Jottings on Madrid airport

The famous term is "you never get a second chance to make a first impression." 

I have always found this to be true and just going through the airport in Madrid made a good first impression on me. 

Yes, I had spent time in  Barcelona and loved it there, but this was first and only encounter with the capital city.

To begin with, I  loved the long walks in the airport, for after hours of an uncomfortable flight to Europe, I really needed all the exercise I could get .

 (Remind me never to fly on Air Europa again as the food is lousy and cabin configuration only a tiny bit better than Spirit Airline.)😡

Anyway, just seeing the beauty of the surrounding hills at the airport, made my day.

The first thing I noticed in those hills too were the crosses perched pricariously everywhere. 

I didn't have zoom lens but at least got one cross!

How I wish I could have zoomed in on that hill in the distance.

As you know, Spain is a solid Roman Catholic country, so there are crosses everywhere and lots of places with Cruz (means cross in English) in the names of places all over that country.)

This a huge airport, reminds me a lot of the one on Johannesburg.

 For you have to walk long distances from gate to gate. 

What's great at both airports is that there are directional signs everywhere, telling you what your walking time is.👏

When going through these airports, try to have a lot of time between flights, so you can really browse and enjoy their numerous and attractive offerings inside and out.

As you know, Madrid is a bull fighting mecca and some imaginative entrepreneurs used attractive bulls to catch your eyes. 

I couldn't resist these two.😁

 Loved my first impressions of Madrid.😊

The strike that fizzled

 Today, March 20th was the day when South Africa should have been closed by a national strike called by the EFF (Economic Freedom Party) which is supposed to be the 3rd largest party in the country. 

Hanging out at Table Top Mountain 

This is as far up the mountain as we could go

The national strike was called to pressure the ANC government led by Cyril Ramaphosa, to resign. 

Since Mandela resigned as president of the African National Congress and Prime Minister of the country, the party has been riddled with charges of corruption, cronyism and mismanagement.

In fact, just yesterday a man who was investigating corruption was assassinated along with his son, in  Johannesburg.

I would therefore have thought that the strike would attract a lot of support, but what do I know about South African politics?

Maybe it did in other provinces but although we spent the day In Town, having been warned not to make any plans, things appear fairly normal and I did not see any visible signs of political action. 

This informal settlement is home to some 30,000 black South Africans.

This however could be because Cape Town is controlled by the Democratic Alliance which is the second largest parry in the nation and maybe they told their people not to support it.

Asian slaves were mostly Muslims and were settled in Bo-Kaap. The different color homes identify the part of Asia they came from.

We did see slightly less vehicular traffic and some businesses were closed but most workers were out. This is because, I suspect, if they want to keep their jobs, with 18% unemployment, they can’t join any strike!

Of course these considerations don’t affect the wealthy and the business owners. Tomorrow is a public holiday (human rights day!) and they just took a very long holiday.

Curious, I asked an employee at a supermarket if she would be working tomorrow and she said yes. When I enquired if she would be getting extra pay to work on the holiday, she said no. 

This is a country where the gap between the rich and poor rivals Haiti, from what I am seeing and learning.

For here, blacks still live in terrible conditions in informal settlements and on the streets, Asians in better areas and the whites in total opulence ! SMH.

A beautiful Zulu hat

Anyway as it was anticipated that the strike would be effective, we were warned not to stray too far from home. So we hung around the city.

Since we never got the opportunity to go to nearby Table Top Mountain and take the cable car to the peak, we decided to do it. Because of the heavy cloud cover however, the cable car station was closed but we got a good view of the city from where we went.

Sections of the mountain 

Section of the business destrict near convention center. Some of the developments are on dumped up land.

I have found South Africans to be among the most careful and polite drivers but we did see an accident downtown today and a lot of police at the scene.

One of the many stately churches downtown. Apartheid had the full support of most Christians.

A reasonably quiet day today for us but I got to see a lot more of downtown and even learnt about the upcoming ganja convention😊.

Other memories

This huge conference center was constructed after apartheid was abolished and is constantly in use by international organizations. It has also attracted numerous 5 star hotels.

The lobby of the fabulous Sky hotel opposite Conference Center. The robot welcomes you as you enter.
Just passing through!😊