F.Y.I. everyone, that massive stage in the Plaza Mayor which began to go up on Dec. 27th...
... is for the yearly fun for all ages "Cabalgata de Reyes" (King�s Parade")which takes its course through Madrid on the afternoon of jan. 5th (eve of the Epiphany and ends in, yep.. you guessed it... the Plaza Mayor . Keep tuned to the PlazaCam or you will regret it .
For those of you who can not wait, below is a brief video of last year's Cabalgata:
Saludos & be sure to check my homepage after the holidays for loads of Madrid Fiesta footage
jer...
p.d. in case anyone is in Madrid on the 5th of Jan., the parade starts at 6pm in the Retiro Park and goes along the street that cuts through it --- then on to the C/ Alcal� to the Puerta de Alcal�, through the Plaza de Cibeles and into the Puerta del Sol. At the Puerta del Sol, the parade heads down the Calle Mayor and enters the Plaza Mayor via C/ Ciudad Rodrigo (opposite side of the Plaza than on my webcam view of the entrance on Calle de la Sal) and ends with the 3 "reyes magos" taking the stage that you see in the photo above.
My webcam will have an ideal view of the whole deal, don't forget to tune in!
Boooooh! As you can see from the latest shot of the Plaza Kings Parade preparation...
...once again the painfully inconsiderate Madrid town hall has foiled my plans to bring the Cabalgata de Reyes to the world by putting the lighting tower right smack in front of my webcam view .
Well, I will be turning the webcam a bit to the left for the parade so at least you all can see it as it enters the Plaza. Unfortunately the on stage show will be hard to see due to the town hall blunder.
Man, dont they realize who they are dealing with here !
Worst of all is that I will have to go dwn into the cold afternoon air to get the good footage of the parade instead of shooting from my cozy apartment
Anyone wanting to get a good seat on the bleachers in front of and on the sides of the stage better get there VERY early! You can also see the parade at any point along its route but arrive to your "perch" early as well since the sides of the streets along the entire route totally PACK OUT!
Saluds, jer...
p.d. One word of warning, do not get caught on the opposite side of the parade route than you want to be on for the police will not let you cross over until it is over and you may have to go all the way around to get across. This happened to me years ago and I arrived at my date an hour late
Woops, a correction on the above post. The bleachers in the Plaza are all reserved seats for the "enchufados" (those with connections) and their children so I guess I will be shooting the parade from my balcony after all. Therefore it is standing room only with pathetic vews for anyone who wants to see the concert. You are probably better off standing at the entrance to the Plaza on Calle Ciudad Rodrigo and watching from there.
Plus, after the Kings enter the Plaza, one of them will speak to the masses, after the Mayor of Madrid of course and then there will be a concert for the "peques" (little ones) featuring Javi Cantero (son of "El Fari"), Melody and other sickeningly blah "performers" (can you tell that they are not my cup of "t�"?).
Hi Jer, I care, and by the way, I was thinking about your webcam when I was watching the cabalgata on TVE here in San Diego~!!!! My friend's restaurant (where I work partime) just installed digital satallite specifically to get TVE and soccer! I've been going to the bar just to watch t.v.! The calbalgata went right into the Plaza Mayor and I was trying to figure out where your apt. is located, but alas, could not. Did you see the whole thing? was it fun?
Posts: 91 | Location: san diego, ca, usa | Registered: 23 May 2001
Hey, laduque lives! Been a long time since you have graced my board Thanks for dropping in and providing some company for my 4 lonely posts on this thread
The holidays here were (as they usually are) AMAZING and "fun" just does not do the parade justice". It ends in the Plaza Mayor every year but last Jan. I did not have my site up so I could not bring it to the world (to everyone who can not see TVE Intnl. that is) but this year my visits went through the roof during the hours of the parade
New Years Eve was "una pasada" as well and if you look around on my board,you will see the threads on New Years Eve, the Plaza Mayor at X-mas, etc... complete with video clips at midnight on New Years in the Puerta del Sol to boot. Of course I went to have my "uvas" ("grapes") there with my girlfriend, would not miss it for the world! (no self-respecting Madrid & Spain lover would). This year was especially cool due to the "adios Peseta and hola Euro" laser show & fireworks at midnight. I guess you could say that the Peseta "went out with a bang" .
Hope you got to watch New Years in Sol at your friend's bar as well.
One thing I can never get over is when I have the TV on and am watching the events in the Plaza on TVE while seeing them live at the same time outside my window. This happens a few times a year (Cabalgata de Reyes, yearly Almudena Mass that is celbrated in the Plaza and televised, parts of the San Isidro festival, etc...) and it is soooo weird but loads of fun.
I've been here, just lurking around for many weeks. Anyhow, we taped the New Year's festivities on TVE and ran them all night, our time, in the bar. I worked that night, so it was great to be able to take a break and see where my heart is (still in Madrid . Thanks for sending the video of New Year's via e-mail, my madrileno hubby kept running it, and running it, and running it! I think he is homesick! By the way, he loves that I am getting loads of info, updates, news from his hometown and keeping him updated as well. Thanks for the board, Jer, it means more than you know!!!!
Posts: 91 | Location: san diego, ca, usa | Registered: 23 May 2001
Parade starts Sunday afternoon at 5:30pm, goes through the city center and should pass through the Puerta del Sol just beofre 7:00pm and hit the Plaza (where it ends) sometime after 7:00pm.
YOU MAY WANT TO TUNE IN EARLY JUST IN CASE MY TIMING ESTIMATES ARE OFF!!!
Good news, this year they have moved that horrible TV tower (see photo in post above) to the left, opening up the best views of the parade route and stage
The parade was fun, with completely dry weather, though a bit heavy on the corporate sponsorship side for my liking. I heard on the local news that 26 people were treated for minor injuries caused by low-flying sweets.
It was notable for me that all the participants got cheered except the Guardia Civil! Maybe they should have distributed sweets too.
I saw it at the Cibeles without much problem, from about the fifth rank (I didn�t arrive until 1730 but had been told to go much earlier). There were people behind me (ie who arrived later than me) with small children who didn�t seem to have much problem either, though of course at the front would have been better. Stephen
Posts: 319 | Location: Ferrol (Coruña) and Ambridge (Borsetshire) | Registered: 08 March 2003
. Keep tuned to the 
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- rent or buy a cell phone from me for your stay in spain, more info at 
- already have a cell phone, get a spanish SIM card for it at 
!
