Halden - Madrid - Rota

Dad’s son Raymond Abraham lives in Rota, and mom and dad must visit him every so often since he cannot come to Norway. Therefore mom and dad took a quick trip down to Spain in the autumn. Instead of driving the entire distance from Norway, they took a flight to Madrid and rented a car there. Then they drove down to Rota. It was about 6-7 hours of driving. They took ’Tom-Tom’ which is a GPS Navigator with them which made the trip easy to follow. The next time they fly there, I will get to be with them. Mom and Dad found out that it doesn’t cost more than 300 NOK (approx. 38-40 euros) to take me with them on the flight. It is good that they don’t travel away from me again for a long time. I always like to be with them.

The rental car which they requested via internet was a little Volkswagon Polo, but since they were all rented out when they arrived to pick it up, they got a brand new Alfa Romeo for the same price! 6 gears, and sporty like a young stallion! They arrived at their home in Rota in the middle of the night, and there stood little Ray (Dad’s son) waiting for them. He had picked up and cleaned the whole day, but was not entirely done. That took him most of another day.

Mom and Dad used much of their time fixing and/or shopping for food, and making up portions for freezing so ray would have many dinners ready after they left to come back to Norway. But they still had time to take a short trip to Portugal,and the Algarve coast. It was only a day tour, and on the way back they visited el Rocio. (see the pics under ‘Home in Spain’)

On the return trip to Madrid they stopped to visit Cordoba. Dad had never been there before. They were in the famous Moorish Mezquita or mosque which had been built in the 7th century, and sometime in the 11th or 12th century turned into a church. It took over 200 years to build, and was once the 2nd largest mosque in the world. Look at the pictures they took, and also visit this site: (http://www.travelinginspain.com/cordoba.html)
They also visited the Alocazar which was the Palace of the Cristian Kings. It was built in 1382, and was where Christopher Columbus got permission from Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand to travel to the 'Indies' in 1492. and later discovered the Americas.

They had previously planned to visitt he Prado musuem and El Rastro which is a gigantic flea market in Madrid. But when they tried to get to the flea market, they couldn’t find a parking place and could only drive by the area without stopping. They tried again and again and finally decided that the next time they would take a taxi there. Instead they visited a big beautiful park in the middle of Madrid called the Parque del Retiro. (www.esmadrid.commonograficos/retiro/es/monografico.html)

When they went to the Prado museum, they weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside, only outside the building. They spent many hours there admired the paintings of many famous painters like El Greco, Goya, Velazques, Rubens and others. Mom had hoped to see some paintings of Rembrandt which are usually there, but unfortunately they were out in another country. Talk about good luck, bah! (http://museoprado.mcu.es/ihome.html)

Nearby the Prado musuem is a famous fountain of King Neptune, and also many stores which sold fine Lladro porcelain figures. Dad got some beautiful pictures all around this area, including many of the Lladros, and one in particular which only costs about 20,000 euros or $36,000.00 ! Mom could have spent many hours there admiring them also.
They also went into the famous Atocha train station and took some pictures of the interior with it’s botanical garden inside.

It was good that I wasn’t with them for that trip. I wouldn’t have been able to enter all those places, and would have had to stay and wait either in the car or hotel for them to come back!
Guess that I was glad that they came home again and we got back to ordinary business which was Dad returning to school and community board meetings for mom. And me - I get to lie down and sleep between mom and dad again!

(BILDER - Madrid Park)

(BILDER - Prado etc.)