Time travelling
This last week we were in Spain for a wedding with friends I’ve known since my childhood in California. We travelled from many places; ours was one of the shortest distances.
From the UK, Spain is a short trip south, although most of Spain is geographically west of much of England. So why do we change time zones an hour forward, corresponding with the time in France, Italy and Germany? The same time zone also reaches as far east as Italy, Poland and Hungary. Curious geographers always want to know…
While waiting for our dinner that first night, Pete looked it up. In 1900, Spain standardised its time zones to Greenwich Mean time (UTC ±00.00)1 which is the same as the UK. But in 1942, Spain changed its time zone forward when Francisco Franco, Spanish Dictator from 1939 to 1975, wanted to show his support for Nazi Germany and the occupied countries.
This was expected to be a temporary decision but the time zone has never been changed back. It is thought that the difference between solar time and the clock time can partially explain why Spain’s eating and working hours are so much later than most other European countries. For example, breakfast is usually around nine in the morning, lunch between two-four in the afternoon and dinner is commonly eaten between nine-eleven in the evening. In 2013, there was a government study to consider whether the country should return to Greenwich Mean time, and made many recommendations why it should. But, well, here we are in 2024 and Spain is still on Central European Time.
So we shifted during our visit to find the times when restaurants are open, when coffee is served, and when the museums close and reopen. It’s not hard, and as always when travelling, it helps to not make assumptions, and just go with local custom. That’s why we travel, right? To try new things and experience another way of living. It’s also about making those tiny connections that build ties to the place you are, even if just for a short time.
Our first night in Madrid, we arrived at our hotel well after 8pm. Our hotel had a rooftop restaurant so we thought we’d give that a try. It was early for Madrid, only 8:30 (!), so we hoped we could get in. All the tables were booked, but would we mind eating at the bar? Of course not, that was fine with us. The rooftop had a splendid view and as it was getting dusky, the swifts were diving between the rooftops hunting for insects, providing our entertainment.
There was a display of beers on the bar, and since the restaurant featured Italian food, not Spanish, Pete asked our waiter if the beers were Spanish or Italian. Turns out they were from Madrid, so Pete said, yes, of course he would try it since it was a local product. A short while later, the waiter shyly handed Pete a piece of paper with four beers handwritten on it. He said these were the beers Pete should try while he was in Madrid, as they were the best beers, he thought, and we might not get them anywhere else.
Even though Pete is not a big fan of lager-y beers, he did seek out and try almost all of them whilst we were in Spain. Maybe you will too, when you visit.
We spent a few days in Madrid and a few days in Toledo. Both cities have been around since before the Roman Empire, so besides being wonderful vibrant cities now, there is a lot of history to marvel at and try to absorb whilst wandering around. Fortunately, our local resident and long-time friend Andrea had provided a long list of must-sees and walks-to-do as well as giving us a personalised, guided tour one of the days.
Andrea also writes a wonderful weekly series here on Substack, which I have told her is tricking me into enjoying history. Spain has come alive for me after reading her Snippets From Spain, so it was especially exciting to see IRL some of the places she has written about. Here is one of her stories about a hidden treat on Madrid’s streets that you might want to look for when you visit.
After a half-day in Madrid we went to Toledo for a weekend of wedding festivities. In between, we poked around this ancient city streets with it’s narrow cobbled lanes and tall cathedrals. We wandered with our heads turned upwards for a couple of hours within the vast interior of the Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo. Besides the cathedral structure itself, which is the size of several football fields and could support several stall-filled markets along it’s corridors, there are interlocking courtyards and wings and chapels. I really couldn’t open my mouth further in awe. And everywhere are intricate, beautiful tiles and carved wood and stone facades.
We finished our trip with another couple of days back in Madrid. We walked for hours, as we always like to do, enjoying dramatic famous landmarks as well as Andrea’s special places as part of our personal Madrid tour. I had asked her ahead of time that if possible I would really like to buy some espadrilles. My first pair came from Greece when I was 20, so I thought it was time to get another pair from the source. Andrea guided us to a recommended shop as part of our tour, but alas, it had just closed for afternoon lunch. She thoughtfully rearranged the tour so that we could come back after it reopened. Apparently other people had the same idea.
It is probably just as well I didn’t go in, as it takes me a long time to make decisions, and I would have felt too much pressure to pick something quickly. In addition to the main colour choice (bright blue, navy blue, pale blue, red, yellow, black, pink, turquoise, green and many, many more!), I also would have to choose a pattern: solid, stripes, polka dots, multi-colour hombre stripes, floral, geometric tiles; with ankle ribbons or not; with decorative cross-the-top ribbons, or not; and also the pick the sole: platform, wedge, traditional. And that is all I remember from the window where I had to be dragged away when we initially discovered it was closed.
But the most enduring part of this trip is renewing ties with my longtime friends, along with our patient partners. We share the celebration of a wedding, which brings so much joy and abundant love to everyone involved. We, in the now ‘older generation’ reminisce about weddings from our past: gathering for each other’s weddings, other friend’s weddings and other children’s weddings. In conversation time flows smoothly forwards and backwards. One moment it is 20 years ago, the next it is 40. And then it is last year. Or was that yesterday?
We recall discrete memory snapshots that we share from our past together-time. As we chatter away, piecing together our stories, more colour-filled memories appear and we stitch in the gaps. We create a richer, bigger memory quilt of our youth, with a few holes from loving wear and tear. We create a warm cloth that covers us all: friends who are with us today and those close in our minds and hearts too.
I never forget how blessed and fortunate I am to have lifelong friends who I can find all over the globe. And how those bonds created with laughter so many years ago still keep the ties strong and woven tight. Like the soles of those espadrilles!
Thanks for reading this week! Do you have places in Spain that you love to go? Are there times you remember meeting people along your travels who made your visit unexpectedly more memorable and personal? Do you like wearing espadrilles? (They are not very practical here in the UK…) I always love to hear from you so feel free to add your thoughts!
Until next week,
xx Sabrina
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_in_Spain
I’ll treasure this recounting of a peak collection of shared experiences so aptly and artistically told. 🎯 With the whole world on fire, and with our deeply empathetic minds and hearts, how do we manage to still find such simple and playful joy? I’m boundlessly mystified and appreciative.
That is so interesting about the time zone!