Mad Man in Madrid

So there I was, together with a group of about twenty people, one rainy day in April, strolling along the streets of Madrid. I have been in the Madrid region for about three days now, and decided to go on a walking tour while my host, colleague and friend, living in the quiet town of Alcala de Henares, north of the capital, was attending her afternoon class.

Our (walking) tour guide, Sebastian, took us from the outer walls of Madrid in Plaza Mayor to the inner city, passing by the oldest restaurant in the world, Botin, through tiny calles (streets) and to our last stop, the royal palace. We settled on the palace garden, as he wraps up his tour when suddenly, a drunken old man approached us. I was bothered but as the rest of the group seemed oblivious to the obviously very drunk man, I decided to not make a big deal out of it. Sebastien explained that normally these guys do not bother his groups so we shouldn’t be alarmed. I can’t remember what provoked this mad man to raise his voice but he did, and Sebastian had to eventually pause the tour. They spoke in Spanish and clearly, it wasn’t about to end. Our guide excused himself, leaving the group with the mad man as he sought help from the police a hundred meters away. No one from the group dared move or speak except for this brave man who was part of our tour group, trying to calm the mad man down. Surprise, surprise, it almost led to a fight. The mad man was about to throw his huge bottle of alcohol into this innocent man’s head when another man from the group tried to stop him and the rest of us tried to move away. The mad man followed. I was getting worried because I couldn’t see Sebastian anywhere. I looked further and saw him as if trying to convince the police officer to come help us. Why were there any negotiations going on? Shouldn’t the police come to the rescue without any hesitations? In no time, Sebastian joined the group after speaking to the mad man in Spanish. He told us not to worry and it should be fine.

But it wasn’t. Clearly, the mad man was not done with his business with us, whatever it was. We tried to move further away, but he just kept following. I could sense that our guide never had this encounter before, as he confirmed later on. Thank God, back up police officers came and soon arrested the man.

We finished our tour, two hours and a wild interaction with a mad man later, with everyone taking part to Sebastian’s role-playing/storytelling about the Spanish royal family.