travelgrove Reviews
 

A visit to Santiago Bernabeu stadium, Madrid, Spain

 
    Madrid's mapMadrid 1
Madrid 2
Madrid 3
Tudi's pictureby Tudi review
added on 23rd of June, 2009

The gallery above is from April 2008, during my trip through Spain. I ended up in Madrid for a couple of days, visiting some friends, without any real travelling plan.

As a football fan though, it's hard to visit Madrid and not feel the urge to at least see from the outside the Cathedral of Spanish football, Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

To be honest, I'm not a Real Madrid fan. I'm a Liverpool man, cheering for the Reds ever since I was in my 10s. But regardless of your footballing status quo, you simply cannot help standing in awe when you see Santiago Bernabeu for the first time, especially on Match Day.

I arrived at the stadium during the early hours of Match Day (I think it was a Sunday) and the queue for tickets was already half a mile long, with people coming from all over to see the Galacticos play in what was to be their title-clinching match against Bilbao (if they'd won of course).

The line wasn't all that organized though, so we split up in commando teams to try and get tickets :) My father and I standing on one line and my brother and mom at the other line. As luck would have it, they managed to somehow get in front with their line and get 2 tickets amongst the "casual fans" section of the stadium - they were amongst the last tickets sold and they didn't even have two tickets side-by-side, they were a couple of rows across. Anyway, we were extremely lucky, there were people standing in my line that were there since the early hours of the morning and couldn't get a ticket

Fast forward 9-10 hours and we're 100 minutes before the starting whistle, in front of the imposing arena. The street is cramming with people, the sidewalk shops probably making a fortune (we bought some noise-makers and Real Madrid apparel as well). Suddenly all hell breaks loose, everyone starts going to the center of the streets, with police trying to hold back the line and clear the road. Me and my brother had no idea what was going on, but we obviously joined the crowd :) The commotion was for the Real bus, which was slowly coming through the crowd and was getting the full appreciation (and noise) of the fans. I saw the players in the bus, they didn't really seem impressed by their warm welcome (possibly due to pre-match stress/concentration) and that seemed a bit odd. Robinho was listening to music in his headphones, Sergio Ramos was talking to one of his teammates, Casillas was looking at the crowd with a focused look, but didn't really return the show of appreciation. The only one that waived towards the crowd was, who else?, Raul, the legendary captain and possibly the most loved player on Bernabeu since DiStefano.

The match itself was won by Real 3-0 and three things stood out for me in the crowd around me:

1. The mainstand holding Real's gallery was well alive, but it was nothing in terms of atmosphere/noise in comparisson to what I can only imagine the stands of Anfield, or even some Romanian teams (for example, Rapid Bucharest's gallery was far better in this sense).

2. The Bilbao supporters, numbering 40 or so were sitting IN THE MIDST of Real supporters. They chanted and cheered throughout the match and there was no tension between the supporters.

3. An old supporter to my right kept booing and jeering every time Saviola would touch the ball. When Saviola scored the opening goal, he was the only one quiet on the entire stadium. Again, I couldn't see something like this happening on Anfield.

Anyway, to close things off, being able to see a Real Madrid match first hand was an awesome experience, but in some ways it was dissapointing as heck. It left the football enthusiast in me still dreaming of my trip to Anfield to see the perfect match :)

 

Things about Madrid you may be interested in

 
 

Read about Madrid in our travel-guide
Short trip to the Escorial Palace, Madrid
 
 
 
guides

Recommended Madrid Guide

Madrid History

Madrid, SpainThere are two stories that go around about the founding of the city of Madrid.  The story that you will hear from most places is that Madrid was created as part of the westward expansion of the Roman Empire.  This is the popularized history of the city and that is the history that is told to many of the people around.  While this is an interesting way to look at it, most historians believe that the founding of Madrid was not initially by the Roman Empire, but rather was by Islamic forces that were looking for a garrison to place troops.  Because of the location of Madrid, it made an ideal garrison at the time for those forces and that is... Read more »

 
 
reviews

Recent reviews for Madrid

Short trip to the Escorial Palace, Madrid - Apr 30, 2009, by cipristb
The Escorial Palace is located in the Madrid region 50 km from it. It is a huge building-sized, with a imposing past made to commemorate the victory of the Battle of San Quintin Its construction started in 1563 under the command of King... Read more »

Madrid attractions: the Prado Museum - Apr 30, 2009, by cipristb
Prado Museum is included in the top 10 most beautiful museums in the world. It was inaugurated in 1819. The museum is located in a building from the time of Charles The third. This building houses the most interesting collections of... Read more »

About Royal Palace in Madrid for visitors - Apr 30, 2009, by cipristb
The Royal Palace is one of the main tourist attractions of the city of Madird and the largest palace in Western Europe. The palace is the official residence of the king of Spain and his family, but is used only at official ceremonies, while... Read more »

 
 

More reviews you might be interested in

Belize City reviews - Belize
This is a destination like no other! A destination for those who love ecotourism, for those who want to be in the middle of nature, a nature so...
Where to go in Central and South America

Opatija reviews - Croatia
Located on the east coast of the Istrian peninsula, 150 km from Zagreb, below the mountain and Nature Park Učka and on the Kvarner bay coast,...
Opatija, the best place to go in Croatia

 

Kilkenny reviews - Ireland
I love Kilkenny, while it is crowded in the Summer, it is a perfect place to visit. It is really very small, but there are many things to do and...
Go to Kilkenny during the summer

Reykjavik reviews - Iceland
Iceland The following content has been contributed by Trausti Tomasson - Please visit his galleries here: http://www.destination-iceland...
The geysers and fjords of Iceland

 

Mexico City reviews - Mexico
Über Mexico Die Mexicaner sind sehr stolz auf ihre Traditionen. Sie haben überall Traditionen, wie zum Beispiel in der Kunst, im...
Meinem Besuch in Mexiko

Calamba reviews - Philippines
This private resort is a perfect vacation house for families, friends, lovers, or groups to celebrate birthdays, christmas parties, debut,...
Great place to stay in Calamba

 

Suncuius reviews - Romania
Hi there We had a great teambuilding with the company at Suncuius situated near Vadu Crisului, Romania. This a great place with a lot of rocks and...
Hiking and caving in Suncuius, Romania

Washington reviews - District Of Columbia
Washington D.C. is best known as the Nation's capital. The city itself is like a gigantic museum with world re-knowned landmarks including the...
What to visit in Washington

 

Yosemite Lakes Park reviews - California
Zion national parkFacts * Mukuntuweap National Monument was established in 1909; * This resulted in 1918 in Zion National...
The fabulous Yosemite Park

Zermatt reviews - Switzerland
Zermatt is a ski resort, a wonderful village at the foot of the Matterhorn that mixes all the important ingredients for a number one ski resort...
Go to ski in Switzerland

 
 
 
   Welcome to Travelgrove  register tell a friend bookmark it 
 
 
*