-New Year’s Eve day in Spain is much like a full-fledged holiday, with sites closed entirely, or at least shutting around noon. We did gain entry to The Prado for a few hours, but then the Sofia, El Escoreal, and the Valley of the Fallen were all closed. We enjoyed visiting the town of Escoreal, were terribly disappointed about the Valley of the Fallen (and the taxi driver still charged us e20 for round trip, and I now suspect he knew it was closed). If you visit Spain on 31/12 make certain that you know what will be open and when, or prepare to be very frustrated.
-The architecture, from a preserved Medieval town like Toledo to the narrow Arabic passageways of Andalucia to the Modernisme of Gaudi’s Catalunya, is PHENOMINAL. Another reason is the art: The Prado is simply one of the world’s great art museums.
-Despite the atrocities of the Inquisition, the world could learn a great deal about peaceful co-existence from Spanish history, with examples of Christians, Muslims and Jews residing together in pluralistic communities with mutual respect (i.e. Toledo and Cordoba)
-New Year’s Eve in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol can only be described as the confluence of the new year’s celebration in Times’ Square, an over-sold Rolling Stones concert, and the celebration that would ensue on Chicago’s north side if the Cubs ever win the World Series…all at the same time and in the same place! They even hold a 'practice' celebration the night before—and it’s mobbed.
-The people we encountered in Spain were friendly and warm, generally. But if most Europeans are accustomed to less personal space than Americans, than Spaniards are accustomed to even less personal space than most Europeans. Everywhere we went in the cities there were large, close, crowds of people, appearing almost to move en masse. Fun to watch!
A book that I found helpful prior and during the trip was “Ghosts of Spain” by Giles Tremlett. Another, of course, was Rick Steves' "Spain." Feliz ano!