spanish kings when they are in Sevilla. The moorish part of the palace has, IMO, the best preserved examples of moorish architecture and interior decoration. This room is a marvel from any angle.

Unfortunately, there is some kind of death-flu going around Spain and I got it. I spent a few days in bed with a fever of 39.5C (103.1 F) which is just short of delirious. This eventually abated enough for me to join the group for some simple activities, but the flu then turned into a nasty cold that has gone on right up to now. Andi got it, but not with the fever and it seemed like one virus after another just jumped aboard us. With the two of us coughing, it sounds like feeding time at the seal house. Anyway, we came back to Madrid for the big Christmas banquet. Elinore and Robin flew out on the 2nd and we came back to Rota a few days later, just before Madrid got snowed in. Glad to have missed that.