Now I consider myself a pretty experienced driver. We have driven through too many states to count. I have driven through major cities such as Denver, St. Louis, Seattle, Louisville and many, many others. I have driven in weather of snow, ice, blizzards, rain and flash flooding rain. Through all of this experience, I realized the moment that we were passengers in a vehicle headed into downtown Madrid that I was certainly going to get a run for my money.
One of the things that I am not experienced at driving in is these crazy roundabouts. We had a few in Colorado Springs, but they were tiny compared to the ones here. I also am not sure if it is a European thing or a Spain thing, but the roundabouts are everywhere. They certainly don't believe in a 4 way stop sign or stop lights for that matter. They use these roundabouts at just about every intersection. Now...in the Springs we would have 4 streets come into a roundabout. Here they have like 8-10 streets coming into a roundabout. The roundabouts in the Springs had basically one lane. One car would enter after yielding to the right away car. Here...all friggin 8-10 lanes come in at once and it becomes a free for all. There are no lane lines painted in the roundabout. Literally the cars come in and do as they please. You would think that if you are going to exit at one of the next streets coming up, you would be in the closest lane to the exit. Ummmm...not so much. These people literally exit from the inner most lane closest to the ginormous fountain or statue that usually sits in the middle of these roundabouts. It is just crazy. You have to be on your toes at all times.
Lets jump to the topic of lane lines. Lane lines here...mean nothing. I am not even sure why they bother. They are sort of a suggestion, but people drive wherever they want to. A car can easily be taking up multiple lanes for no apparent reason. What you don't see here is people on their phones or texting while driving. Truly, the reason for this is that they really don't have time to do such a thing. Because you never know what the person in front of you or beside you is going to do, you have to be both an offensive and defensive driver at the same time. Drivers here use their horns all the time. I feel like in the States we only use our horns when we are ticked off. Either somebody has cut us off or done something totally stupid. Here, they really use their horns as a form communication.
Just as oblivious whilst driving they also just park wherever they want to whenever they feel like it. They do put on their flashers and that seems to make it ok. You see people stopped in the most bizarre, most unlikely and obvious non parking places.
Here is an example. This is a roundabout and this black Mercedes just parked on a tiny curb within the roundabout. We watched her park, put on her flashers and jump out. You think to yourself...Why on Earth would she park in such a bizarre spot. Ohhhhh...Because all the tiny curb space on the other side of this street were taken and she needed to get to the ATM machine. Are you kidding me???? This is just CRAZY!!!!!!
Here you can see cars entering and exiting the roundabout around where the Mercedes is parked.
Another view of the car. I am standing on the sidewalk where the lady was running to the ATM. The Land Rover there...Yep, just parked. It just boggles my mind.
Talking about parking space. People not only park in these bizarre tiny curb spaces, but they also double park...ohh...and put on their flashers. I swear, they think that if their hazards/flashers are on they can do whatever they need to do. This same day we were having a coffee and watching a driver next to the cafe totally double park. The owners of the car that he blocked in just honked their horn when they were ready to leave and the driver of the double parked car ran out, backed up his car, the blocked car went and he took their spot.
Parking spots - WOW this is a whole other challenge. We own a Honda Odyssey and lets just say that we probably will not be able to park that van anywhere on the street in Madrid. The streets are tiny and we would stick out to far. Parking garages can be hit or miss. Our parking spot here at the apartment is basically between a wall and a cement pole. There is absolutely no way the van could maneuver to get into that spot. There just isn't any clearance anywhere. Plus, you have cars parked behind you, in front of you and next to you. Hubby was able to get a borrowed car equivalent to a Dodge Neon in the space. He did, however, have to do about a gazillion point turn and I truly didn't think he would get in. Once he did get in I was for sure he wouldn't get out. He did get out, but I wasn't there to witness the fiasco. It was just too much to bear. :-)
So on the eve of us taking possession of our vehicle after 2 months of no car, we certainly have mixed emotions. We are excited for the freedom to have a vehicle to travel around, but I think we will still depend on the Metro system when it comes to travelling within the city. People here have warned us that it won't be too long until we have "earned" our Madrid racing stripe, which translates into a huge scrape down the side of our vehicle.
Until next time....
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