The fifth long trip,to Madrid

We had made plans to get married during our stay in Spain, and this led us to Madrid for this nine days trip. This time we traveled with expandable saddle bags and Bagsters tank bag in addition to the topbox. It was the end of minimum travel. We brought with us extra jeans, light shoes, books, wedding dress for Bente and more. The bike was heavier as a result but it felt better, a lot better. On earlier trips we used the topbox only, and it was normally filled to the limit, hence the centre of gravity was way to high and too far back. With the saddle bags we got the weight down and out, giving me a lot more control in city trafic. In addition, the tank bag helped getting more weight on the front wheel, giving better stability on the highway. The trip would offer us lots and lots of rain and fantasic cities like Toledo and Madrid.

Further into the Andalucian hills, and some heavy rain

Friday the 22 of May we set off, driving up from Velez Malaga to Periana, onwards to Zafarraya, Loja and criss crossing our way to Priego. The roads were in terrible conditions after heavy rain, causing mud to overflow and create slippery and difficult conditions. We saw olive trees everywhere as we got closer to the Jaen region, the worlds biggest region for olive oil production. We drove relaxed and slowly to enjoy a nice day in a warm landscape. On the other side of the highway we encountered the lakes of Iznajar and crossed the bridge that divide the lake and into the town with the same name. This is another Andalucian town situated on a hilltop. At the watertower, the highest point in the town, the views were breathtaking.

Priego was a short stop, and we walked the city before calling it a night. The skies the next day looked unpromising, and the forecasts predicted 'occasional heavy showers and thunderstorms'. But we set of in a good mood, driving east from Priego and trying for some backroads again. We were a little reluctant this time, with yesterdays mudflows in mind, but I persuaded Bente into it by saying 'It's not as bad as it looks'. First we tried a dirttrack that should connect a small village with the main road to Granada. After 20km we realised that this road wasn't leading anywhere, a feeling that had crept in slowly as the road got narrower and dirtier and wasn't much more than a goat's trail when we turned around. We ended up in the same village, drove down to the main road connecting Priego with Jaen, and set off for another backroad that turn south from the A316, goes through Los Villares and then slowly turns east and north again towards Jaen.

We passed a funeral, a few houses and then the road was pure dirt again. Yesterdays rain was still very visible and soon Bente had to dismount so I could have a try at a 200m long mudhole. I dived into it, convinced that I wouldn't manage to keep the bike up straight across the pit. A minute later I came up on the other side with mud up to my knees and the poor Tiger all covered in the same brown stuff. But I came through on top of the bike. I grinned from ear to ear to Bente, asked her to mount again, told her that our problems were over and we were about to meet paved roads again any minute now, then the heavy rain set in. Somebody just pulled the plug in the skies, the road that a few seconds earlier looked like solid gravel, appeared now to be more like boiling soup. We set off as fast as we dared to get off this dirt road before it became impossible to steer the bike. Ten minutes later we found the paved road and a house were we got a half shelter for us and the bike. We were soaked but couldn't help laugh at each other, sitting on each our plastic chair that conveniently stood outside the house, and trying to push ourselfes as close as possible to the wall not to get wetter.

Bente has allways claimed that driving a motorbike when it's raining is one of the least interresting things for a human to do. I have allways replied that as long as the clothing is good, it can be quite enjoyable with the fresh smell, the sounds and everything. She never understood my point of view. Therefore it was one of my great pleasures to hear her singing on the bike once while the rain was pooring down. I immediately stopped the bike, got off and confronted Bente with this, not conseiling my grin. She looked bewildered, drew her breath and said; 'I wasn't singing, I was swearing….. eh.. with a singing voice!'. Later I heard it a second time and I'm now convinced she has a slightly different view, it'll just take some time to admit it…. (No - hands off - I'll keep on writing, B.)

Jaen, one night at the Parador, and onwards north

When you travel for a long time in a foreign place you are often in social need, seeking contact with other travellers or the locals or the staff at the hotel you're living in. If you are, don't live in the Parador or their alikes, even if you can afford it. The rooms are excellent, the baths are superb, the service is very professional, the restaurant is very efficient. But there is no life. Everyone from the staff talks very profesional to you, but will not communicate on a slightly deeper level. The food in the restaurant is good, but the cold service combined with the outrageous prices turns the value way down. Give me a waiter full of mistakes but with good food and easy going style, and I'll tip him a lot more.

Most of the guests in these hotels communicate within their group, but not with a couple of travellers with worn clothes who spends part of the afternoon on the veranda, washing and polishing mud covered boots and trousers. It seems like many guests want to feel on a higher level than you, and therefore ignores you to prevent any communication that could reveal that they got the hotel through a last minute offer at minimum prices.

Don't get me all wrong, the Paradores are nice hotels in a different style than most hotels in the world, and the experience is worth it if you know what you're going for. We enjoyed it for the one night, in the way that we spent the night indoors in the hotel, relaxing from our normal rhythm of seeking the soul of each new city we met. It's definitely enough with one night though, now we were longing to get into a shabby place with people again.

Toledo, the old capital of Castilla

We arrived in Toledo at nine o'clock in the evening, tired and wet after 360km driving in fairly cold weather. Still we were able to enjoy the fabulous location of this town, lying on a small hill with the river semi-circling the old city. It must have been a great fortress in the middle ages. We headed straight up into the old town, entering it through a gate in the ancient city wall, drove up to the highest point and entered a local bar with our guidebook in hand, to find the closest and best hotel. First it was my turn to walk the streets to check out the neighbourhood. When I returned I had several offers, but either to expensive or to shabby. Then Bente went for the other part of town, got luckier, and we ended up in a hostal close to the main plaza. They even had a parking space indoors for Rocinante. That is, the space was in the hallway and we had to lift and shuffle a little to fit it in there. Not bad, considering it was included in the room. I have to comment here that most expensive hotels send you to the next block for a parking house which cost an additional 1000-1500pts a night, while if you meet the right pension, they'll take the bike into their living room, for free!

Well, the room had the softest madrass we had ever tried, but was at the same time very thick, sort of like sleeping in a waterbed, both ends up in the middle of the bed. Anyway, we went on a short bar round in the night, not expecting much, being Sunday in a town not famous for it's nightlife. After a couple of visits we ended up in Bar Amsterdam, in one of the alleys close to the Plaza. We were immediately engaged in a discussion with the barman, a discussion about football, holidays, Spain, bullfighting and some more issues that I have forgotten. The bar is run by two brothers and their father, a popular stop by both locals and turists. It became our final stop for the night each of the three days we stayed there.

Getting lost in Toledo

Toledo is a very confusing town. The old centre seems small on the map, but it's so full of backstreets and small plazas that anyone could get lost. Or so I like to think!! We had a day in town and we did nothing but stroll around, visiting museums, cathedrals, El Greco's house and so on. It's worth doing this in Toledo, the ancient Cathedral is astonishing in detailed work and dimensions. We hadn't been in a church for as long we could remember, but impressed we was. Well, we found our way to some of the main attractions, but then we got lost. Even though we saw the Cathedral, and saw road signs we went wrong, time and again. It ended when we stood next to the turist office, which we had been looking for and I refused to believe we were there. End of story, throw the map away, have a beer.

Later in the evening we continued our confused search in town, when we set out to find a restaurant called Hierrabueno, which means 'good spice', recommended in Lonely Planet. The problem was there was two restaurants in town with the same name. We walked, we asked for directions, we walked again, asked again and walked the same way back. My stumach was emtier than Sahara, but finally we found it. It was situated down an alley, fifty odd meters from our hotel! It wasn't open yet and we had to wait 45 minutes. I frowned and commanded Bente to follow me to the nearest food source in our way. She looked at me with eyes that I recognized very well; "I really, really want to eat here, Dag". "Come on, I'm about to collapse from hunger". "Pleeeeaaase". I resigned, found us a tapas bar and ordered double drinks just to get the free tapa twice. It helped me through the next hour until we finally got the plates served at Hierrabueno. The food was a disappointment and not worth the extra money. After the meal we found our way back to Bar Amsterdam, where the older brother was on shift and for the next couple of hours we got engaged in discussions again, this time with guy that probably had some award in high speed talking. I felt physically tired from concentrating hard on the language for so long. We said goodnight and went to sleep.

Aranjuez, the birthplace of a masterpiece

Back when me and Bente first got together, we bought the Concierto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo, with Pepe Romero on guitar. This have been one of our all time favourites and we agreed that when travelling in Spain, one of the main attractions was to visit the park in Aranjuez where the concert was written. A wedding journey needs a little romance, and this was it. Well, not quite, we had more coming up in Madrid.

The bike was retrieved from it's sanctuary in the hostal hallway and we took the road going towards Aranjuez on the north side of river Tajo. The drive was fairly uninterresting, the area is flat and we could feel the presence of a very big city, Madrid, in the powerlines and industrial parks along the way. We entered Aranjuez after 40 minutes driving and felt that the town was everything Toledo wasn't. There was wide avenues with a fairly modern architecture, all in all boring to us. The park was situated along the river and we parked the bike close to the entrance and entered, wearing all the gear. It was hot, so hot I started sweating in my black costume after two minutes walk. Anyway, the park was nice, but nothing in particular. We walked the lenght of it, looked at each other and agreed that, ok, we had seen it, let's get out of here. So much for romance, you might say, but we held hands for a while, honest.

The trip back was done on the south side of the river doing 130-140km/h on the highway, and we were back in Toledo in no time at all.

Getting into Madrid

We entered the city on E90, which led us directly to the town centre. The hotel was booked a week in advance, which was very unusual for us but sensible since we had a wedding coming up. Imagine getting stuck with no hotel room in Madrid on your wedding day. We found hotel Trafalgar and were soon up in the room with the bike parked in a parking house next door. It was early afternoon wednesday and we had one and a half day to find clothes for me.

So we headed for the shopping centre and started hunting. All I needed was shoes, trousers, shirt, jacket and tie. Not too much, just everything you need. We wandered the streets around Puerto del Sol for hours and ended up with nothing the first day. "Too boring", "Too fashionable", "Too grey", "Too black", and on and on. I'm not usually this difficult but it frustrates me when I have to get it done in a hurry. Bente was getting a little inpatient with me and so was I. We finally gave it up for the day and headed for Prado instead. The opening hours were different than what we expected, ofcourse, so we got 30 minutes before being thrown out. We ran from room to room, seeing paintings of El Greco, Velasquez, Rubens and Goya. The Coloss of Goya was our favourite together with some of his 'black' paintings. The museum is a must and we were a little upset with ourselves for missing the opportunity to explore it for hours.

We then tried to find a museum where they showed a black and white photography exhibition. Driving the bike through the maze of one way streets, I got lost again. We circled the place a couple of times before ending up close to Puerta del Sol. Three policemen came by and I asked them for directions. They told us a big demonstration against the Mail company was coming our way and we better park the bike in a parking house and walk the rest of the way. Bente gave me a 'what did I say look'. You see, I had again insisted on taking the bike instead of the very efficient metro. Well, that's me again, and that wasn't enough, the museum closed five minutes before we came. The look in Bente's eyes were the same, but this time it was clear to even the blind. "I like driving the bike, you know, the journey ends when you reach your harbour, and it's the journey I live for", poethic but not very convincing.

The next day we started hunting for clothes again. This time I got luckier, or maybe I just panicked. Either way I ended up with a full costume. By the time I was finished I was exhausted, frustrated and thirsty. We sat for a while on one of the many street cafes and had a beer before returning to the hotel.

Now came a moment we had been waiting for for months. We sat down in the hotel room and called our parents to tell them they could raise a glass for us at one o'clock the next day. The reactions were delightful, surprised, happy, and a littlebit of "But what about the party?!?".

That night we went to a italian restaurant around the corner from our hotel, had a nice dinner and shared a bottle of wine, our last night as sinners.

Getting married in Madrid

The wedding day started with a huge breakfast. Bente went for the hairdresser, who ended up putting 27 hairpins and a few bottles of spray onto her head. I went out and bought flowers, and had also arranged for floweres and a bottle of champagne to wait for us in our room when we returned from the seremony. This was supposed to be a surprise, but Bente understood the champagne when she asked me if I would consider buying a bottle. She looks straight through me, and when I said "well, that isn't too important now, is it", I gave myself away. The rose secret was given away by the hotel staff, whom I had instructed not to say a word. We came back from the hairdresser, the receptionist smiled and said "The flowers are arranged and you don't have to worry, sir". Well, nothing to do about it, Bente was happy anyway.

We met at the Norwegian embassy at twelve fiftyfive, nervous and anxious to get it done. Fifteen minutes later we were back in the street, just married and trying to stop a taxi. The driver took us back to the hotel, wished us a happy marriage and then we were back in the room. The champagne came after a few minutes, and some telephone calls later we had emptied it, and were both happy and under the influence. Next stop was the restaurant El Botin, according to Guiness book of Records the worlds oldest and Ernest Hemningways favourite while in Madrid. The food was excellent, the service was excellent and we shared another bottle of wine. After almost two hours we left for the World Press 97 photo exhibition which was on tour in Madrid. In the evening we saw Carmen the opera. It lasted almost four hours and was our first opera ever. Both found it interresting and brilliant at times, but four hours is a long time and after a death scene that I was afraid never would end, we left for a night cup and headed for the hotel. One important day in our life had ended, and turned out just the way we wanted and planned it. Something of a rarity to us.

Homerun

There is not much to say about the trip back home. It was 530km of driving and we did it in six hours with four stops. The only problem encoutered was that my ears hurt from the noise in the highway speed and soon I filled them up with toilet paper. We came back to Nerja at eight o'clock in the afternoon and realised that we could easily have gone another 2-300km in one day.

This was the end of three months of motorcycle travel, the end of a period with no worries what so ever, a period with time off, a bike and the two of us alone in a fantastic country. I was kind of sad in the evening, knowing I was about to park the bike with my dealer, not to see it again for maybe six, seven months. Life is brutal, and when you enjoy one period of complete happiness, it has to be followed by a letdown. Bente was to stay in Spain for another month, while I had to go to a vessel west of Shetland to earn my living.

Time passes with a speed relative to the experience of everyday. Bare with me. When you enjoy something time passes quicker, right. So the three months I had off really didn't feel like more than a couple of weeks in work, if you get my point. But that's life, now I'm back at work and Andalucia is slowly getting more distant. In one way it's actually a good thing that we parked the bike down there. Then we have to go back.

We will return, absolutely, possitively, damned right we will!!!!

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