Monday - Off to Madrid
The teams took off for the USA on Monday with a 8:30 am bus pickup. Don and I checked out around noon and took a taxi to Madrid. We are staying at the Marriott until Thursday.
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| Santa Mauro Marriott in Madrid |
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| We have an outside entrance to our beautiful courtyard room. |
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We walked to Plaza Colon to sign up for a
"hop on, hop off" bus tour.
In the roundabout is a statue of Columbus. |
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| Lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe - BIG burgers, fries and a shake! |
The bus tour involves 21 stops. We bought a two day ticket so today we hopped off at a few places and ended up riding the trip two times!
Highlights from today-----
The Almudena Cathedral
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The Almudena Cathedral
considered Madrid's cathedral |
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| Inside looking toward the altar |
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| A side altar |
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| A beautiful frescoed chapel within the church |
Plaza de la Villa
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Plaza del la Villa
The oldest building here is early 15th century |
Mercado de San Miguel
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| This marketplace has stalls of food, drinks, flowers, etc |
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| meat shop within the marketplace |
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| fruits |
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| Sangria anyone? |
Plaza Mayor
Late night dinner at Casa Lucio
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We started with a salad, then fried mushrooms & green beans,
then to the main entree - Don had steak and I had chicken. |
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| It was a traditional Spanish restaurant recommended by the hotel. |
Tuesday - 2nd Day in Madrid
We used our second day of the "hop on, hop off" bus tour to continue to see Madrid.
But first we had breakfast at our hotel.
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| Pastries, toast, juice and tea for breakfast. |
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| Breakfast in a lovely library roon |
Plaza de Cibeles
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| Cibeles fountain - symbol of the city of Madrid |
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| City Hall in the Palacio de Cibeles |
Plaza Espana
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Plaza de Espana was developed in the 1920s
monument to Spanish Literary Arts |
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| Don with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza! |
Temple Debod
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| The Egyptian government donated the Temple of Debod to Spain in 1968. |
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| Pictures inside the temple |
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| A view from the Temple ground - the Palace and Cathedral. |
Plaza Oriente
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Statues of the kings. They were intended for the top of the
palace but were too heavy. |
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| Don's lunch - fries on the bottom, broken eggs next and then ham. |
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| Enjoying lunch at an outside cafe in the plaza. |
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| Statue looking toward the palace |
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| Another interesting fountain. |
Royal Palace
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1764 the first king moved into the Palacio Real. Now it is used for
official occasions. It was beautiful inside but we couldn't take photos. |
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| A view of the cathedral from the palace grounds |
San Francisco el Grande
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| St. Francis the Great built in 1761. |
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| Beautiful dome - 4th largest in world |
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The altar.
The church also has a museum with very valuable paintings. |
Walk through Old Town
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| Paella and mojotios at the marketplace |
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| Paella is a traditional spanish rice dish. |
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| Churros and chocolate |
3x3 World Championships
The 3x3 World Championships were held September 28, 29, and 30 in Alcobedas, Spain. The U18 men and women's teams arrived Thurs. 9/27 ready to compete. Rain kept the first two days of competition indoors, but the final day was played on outside courts as 3x3 is intended to be played.
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Brett, DeMonte, Larry and Rondee in the plane.
Madrid, Spain here we come! |
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| The U18 men and women |
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| An evening out in Madrid |
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| Sangria night out for the adults |
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| 2nd place finish! |
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Celebration with sangria and a huge grilled meat/veggie meal.
The players attended a party/dance put on by FIBA. |
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| Don with his team. |
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