Day 19: Bend it Like Beckham

Date: Wednesday 16th April
Staying: Camping La Osuna – Madrid, Spain
Distance Travelled: 0 Miles
Song of the day: Temperature – Sean Paul

As any football fan knows, Real Madrid are the most successful team in the world. They have won more cups/trophies than anyone else. Apart from the 30 domestic leagues they have won, the 9 European Cups speak volumes for the club (AC Milan are next with 6 and then my beloved Liverpool with 5). This morning was all about my visit to Madrid’s home ground, the ‘Estadio Santiago Bernabeu’.

The ground is massive, seating 80,000 people (that’s 2.5 times bigger than then Westpac Stadium for those in Wellington, for those in London, a little bit smaller than Wembley. Not bad for a privately owned stadium), and being a rectangular stadium, the seats at the top are spectacularly steep, the highest are some 70m above the actual playing surface. The tour takes you through the ground museum and through the trophy room, which, as you can imagine, is rather full. The highlight was the 9 European trophies all lined up; really impressive (see photo).

The captain of the club, Raul (a legend amongst fans), was being interviewed on the pitch when I arrived, but due to the direction of the tour, I was unable to get a good photograph of him. The tour was well worth the money, and I think I spent about half my time there in the trophy room. I met Laurie afterwards in the team shop (she had spent a nice relaxing morning in the Real Madrid coffee shop), but managed to talk myself out of buying a shirt (a lot cheaper in London).

The afternoon was all about genuine tourism (bad I know). We got a ticket on the open top bus, and took both routes round the city. Got some good photos, and we now have a fair idea of where we are going back to tomorrow. The temperature was cracking 26° so the trip in the bus was probably for the best. Otherwise it would probably have been another afternoon of Sangria in the sun. Tough life this travelling innit ;-).