Spain

Image: Plaza Parterre, Parque de El Retiro, Madrid

16 October 2023

The catalyst for this grand adventure was my amiga Heather’s 40^th birthday celebration, and given she now resides in Madrid, I needed to go to Spain. I used Heather’s home as my base, spending a few days in Madrid on either side of the visit to Morocco and at the end of my trip.

My previous visit to Madrid was a long time ago in a winter far far away but I remembered Madrid as interesting, intellectual and arty, so I was happy to return. Within two hours of getting off the plane, I was in Heather’s local fancy food market with a glass of cava in hand and a plate of tasty jamon and cheese ignoring my jetlag. This is living!

Both Heather and I are now successful, happy and free digital nomads (link to Heather’s business if you need HR services). This means we are afforded a wonderful luxury of time and Heather’s “Awesome Official Tour of Madrid” could be undertaken across a number of days. The tour involved lots of excellent eateries, bars, food markets and tourist sites. One of my favourite moments was while savouring a Tortilla de patatas at a stall in a local indoor market, the knife sharpening man from the stall next door sang with great gusto in tenor to some old Spanish tunes. It was so good but no pictures to show you, sorry. Here’s some photos of Madrid instead…

A strange time vortex exists in Madrid which I suspect is associated with its odd time zone – for example, in September / October daylight arrived about 8am and the sun set just before 8pm. Cafes don’t really open until 8am, siesta time seems to happen at whatever time shop owners find convenient, and NO ONE ever has dinner before 9pm. So the day is gone before you feel like you’ve started. Not ones to whinge, we did as the locals do and had a siesta every afternoon before eating, drinking, socialising and dancing until the early morning.

On one fine day, as the good citizens we are, we went to find the Australian Embassy so we could vote in the 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum. In my previous life as a public servant, I was not allowed to be publicly political so being open about my beliefs was new territory for me. I had worn my YES t-shirt through Morocco and had come across some dim-witted fools – one nob from the Shire asked if I was an Optus ad. Generally though, my t-shirt made me new friends and generated great conversations, so I am happy I wore it.

On 11 October, a bunch of fabulous humans, mostly from Chile and Australia but residing all over the world, were making their way to Barcelona for the Festival of Heather. The Festival began with a mild panic when the elevator 6 of us were in stuttered and stopped, but fortunately we escaped in time to enjoy a fantastic rooftop dinner as the opening event of the birthday celebrations.

The following day, Heather’s birthday, a minibus took us to Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, the undisputable sparkling wine capital of Spain, about an hour west of Barcelona. We toured two very old wineries and had lots and lots of cava (sparkling wine). It was incredible.

From there, we drove an hour south to Villa Heatherita where the festivities continued for a couple of days. It was amazing. Moral to the story is use your birthday as a reason to bring your favourite people together and celebrate life. Ignore your age because you can’t do anything about it. This could be you…

Last stop on the Festival of Heather was a splendid evening of jamon carving and tasting with Heather’s local friends back in Madrid. It was also the last stop on my tremendous adventure, and I enjoyed the last few days of bar hopping and exploring in Heather’s neighbourhood. I have advised Heather to continue residing in Madrid because it truly is a great place to be, and I will ensure I visit often for my dose of jamon.