Paris1972-Versailles2003

Well as I have said before, people comes to the big cities in Europe and dream of taking the metro/tube like a tourist attraction. Never understood this phenomenon! I come to a city by plane or car or even train but once inside, walk is the best, second is the bus. The bus is above ground and you see everything; in fact, it is like a cheaper tourist bus rides.

I like to tell you a bit more in one single post if possible on the bus network of my beloved Madrid, Spain.

There is a huge bus network runs by CRTM (community )and the EMT (city) with 2000 buses and 200 lines. The network of bus lines covers more than 3,000 kms and has 10,000 stops. They generally start their service around 6h and finish around 23h30. Some lines have slightly more restricted schedules. Madrid has 26 night bus lines, also called Búhos (night owls). These lines operate throughout much of the city overnight. These buses run every day between approximately 23h55 and 5h55. The bus won’t stop unless you waive or raise your hand. If you want to get off at a stop, press one of the red buttons scattered around the bus with some time in advance. As a rule of thumb, bus passengers form a line to enter the vehicle one by one. Please respect it.

The principal terminals EMT  in the city are at Avenida de America, Mendez Alvaro, and Plaza de Castilla, there are other smaller ones such as Moncloa, Principe Pio, and Plaza Eliptica.

For the interurban CRTM, you have big stations at Estación Sur de Madrid ;Méndez Álvaro, 83  with metro Méndez Álvaro  gray circular line 6 exit takes you directly to the bus station.

Estación de Avenida de América ; Avda. de América, 9.  metro Avda. de América  orange line 7;  gray circular line 6;  violet line 9 ;  brown line 4.  All less than 5 minutes walking to the bus station.

Estación de Conde de Casal ,Plaza Conde de Casal, 5. Metro Conde de Casal circular line gray 6 , and less than 5 minutes walking to bus station.

For interurban lines see the CRTM: CRTM bus lines

You go above  for a daytime bus lines hit “Diurnas” and for nightime bus lines hit “ Nocturnas” or All =todas. Then, entered the line number if known. Or on next line choose the line number with end and beginning places. For instance, my experience here has been with Avenida de America station bus line 224 Avenida de America to Torrejon de Ardoz avenida de la Constitucion.

Night buses run on 20 different routes, and each of them runs on Plaza de la Cibeles. This is convenient, as it is only a 15 minute walk from the center (Sol and Gran Via), where most of the nightlife takes place. Some interesting lines for visitors as well as locals are the Line N4: Plaza de Cibeles ↔ Barajas and Line N27: Plaza de Cibeles ↔ Aeropuerto de Barajas.

My bus experience here have been with line 27 Embajadores(near Atocha train station) or at Cibeles to Plaza Castilla stops at Santiago Bernabeu stadiums Bus line 46 Sevilla to Moncloa we went stopping many places and getting back on nice route. My memorable bus line which took while living as a teen in Madrid was 113 now (it was call P13 then).direction Mendez Alvaro to Ciudad Lineal and vice versa of course. I stopped at avenida de Logroño Polideportivo La Elipa to play baseball!!! For the Real Madrid org!!!

The EMT Madrid webpage is here: EMT Madrid bus lines

Above link for the Madrid Bus network the first line tells you “introduzca no. de parada” here you enter the name of the stop if you know it, destination. The other tells you “ seleccione una linea” here you enter the number of the bus line if you know it.

The airport is well served by EMT buses. Line 200 runs daily from Adolfo Suarez Barajas Airport T1 T2 and T3 to Avenida de América . Line 204 will take you from the T4 to Avenida de América. You can also travel from the airport T1 T2 and T3 towards Canillejas, where you can take the metro green line 5 to the center, on bus line 101.However, never taken any of these.

There is a nice Airport Express which have taken several times from T4 to Plaza de Cibeles and Atocha in Madrid. The Airport Express bus is a good alternative for getting around Madrid. From Madrid Airport T1 T2-T3 T4.  During the day, the bus runs every 15 to 20 minutes to Atocha station. From 23h30 to 6h, the Airport Express operates every 35 minutes. The bus stops are Terminal 4, Terminal 2, Terminal 1, O’Donnell, Cibeles (great stop) and Atocha (train if continue traveling). The Madrid EMT bus network on the Airport Express bus in English: Madrid tourist office on EMT Airport Express bus

This is the Madrid tourist office on getting around Madrid general information: Madrid tourist office on getting around Madrid

This is an interactive map for EMT bus lines with schedules and hours very nice indeed to trace your route before leaving home or hotel/aprt etc. Navega por Madrid transport interactive tool

And there you go folks, nice easy above ground transportation in a lovely city like Madrid. No need for anything else but do lots of walking like we do all over, great sights, wonderful architecture and history all around your eyes. Hope you enjoy the bus ride in and around Madrid.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

Got you!ha!! well lack of creativity makes you come up with these names. It sound awful , guerrillas wow I am going radical!! nahhh; is one of my nicest stories in my blog. Let me tell you a bit about Los Guerrilleros of Madrid! Another memorable spot for me!

It was a shoe store. It had a bellicose name: Los Guerrilleros or guerrillas. I was a teen, and way back then my true homeland was my childhood. I don’t know why, I never asked my mother why so many people came into that store. I understood what was behind that slogan. “Don’t buy here, we sell‘ very expensive. ” It was about honesty. It was rebellion. It was about a sense of humor. It was about originality. The shoe sales company ‘Los Guerrilleros’ definitely close all its stores on January 10, 2015.

The company, founded in 1962, was very popular for its motto ‘Don’t buy here, we sell very expensive. Throughout these 53 years, the company has opened a total of 14 own stores in the Comunidad de Madrid region. In Madrid, the best-known store was the one located in Puerta del Sol, 5. Metro Sol lines 1,2, and 3. The bus lines 3 51 and N16 N26 nights leave you right at the square. The bus lines 5 15 20 53 and 150 leaves you close by calle de Alcalà or Calle Mayor.

It was the first Spanish franchise for footwear and accessories with a multi-brand concept. The product range, which is mainly based on footwear and leather accessories, also includes bags, belts, watches and sunglasses. Under the motto ‘Don’t buy here, we sell very expensively’, the well-known establishment ranked as one of the 5,000 most outstanding companies in Spain.  On a professional level, the Los Guerrilleros had also been rewarded at various points in their long career. It was the first shoe retailer to achieve the “ISO 9002 Certified Quality System”. It also holds various business merit awards such as the “International Master Company”, such as the “Golden Laurel” or the recently achieved: the prestigious “Avanza Quality Awards” for business management.

The headquarters was base near my neighborhood at Calle Valentin Beato, 24 on metro line 5 ,Ciudad Lineal. Today at the building at Puerta del Sol, 5 there is the community of Madrid tourist office or Centro de Turismo del Sol. The webpage is here in English: https://www.turismomadrid.es/en/

Just last year we were in Madrid, and I bought shoes for my boys at a new shoe store next door at no 6  Zapshop , (see post) they had managed to keep its stores always full. The key? the prices. And I still have my shoes!!

But why all these writing you may ask? And no photos of Los Guerrilleros. Well , this was one of the two stores(other Victor see post)  in my teen years in Madrid that my Mom purchase shoes for me, I must have been 12! The first time was magical, we had people there that my mother had known for years before even before arriving in Spain. One of then still there as when we all left for NJ USA, she felled in love with a local Spaniard who worked at the store, and stayed behind, never leaving, love triumph as always. Every time in Madrid and passing by the Puerta del Sol,this is one of the buildings I look as memories of my Mom becomes stronger and sad she is not with me to visit. Just wanted to have this story in my blog.

The closest photo is of 2013, shows the Madroño with the post office building behind it and to the left is the building of Puerta del Sol no 5 and 6 etc.

Hope you like it and enjoy visiting the Puerta del Sol, many posts on it in my blog a must to visit while in Madrid, km zero of all distances in Spain! And of course the Madroño bear symbol of my beloved Madrid.

And remember, happy travels, good health and many cheers to all!!!

So lets swing back down to my beloved Madrid, another city cannot be too far away and lucky to be near and able to see it every year. Madrid well I lived as a teenager with wonderful memories never to be forgotten. I am lucky to be able to visit and now every year since 2003! From Madrid to heaven and a hole in the sky to look down on it every day!!!

Ok you can read my blog with the many many posts on Madrid and thereabouts not the least my Spain. On this post , will tell a bit of the relationship of Spain to her favorite daughter Cuba and especific on mentions in Madrid that I walked by since teen years. Hope you enjoy the Retiro, Madrid and Cuba !

Let me start with one figure dear to Spain and not so much with Cuba but will all respect of a faithful daughter. General Martinez Campos at Retiro park

The monument to General Arsenio Martínez Campos is located in the Plaza de Guatemala in the Parque del Buen Retiro park. The equestrian monument was erected on the initiative of the Marquis of Cabriñana after a popular subscription started in December 1904, it was inaugurated on January 28, 1907 Designed by the sculptor Mariano Benlliure, it consists of a stone pedestal that supports the bronze statue of General Martínez Campos with dimensions of 7 × 5.65 × 7.40 meters. It is located behind the monument to Alfonso XII facing the estanque or pond.

More than 2,000 soldiers paraded through the Paseo de Coches. As well as the kings, Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenia, the mother of the king and former secretary, María Cristina, the Infanta Teresa (sister of the king), and the infants and brothers-in-law of the king, Carlos de Borbón-Dos Sicilias and Fernando from Bavaria. Queen Victoria Eugenia, just 19 years old at the time, came pregnant with her son Alfonso, who would be born in May. Also in attendance were the Prime Minister, Antonio Maura; the president of the Congress of Deputies, José Canalejas, several ministers and the mayor of Madrid, newly appointed that same day, Eduardo Dato. Also, sent to Cuba to pacified the uprisings which he could not avoid. During his lifetime, Gen. Arsenio Martínez Campos (d 1900) was Minister of War, President of the Government and Governor of Cuba. But it went down in history for the pronouncement of Sagunto, where he proclaimed Prince Alfonso as King of Spain and ended the First Republic.

The monument to Gen Martínez Campos is in the same gazebo where the equestrian statue of Felipe IV, which now is in the Plaza de Oriente. Even this area of the Retiro was displaced at some date in the 18C from its original location in the Palacio del Buen Retiro. It already appears in the roundabout or plaza de Guatemala in model map of 1830, currently in the Madrid History Museum. The Retiro equestrian statue stands on a bronze base on a large limestone rock. On the front you can see the banners of the Artillery and the Infantry and on one of the sides the battle of the Castillejos is represented, in North Africa, in which Martínez Campos participated under the command of General Prim. At the base of the monument you can read the different campaigns in which Martínez Campos participated: the war in Africa, the war in Cuba and the Carlist wars in Catalonia. It is also mentioned that it was possible thanks to a popular subscription initiated by the Marquis of Cabriñana, Julio de Urbina. Part of my history since schoolage!

An even beautiful monument lies in the Fountain of Cuba at the Retiro park too!

At the end of the Paseo de Colombia, is the Plaza del Salvador, where we can see the Fuente de Cuba or fountain of Cuba. The idea to erect a monument in tribute to the Caribbean Republic comes as thanks to the Cuban government for the construction it made, in 1929, of a Monument to the Spanish Soldier in the hills of San Juan, in Santiago de Cuba. The construction of the fountain progressed rapidly, being almost finished by 1931. However, after the end of the dictatorship of General Primo de Rivera, it was  delayed the inauguration until October 27, 1952, when it was finally inaugurated coinciding with the 460th anniversary of the discovery of Cuba. The monument constitutes a semblance of Cuban history and the wealth of its land and with it, homage is paid both to the feat of its discovery and to the characters who made it possible, keeping the highest recognition of its constitution as a Republic.

Cristobal Colon or Christopher Columbus discovered the island during his first trip, on October 27, 1492, although colonization did not begin until 1511. Havana (or San Cristobal de La Habana) , was found in 1514. Previously, a first war had been waged for independence between 1868 and 1878 (or Guerra de los 10 años =War of Ten years) that ended with the Peace of Zanjón (refused by Gen Maceo of Cuba and others). Another small war or Guerra Chiquita was carried out between 1879-1880. A later independence movement or Guerra de la Independencia (1895-1898) would end in the Spanish-American war of 1898 (with Cuban helping the Americans against Spanish forces), after which the “Pearl of the Antilles” separated from Spain under the tutelage of the United States 1898-1902, proclaiming itself in May 20^th 1902 as the Republic of Cuba (1902-1959).

The monument or Fountain of Cuba, presents in the center a structure with three bodies and a cross plan, delimited on each of its fronts by a semi-circular granite pylon. The main or front face of the fountain is oriented to the East and the rear face to the West. On each respective pedestals the bronze figures of an iguana and a terrapin (galàpago). The reason for using the figures of these two animals must be found in the fact that both are part of the oldest island fauna, in particular the iguana. Likewise, the presence of the terrapin is explained, also, based on its known longevity, as an intention to highlight the long time elapsed, more than four hundred years then, since the arrival of the Spanish on the island. The fountain of Cuba was made of limestone and rectangular in shape, and in which the two largest sides correspond to the front and rear faces of the monument. It consists of three superimposed bodies in the shape of parallelepipeds and whose size decreases in an ascending manner. The bow of a caravel boat appears with a figurehead made up of an angel carrying a cross. The boat appears supported on two dolphin-shaped water jets and under a garland made with the typical products of Cuban agriculture, as if it were a laurel wreath, recalling the great wealth that it meant for Spain. The first stone body as a Roman rostra column that represents the celebration of the triumph of the Colombus’s ships by crossing the Atlantic Ocean and reaching the Cuban coasts, without forgetting the importance of the evangelisation process that, on occasions, directed the conquest of America. On each side of the second body, you will see a shield or statue built in marble. it looks like the Coat of Arms of the Republic of Cuba, which was adopted by Cuban President Tomás Estrada Palma on April 21, 1906. On the backside, the Coat of Arms of the Catholic Monarchs (Fernando II and Isabel I) is represented, with some shortcomings, under whose government Spanish ships reached the Cuba.

On the north side is the seated statue of Queen Isabel la Católica (Elizabeth I,the Catholic), which, given the possibility that it could open up to achieve the Christianisation of all Asia, decided to support the projects of Christopher Columbus. The sculpture of Christopher Columbus is located on the side opposite of the Monument.The second body ends in a large cornice that gives way to the third, in which, on a square base, a female figure (giraldilla like on top of Morro castle in Havana and inside the Cuban capitol building today=see posts)) stands as a symbol of the Republic of Cuba. The Cuban Republic is presented to us as well as the figure of an equally young woman covered by the Phrygian cap, symbol of the Republic, who looks calmly to the right while, with her left hand, points to a horn of plenty held by a horn of abundance, and from which various flowers and fruits stand out as an allegorical figure of the enormous wealth and fertility of those lands that long supplied Spain with sugar, coffee and tobacco. With the orchid, considered one of the most beautiful and beloved flowers in America, the author wanted to represent the meaning of Cuba for Spain.

There are other spots that I have walked in my beloved Madrid that relates very strongly with Cuba.  These are

The first is of our hero , Jose Marti. This poet, thinker and politician was one of the great standard-bearers of the Independence of Cuba and his person can still be felt in Madrid, the city where he lived between 1871 and 1874 during which time he was exiled. Martí attended Law class at the Central University located on Calle San Bernardo. Not far from there, in the centrally Calle del Desengaño no.10 was the pension run by Doña Antonia in which a young Martí lived. A huge plaque on the wall still remembers him. He also lived on Calle Lope de Vega. Also ,in the callejero de la Villa street pays its discreet tribute to Cuba, it is only necessary to realize the existence of the Calle de la Isla de Cuba, near the Metro de Canillejas, and the Paseo de Cuba, one of the main arteries of the Retiro, going from the Fuente de la Alcachofa to the Fuente del Angel Caido, (see posts) passing closely by the Palacio de Cristal (see post) and the estanque or pond, or the well-known Paseo de la Habana just back of Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

For reference, the Madrid tourist office in English: Madrid tourist office

And there you , nice walks in my beloved Madrid all gloriously illustrated with great architecture and history , of course that of Cuba and Spain. Two out of my four loves in my life !!! Hope you enjoy the tour and do walk by them in the future.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!