Getting to El Escorial: Transport

In case it can help someone else - here is a bit of info on transport to and from the Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

Photo by 'hoja de reyes.'

By bus...
We were advised to take the bus, as the bus station for El Escorial is almost right beside the monastery.
The company is Herranz, and you can check out the times here.
The buses leave from, the Moncloa interchange in Madrid, which is easily accessible by metro, and it was only 3€50 (for a one-way ticket).
Just don't do what we did, and get off when you hear 'El Escorial,' ie down in the village below the monastery.  Stay on until you get to the bus station up higher!


By train...
On the way back, we went on the Cercanías train (line C3, which took us right to Sol).  Here's a map of the stops.
We got really frustrated trying to work out how to get the bus back down to the train station, and ended up going for a taxi (which was pretty cheap).  The train actually took about as long as the bus, and was 3€35, so about the same price.

If you're keen to walk between the monastery and the train station, you can check out the route on Google maps by putting in the address of the bus station (Calle Juan de Toledo, 5 San Lorenzo de El Escorial) and that of the train station (C/ Santa Rosa, S/N El Escorial).  But, be warned that Google thinks it'll take about 17 minutes.

Ronda, Andalusia

Since it's going to take me ages to actually get round to blogging this trip, have this in the meantime.

De Puntillas Por Andalucia

A selection of photos of a ballet recital for Andalusia Day...

Yet another sweet ballet production in little La Caro!  And this was cool because it was using Andalusian music, and other not-so-typical, more beaty stuff for ballet.

Anti-love graffiti?

Sexism in Job Interviews

I was really shocked the other day when a friend was telling me about when she was looking for a job as a pharmacist (about 10 years ago, but still).

She was about 23 at the time, and had just finished her degree.  When she went to interviews, she was asked on at least 2 separate occasions whether she had a boyfriend. 

Because, if she had a boyfriend, she would want to get married.  And, if she got married, she would want to have kids.  And that would affect her job... so, if she said yes, she wouldn't get it.

Shouldn't this be illegal under a Human Rights Act or something like that?  I'm pretty sure it would be in NZ!

In fact, yes, it's listed on the EEO Trust site (my emphasis):

Human Rights Act

Employment is one of the five areas covered by the Human Rights Act 1993. Thirteen grounds for discrimination are covered by the Act. This means that employers (or those acting on their behalf, eg recruitment consultants) cannot discriminate against jobseekers or employees on any of the following grounds:

• sex
• marital status
• religious belief
• ethical belief
• colour
• race
• ethnic or national origins
• disability
• age
• political opinion
• employment status
• family status
• sexual orientation.

Sometimes, Spain Makes Me Laugh

I honestly feel like every time I have brekky in a cafe in Madrid, these 'mobility agent' guys are there in full force.  They must keep 'em running!

This isn't funny; it's just a 'good onya.'  The few people in Spain who are awake at about 8.30am are those waiting outside the employment office (well, there probably are a few other people awake, I guess).  Poor Spaniards: the job market really sucks here at the moment.  If I am to believe the finanzas.com site, the number of unemployed people in Spain is currently more than the population of New Zealand.  4 712 098 unemployed people in Feb 2012, with Andalusia being the hardest-hit region. According to a Google graph based on Eurostat data, overall employment is at 23.3%.
And this article's title says it all: Youth Unemployment Is At Over 46%.

This was taken in Marbella (well, Puerto Banús). I can't quite work out what they were thinking with the sign. The 'le' from French, the 'Drugstore' from American English, and then 'supermercado' from Spainsh. Curious.

I think I've blogged these signs somewhere before, but they're just so amusing that I have to do it again. How many places do you see these kinds of signs as you enter a national highway? (I don't even know if they appear outside of Andalusia!)

No horses on the beach. Ok.

Plus, given what I have seen of the Spanish attitude to putting rubbish in the bin, the second one could be hard to enforce, too.

You Know You're In Spain When...

This notice appears on the wall of the high school staffroom.