Thanksgiving in Madrid

One of the great advantages of living in Morocco is its proximity to Europe, so we decided to see for ourselves just how close it is to Spain. As you can see from this aerial shot, the Strait of Gibraltar is not very wide (Spain is on the left, Morocco is on the right).



Once in Madrid, we set out to explore as much of the city as we could squeeze into five days: the Prado Museum, Zoo Aquarium, monuments, churches, the Palacio Real, and so much more.





We had also considered visiting Egypt during our Thanksgiving break, but we couldn't make any arrangements. As luck would have it, there was an Egyptian temple in Madrid, so Egypt came to us!



When we came to Morocco it was summer, so we didn't bring any winter clothing -- and what a surprise we got in Madrid! It was 1º celsius (C) at night and about 12º C during the day (that's 30º - 40ºF)...with rain! I'm usually the warm one, but I was shivering at the Parque de Atracciones where we rode a spinning-car roller coaster and kept all our body parts. ("Look, Ma, no hands!")







The Teleférico (an aerial tram) allowed us to see the city from high above, and when we were on the ground at night, the Christmas lights over the streets and on the trees were all glowing. At the Plaza Mayor, thousands of people gathered to buy their Christmas ornaments, nativity scenes, masks, and loud whistles.





One of our goals was finding a place that served a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving day. After searching the Internet, asking various tour guides throughout the city, and looking in the weekly city guides, we finally found what we were looking for: An American Thanksgiving dinner at an Irish bar in a Spanish city, complete with American football, pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes, ham, turkey, and a glass of Guiness.



A highlight of our trip was Skypeing our families in California who were all enjoying their Thanksgiving feasts!