Eladio's big birthday, a family lunch at La Espiga, a trip to Burgos and living the good life at Hotel Landa, RIP Grainne, home again and other stories of the week.

Madrid, Sunday, 29th September, 2024.

My now 80 year old husband living the good life at Hotel Landa near Burgos this week to celebrate his big birthday

Good morning again from Madrid. How has your week been? If last week I was living the life in London, this week I continued to do so but in Spain. This week  has been one of celebrations for Eladio's "big birthday" (to quote my friend Sandra). Is he honestly 80? He doesn't look old at all even from a biased point of view. I met him in the year 1980 when he was 35 which means we have now been together for 45 years. He was gorgeous looking in his 30's and it's amazing but he is still gorgeous today. 

His actual birthday was on Monday 23rd but the family celebration was last Sunday when we all went out for a special birthday lunch to the Finca La Espiga restaurant near Brunete.  We love the place as all the tables are in a beautiful garden. Thankfully the weather held. For the occasion we were joined by Eladio's second brother down, José Antonio and his wife, Dolores. They had to be there for his "big birthday". With us were Olivia, Juliet and Elliot but not Miguel who was away filming for TVE at the San Sebastián film festival. He was living the good life too as he stayed at the famous  Hotel María Cristina. 

Elliot was delighted to see his aunt and uncle and made a beeline for José Antonio  and Dolores who, of course, he associates with holidays in Montrondo. I had brought along huge balloons which unfortunately burst, but also a birthday garland, funny glasses and our favourite  cake from Alverán made with white chocolate, sponge cake, whipped cream and raspberries. 

We got the waiter to take a photo of us all to remember the special day. This is it.

The family lunch last Sunday to celebrate Eladio's birthday

And here are Eladio and his brother that day. 

The two brothers at lunch last Sunday at La Espiga

Finally here is a photo of the cake moment which everyone always loves. I had brought along special firework like candles which Elliot and Juliet found a lot of fun.

The cake

We all then gave Eladio his presents which Elliot (5) had already tried to open before. He got an M+S jumper from me, Hugo Boss EDT from his brother and sister-in-law and a new dressing gown from Oli. 

I then asked for a short speech from Eladio. He began by saying when you get to 80 but was interrupted by Elliot who added "and then you die" which had us all in stitches. It was a wonderful out of the mouths of babes moment. Oh Elliot, you are hilarious. 

We were there until nearly 6.30 pm and when we got home we had no appetite for dinner. What a lovely family occasion. Once home, I got Eladio to try on his new jumper and it was the right size and suits him. He is also wearing some white leather sneakers I also got at the Marble Arch store. He is quite the advert for my favourite shop, Marks and Spencer.

Eladio wearing his new M+S jumper and white leather sneakers

I slept well that night and had something to look forward to on Monday. I was treating Eladio to two nights at the legendary Hotel Landa just outside Burgos. We have stopped countless times over the years for lunch, dinner, coffee, whatever but had never stayed at the hotel itself. And it's really something. It has a 14th century tower and a gothic swimming pool and every room is different. Ours was on the ground floor overlooking the huge lawns and pools. 

The indoor and outdoor pool which we could access from our room on the ground floor of Hotel Landa

Built in 1959 by the Landa family and still family owned, this complex with bar, restaurant and hotel is popular with travellers who know about it as it's a bit hidden from the A1 road. I read it was popular with the former King of Spain Juan Carlos 1 and also with Audrey Hepburn. 

It's just a 2.5h drive from home to the Landa which in turn is about 3km from the city of Burgos, famous for its cathedral but I'll come to that.  We arrived on time for lunch in their beautiful and very Castilian dining room which I always admire with its red and white checkered table cloths and black and white La Cartuja tableware. I have the same at home which was a wedding present but I never knew it was originally a British design.

Lunch on our first day at the Landa restuarant

We had their signature dish, roast suckling lamb  they roast in a baker's oven. Dessert was a small chocolate cake with a candle for Eladio. 

Once properly sated, we checked into the hotel which we had never seen inside. I would have liked to stay in one of the rooms of the 14th century tower but they don't have a terrace. Ours was number 3 right opposite the pools and was a very large suite. We loved it but had huge problems with the lighting from beginning to end on the first day. There was no current in the switches by our beds and the worst thing was you could only watch the TV with the room light on. If you switched it off, the TV switched off too. We had maintenance people coming and going all afternoon and night and they only fixed it the next day by using three huge long adapters. It felt very Fawlty Towers and should not happen at a 5 star hotel. We tried to ignore the issue but couldn't sleep a siesta with all the interruptions. Finally we donned our bath robes and walked the few steps from our terrace to the swimming pools. 

With our bathrobes on and about to use the pool

It was sunny but not warm at 19c so we chose the indoor pool, a huge Gothic construction which felt like a cathedral or church. It even had a Cyprus tree and palm tree and lots of shrubs inside.  Here is Eladio going into the warmish water.

Eladio enjoying the indoor pool

Of course we didn't have dinner that night after such a sumptuous lunch. We slept well on the amazingly comfortable beds. 

We had breakfast in the bar on Tuesday morning - me in my nightie with a cardigan on and Eladio all dressed for the day. It was scrumptious but  not included in the price and not cheap either. The pastries are divine and are made by their French pastry chef, Pierre, who I read will be retiring soon. 

By about 11 we were ready to go out and visit Burgos, a beautiful city in the north of Spain famous for its cathedral, churches and monasteries. But first for a photo of my dashing husband outside the tower of the Hotel Landa which is the main reception area.

Outside the tower of the Hotel Landa

Burgos is also the birthplace of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, better known as  "Mio Cid" (My Lord) by the Moors against whom he fought in the 11th century. I remember reading the famous poem "El cantar de mio Cid" when I was at University. I only remember the bit at the end, when he had died but still rode his horse Babieca to frighten the Moors who were terrified of him and no one wanted them to know he had died. 

We parked in the underground car park under the proverbial Plaza Mayor and then made our way to the magnificent 13th century Gothic cathedral of Saint Mary of Burgos. That is where El Cid is buried by the way.  We took photos before we went in to remember our visit.

The magnificent cathedral of Burgos - and this is only a partial view

Once inside, we did a self guided tour via an app on our phones - much better than those horrible audio guides. The cathedral is huge but the central nave is tiny. It is surrounded by countless chapels, each with a history of its own. Once in the upper cloister we came upon a small room where men were handling huge books made of parchment, hand painted by monks in the middle ages.  They were taking photographs of each page; all in Latin and Greek. They were made big so as to be seen by a large audience

Ancient parchment books at Burgos Cathedral

I was impressed to see books made from animal skin and written or painted by scribes, well before printing started in 1440.

From the Cathedral we walked towards another famous monument, the Gate or Arch of Saint Mary - oh how the Spanish Catholics loved or love the Virgin Mary. I thought it was beautiful.

The Arch of Saint Mary in Burgos

That led us to the Bridge of Saint Mary where we took more photos. 

The Bridge and Arch of Saint Mary

From there we walked along the famous walkway called Paseo del Espolón by the River Arlanzón. Espolón means spur in English. It  seems to have a natural roof from the "plátano" trees. They are called Plane trees and have nothing to do with bananas (a plátano is a type of  banana from the Canary Islands). Here let me show you:

Walking along the Paseo del Espolón

At the end we came to the Mio Cid square and took pictures. He is quite an important person in Spanish folklore and military history.

The statue of Mio Cid in Burgos

We then walked all the way back and followed the river until we came to a huge park but by then we were hungry. Lunch was at the hotel as we could not think of a better place to eat in Burgos. I wasn't very hungry but managed some gazpacho, mini peppers stuffed with oxtail  followed by ice cream. I then had a long siesta. 

We went to the pool again where there were quite a few Brits. I would have loved to talk to them but didn't quite see a reason how. I wondered how they had come across the Hotel Landa. The rest of the afternoon was spent quietly  in our enormous and comfortable suite now with all the lighting working, despite cables all over the floor hahaha. We were really living the good life at the Hotel Landa and it was a great choice to go there to celebrate Eladio's 80th birthday. Wow!

On Wednesday we were leaving after breakfast. At checkout I complained about the light issues and requested a reimbursement for the first night. They actually agreed so I went away feeling quite pleased. 

That morning we had booked a tour of the Atapuerca archaeological site which is quite famous. A Unesco World Heritage site, some 20km from Burgos, the paleontological site of Atapuerca is apparently one of the most important in Europe where there there are remains and proof of the way of life of "hominids" from over a million years ago. Neither of us are really into archaeology but being so near to Atapuerca decided to visit it. We were disappointed to say the least. It was a cold and wet day and all you can see are three open caves with nothing inside them and listen to  a boring long explanation of what was discovered there. However, you don't get to see anything apart from rock basically. Here is Eladio about to start the tour.

Visiting Atapuerca on Wednesday

It didn't help that it was rather cold and raining and we were glad when it was over. Just as it was finishing I got a text from my old school friend Brenda. She gave me shocking news. Her sister Grainne with whom I was very close; more than with Brenda who was in my class, had died last Saturday. She had been diagnosed only 5 days before with Leukemia but according to her sister, was absolutely fine when they were together on Grainne's 71st birthday on 11th September. What a huge shock. 

I have known Brenda and Grainne since I was at school at St. Joseph's College Bradford, Brenda being my friend and dear Grainner her older sister. I loved her as everyone did. She later moved to Spain like me but lived in Badalona near Barcelona. I used to visit her many, many times when I went there on business trips and we became very close.  In fact I made a point of seeing her on every visit. The very first time I saw her in Spain was the day she lost custody of her 6 year old boy. I'll never forget that night. But Grainne was a fighter and got him back. Grainne was so many things; beautiful, generous, caring, lots of fun, charismatic, dare devilish, anything but a snob and a good friend to her friends. The last time I saw her was on my last business trip there when I had lost my job at Yoigo in 2017 and I stayed at her house. Here we are together, two very similar people in character I like to think. 

With Grainne in 2017

I just can't believe she has gone but I am grateful for the memories. God Grainne I'm heartbroken for you and your family and friends. RIP beautiful woman. You were unique. I couldn't stop crying. It was like I was in shock. The world has lost a very special person and I know that for sure.  She was all I could think about as we drove home from Burgos, only stopping for a very late lunch at the pretty village of Buitrago del Lozoya. We had had a great stay away but, as always, it was wonderful to be home. It was warmer in Madrid, as it always is which I appreciated. Burgos is not far north but is famous for its cold weather.

I slept ok that night and woke up in my own bed on Thursday morning. On that day another remarkable woman died. Maggie Smith of Harry Potter and Downton Abbey died aged 89. She was a magnificent British actress who I first saw in that fabulous film, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie based on the book by Muriel Spark. Did you ever watch it? I would love to see it again. 

That morning and after a whole week and not the 72 h the US immigration authorities promised, I finally got my ESTA application  to visit the US approved. It was worrying me a lot and I thought I might have to apply for a proper visa which would include a face to face interview at the US Embassy in Madrid. As you can imagine, seeing those words "approved" was a huge relief. If you've ever applied for an ESTA you will know just how many questions are asked. Well, imagine a face to face interview to get a tourist visa even with a UK passport. I have visited the States countless times on business or for tourism and have always hated going through passport control. I honestly thought it wasn't going to be approved and even suspected it was because I had a Russian mother. But now I've got it and it's one less thing to worry about.

We didn't do much that day; just went for our walk and then chilled at home. I got a surprise message that morning when Suzy sent me an audio to say she was coming home for 2 weeks. That is a first in a long time as she never wants to come. With all the rooms fully booked I had to turn the big glass annex next to our own bedroom into a decent sleeping place for her. She told me she didn't mind so we made it look as nice as possible. It had become a bit of a place to dump junk so this was the occasion to spruce it up and it looked lovely when we had finished.  Sadly she didn't come as she said the bus never came. I checked with the  bus company and told me it had but Suzy never saw it. That made me very sad.  I got two new guests that morning, Maria a teacher at the local Uni who is from Segovia and Yang,  a young Chinese girl, from Paris who is here to visit the city and surrounding towns on her own. The house may be full of guests but never feels crowded.  I got lots of new guests this week but it was Suzy I wanted to see.

Friday was quiet. Eladio went to have a much needed haircut and I went to El Corte Inglés to get a laptop carrier with wheels as I am fed up of carrying it everywhere without them. My laptop bag is very heavy as it has to fit my PC, iPad, kindle, related cables, ear phones and my enormous multi plug adapter which I call my "control tower". I didn't find anything suitable  - only boring black ones - so bought one from Amazon. I then looked at suitcases as ours are old and even though they are Samsonite, some of them are worse for wear. I took one look at the prices and drove to Carrefour to get a nice and cheap one which will stand me in good stead for our upcoming trip to New York. 

Saturday came, the night after Israel bombed Beirut and killed the leader of Hezbollah. Mohammad, our guest from Iraq was very worried as his sister lives in the centre where she works as a doctor. He is worried stiff and so he should be. I asked him if she was going to evacuate but she won't as she is a doctor. What an awful place to be a doctor. I also worry for my friend Rania, also from the Lebanon whose family live there too. 

We did the shopping and bought all the food Suzy likes except she didn't come. Unfortunately she missed the bus, an Alsa bus. Later she realised there was a big dark bus without any branding which must have been it. Poor sweetie, she had to trudge all the way home. Thankfully she is coming tomorrow and she didn't get too stressed.  We arrived home to find Mohammad, Bea and Jen from Mexico and the Philippines  having breakfast together. It's good to see they have become fast friends. We had lunch on our own as Tana was away for the weekend. 

There is not much else to say about this week. It was a lovely to celebrate Eladio's "big birthday" but it was very sad to hear about Grainne and a little upsetting that Suzy didn't catch the bus. Life is never easy is it?

Cheers then my friends, this Sunday 29th September. 

Masha