Paris1972-Versailles2003

And coming back to nostalgia posts updating this one was a thrill and very happy to see it again and updated for you and me. This is one of those little places one do not think visiting but then again I was living in Madrid. Living and visiting are two different things; what you go through you do not forget and when all was fun and happy times ,souvenirs forever my Elipa! Let me tell you a bit more ok.

I come to my nostalgia, my souvenirs of youth in a city that will always be mine, Madrid. I have written so much on it in my blog over the years, but as always when you have so much to share ,you seen to forget the little spots that brings out the real joy in this much travelled men. Ok so I would like to share it with you, a nice piece of my life’s history. I will take you to a very off the beaten path of Madrid, La Elipa and its old but wonderful baseball field.

The Elipa  is a neighborhood in Madrid located in the district of Ciudad Lineal. It borders to the north with the Carmen neighborhood, to the east with the cemetery of the Almudena, to the south with the district of Moratalaz , and to the west with the Avenida de la Paz( peace). The Elipa is located around the Avenida del Marqués de Corbera, most if not all the buildings are from the decades of the 1960’s and 1970’s. The area’s lung is a pine forest in which a national school is located. This pinewood was quite small due to the construction of the M-30 beltway highway (finished around 1974) , although many of its inhabitants mobilized to avoid its disappearance. And now a great beltway of inner Madrid. Very near where I used to lived!

A bit of history I like on the area

The area of La Elipa today was between 1212 and 1219 the Lujanes, a former lineage from Madrid, had a lordship in what would be known as the Elipa. It was granted by the king to Miguel Ximénex de Luján, who named it in memory of his wife, Phelipa de Vargas. At the beginning of the 19C, the Elipa belonged to the municipal district of Vicálvaro. Towards 1880 in Madrid, it was necessary to build a new modern cemetery of great capacity, but since there was not an appropriate land in the city, the new cemetery was made in the area of Vicálvaro, so that the large piece of land of the new  cemetery was bought to Vicálvaro and annexed to Madrid towards 1886, this is today the necropolis of the Almudena. In the year 1951 the municipal district of Vicálvaro was annexed to Madrid due to the great urban chaos that existed in the area of the current neighborhoods of the Elipa and  district of Moratalaz and because Madrid needed space to grow.  As envisaged by the Ministry of Housing, the new urban projects improved in quality, thanks to the intervention of the private initiative. For example, a neighborhood of this type was that of the Elipa. Until this time ,in the 1950’s the current  Calle San Maximiliano and Avenida de Marqués de Corbera formed a single road, which was known as the Calle de la Elipa. The construction of some blocks of flats, which had their entrance through the avenue, gave the main route of the neighborhood its current width.

As far as transports ,many taken by me since my early teens living there were initially old bus as private vans belonging to a private company that connected the Plaza de Manuel Becerra with the cemetery of the Almudena ( bus line P-10) and the neighborhood of Quintana (my old home area!) with the Vallecas (bus P-13 ,and the one I always took to reach the Elipa baseball field see below). These vans, which circulated in the Elipa, became the lines, of the new Madrid transport network  E.M.T. (Empresa Metropolitana de Transportes) the nos. 110-210 and 113 (running the same route as my old P13!). In  2007 was inaugurated the Metro station of the Elipa, belonging to Line 2 and located in the Avenida del Marqués de Corbera, corner with Calle Santa Felicidad.

On the border with the district of Moratalaz is the sports center of the Elipa, which despite its name does not belong to the district of Ciudad Lineal, but to Moratalaz. In this sports center, apart from swimming pools and other sports facilities, is one of the few fields of grass for baseball in Spain, where they play and train, among others, the Municipal school of baseball of Madrid. This is my old playing field visited nowdays when in the city and still looks wonderful; lots of youthful memories here, and it makes me feel young when by here! I give you now some webpages to help you understand the baseball here. First from the city of Madrid on the sports complex, and then the Spanish Baseball/Softball federation on the school of baseball of Madrid.

These are long links could not make it shorter, sorry.

The city of Madrid on the Elipa sports complex: https://www.madrid.es/portales/munimadrid/es/Inicio/El-Ayuntamiento/Equipamientos-deportivos/Centros-deportivos-/Relacion-de-Centros/Centro-Deportivo-Municipal-La-Elipa/?vgnextfmt=default&vgnextoid=f6b842be9971c010VgnVCM1000000b205a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=3073999da73ad210VgnVCM2000000c205a0aRCRD

The official Spanish baseball and softball association on the Municipal School of Baseball: https://www.rfebs.es/club/escuela-municipal-de-beisbol-de-madrid/#1515509957038-4d2e3dcc-e11d

And of course a bit more on the history of this La Elipa sports complex the home base of baseball in Spain  and today it is ,also, the school. Many memorable moments of teen years here!!!

The baseball field of La Elipa, in the district of Moratalaz, has more years than the Vicente Calderón stadium (now gone) or the stadium of Vallecas. So much so that it is the oldest in Europe. Its concrete, sand and turf have been a living witness to the history of this sport in Spain and its struggle to grow in the Spain of football/soccer fame. Not many know it, but there was a time, between the 1960’s and 1980’s  not only Real Madrid CF (my TEAM in baseball I played as well as football/soccer and the other sports I follow such as basketball), F.C. Barcelona or Atletico Madrid had baseball sections, but was taught in schools and at least in Madrid, everyone who wanted to start a team received from Castilian Federation , the balls, bats and gloves to do it for free. Two American teams made up of military of the bases of Zaragoza and Torrejón de Ardoz (played in the Elipa field as well!! ) joined in on this league that counted about 8 teams including the Abraham Lincoln School, Condepols, and Piratas teams!! (what a bunch of memories here) . The Latin American exiles fled from the dictatorships of their countries, did joined in and help improve the level of baseball here.  Spain did ok with winning the European title of 1955, several sub-championships, and especially the Olympic Diploma of Barcelona ‘ 92.

When touring the corners of the field today, one intuits that in that form of decadent beauty hides the memory of a time past full of great moments. Its cracks rust and flaws are like the scars that tell us about the hard road that has come to get here, and at the same time, are signs of the strength it treasures; like saying, “I’m here to stay.” With a seating capacity for just over two thousand people, it will go thru one of the most important reforms in its half century of history. They have change the sand and the little natural grass that is not dry for a synthetic surface, easier and cheaper to conserve, and the changing rooms are going to be built again. A facelift for an installation that holds firm the ups and downs of this sport. That is still available, as for 55 years, of those who want to venture into the romantic struggle of minority sports, or those who want to feel the distant homeland a little closer. Indeed so much nostalgia and memories here to last me for a lifetime; Madrid will always be Madrid in heaven with a hole in the sky to look down it every day. Thanks Elipa!!!

And thank you for reading it. Its one of those simple spots that means so much to me and reminds of my dear late mom Gladys efforts to bring me to La Elipa. Indeed memories forever. and hoping you are a fan of baseball and stop by and see it, looks like any small US town baseball field!!

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

This is a memorable older post that love to revive update for you and me. This is what it started it all for me and my Madrid. This is where I lived for four beautiful years and many returns, and I lived right off the Metro Line 5 of Madrid in the neighborhood of Quintana and the district of Ciudad Lineal! Let me happily tell you about it.

Now I am in nostalgia lane , let me bring you up another memorable moment of my life.  As far as my youth, public transport was it, of course.  So when living there and even for souvenirs’ sake when visiting, I take the metro or the bus lines, much less the cercanias trains.  One of my fav things to do, as not really a tourist but a long time resident coming back, is to take my teen years metro line 5 of Madrid. Again, words of mine cannot express the joy of riding this line, bringing friends and family to ride it and especially my sons over the years! This is it line 5 metro of Madrid, it has evolved as Madrid!

I have written on it briefly in between posts before, but as it is so much me, feel obligated to make you read on it along, sorry ::) It is awesome ride really, try it!! And I do take it just to go back to my old piso or apartment and reminicent of youthful nice days when there with my dear late mom Gladys now. I have taken my Dad, my dear late wife Martine now, and my sons alone to this spot; its like a pilgrimage for me , need to do it. My piso or apartment above floor with my Dad Elio visiting below!!

The Metro line 5 crosses the city ,and consists of 32 stations which make up a 23.2 km route between the Alameda de Osuna and Casa de Campo stations. Here is a map I took do not remember from where but it shows the metro of Madrid map from 1975! At that time the line only reach Ciudad Lineal!!! and back to Callao!!

Unlike most Metro lines in Madrid, its route does not run almost entirely below the main roads of the city, but at least on its way through the city center , between Alonso Martínez and Acacias, it runs through the underground of the city without  correspondence with scarcely any surface street. It is, therefore, one of the first lines that passes to a greater depth to that of the others in the center of the city, in part to not overlap with them in the correspondances, but also in part by this lack of coincidence, since under the buildings the tunnels usually are  run more deeply for security reasons and space.

The Metro Line 5 as such was inaugurated on June 6, 1968 between the stations of Callao and Carabanchel, although they are part of its current network two sections previously inaugurated and belonging in its day to other lines, such as my section  between Ventas and Ciudad Lineal was inaugurated on May 28, 1964 as part of joining with Line 2. In October 1977, and on the occasion of the construction of the railroad line between Aluche and Móstoles (line C-5 of Cercanias trains), the section between Aluche and Carabanchel was incorporated to the line 5, moving of the latter to the station of Aluche the head of the lines  5 and 10. In 1980 the line went east to Canillejas, (here lived my aunt and then in the early 1970 ‘s was going by electric tram from Ciudad Lineal!)  and was extended under the Calle de Alcalá (I lived right on it!!!) until its end next to the road to Barcelona (A2).

In the summer of 2017 the line closed to change the catenary (from wire to rigid), to change the signaling to a new one and to renew four stations of the line (Canillejas, Torre Arias, Suanzes and Aluche). From August 20 to April  2019 will close the station Gran Via and trains do not stop by for the installation of elevators/lifts  and the connection of the station with the vicinity of Sol.(this is ongoing due Summer 2021).  Crossing the city from northeast to southwest passing through the center, is one of the most important lines as far as travelers are concerned. It covers important axes such as Calle de Alcalá or Calle General Ricardos, giving service to very populated neighborhoods of the capital. It connect with:

Line 1 at Gran Via . Line 2 in Opera and Ventas. Line 3 in Callao and also in Acacias by long correspondence. Line 4 in  Alonso Martínez and also in Diego de León by long correspondence. Line 6  in Oporto and Diego de León. Line 7 in Pueblo Nuevo. Line 9 in Núñez de Balboa.  Line 10 in Alonso Martínez and Casa de Campo. Branch at Opera. Renfe  trains near the stations Aluche and Piràmide and also in Acacias by long correspondence. On bus lines of the network  2 Intercity buses at the Canillejas and Ciudad Lineal, from  network  4 in Oporto and Aluche, and from network 5 at Aluche and Campamento.

The metro line 5 stations (which you will notice are some nice sights stops): Alameda de Osuna, El Capricho, Canillejas, Torre Arias, Suanzes, Ciudad Lineal, Pueblo Nuevo, Quintana, El Carmen, Ventas, Diego de Léon, Nuñez de Balboa, Rubén Dario, Alonso Martinez, Chueca, Gran Via, Callao, Opera, La Latina, Puerta de Toledo, Acacias, Piràmides, Marqués de Vadillo, Urgel, Oporto, Vista Alegre, Carabanchel ,Eugenia de Montijo, Aluche, Empalme Campamento, and Casa de Campo

It seems to be projected the expansion of the line, making it corresponds with line 8 in a new station under the Avenue de Logroño, between the stations of the line 8 of the Campo de las Naciones  and airport terminals T1-T2-T3, creating the possibility to continue by the same avenue to Barajas station.  As for its opposite end, the line ends in Casa de Campo, where Line 5 is constituted on a central platform between the two of line 10.  By the station’s own configuration and the position of the tunnels on both lines, the addition of a new platform to line 5 is not ruled out as in Principe Pio, but the possibilities of destinations for the extension are of a questionable utility . The configuration of the same route of the line, looking preferable to bring more direct lines to those neighborhoods,according to Madrid metro news.

Some webpages to help you visualized this wonderful metro line 5 of Madrid are:

The official Metro de Madrid on line 5: https://www.metromadrid.es/es/linea/linea-5

The official CRTM regional bus lines of Madrid connections from metro line 5: https://www.crtm.es/tu-transporte-publico/metro/lineas/4__5___.aspx

Above for my nostalgia you can click on the bus symbol in Quintana and it brings you to journey planner, you put in 113 bus line and this is the one I used the most to La Elipa sports complex; which in my days the bus was call P13( see next post).

The city of Madrid EMT bus network you can take from my Quintana line 38 to Manuel Becerra square and then take line 146 to Cibeles stop and then walk to Puerta del Sol or any other sight in between. EMT journey planner webpage: https://www.emtmadrid.es/EMTBUS/Mi-itinerario?lang=en-GB

Of course, the metro line 5 on Calle de Alcalà  is right by no 331 (my apartment) and if you go to no 299 Calle de Alcalà, you can take the bus line 113 to Elipa and the Almudena cemetery and the Elipa sports complex! Enjoy the ride into real local Madrid! A wonderful right where you will combine off the beaten path trip into real every day life in Madrid with wonderful monuments sights. Hope you enjoy the post!

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