2,000 Sheep in Downtown Madrid?!

If someone told me that I would be spending my Sunday chasing a heard of more than 2,000 sheep through the streets of downtown Madrid, I would have said they were crazy. However, that is exactly what I ended up doing!

Today when I woke up, it seemed like it was just going to be another normal Sunday in Madrid. I casually checked my Facebook, and noticed an article posted on the CIEE Facebook page. The headline was enough to instantly grab my attention. It read, "Once a Year, Thousands of Sheep take over the Streets of Madrid!" As I read the article, I learned about the Fiesta de la Trashumancia, or Transhumance Festival, which celebrates traditional migration route of livestock. Apparently, shepherds used to lead their flocks on a certian route during their annual migration to the south. That traditional route is now straight through the middle of the bustling capital city we know as Madrid. 

"That's so awesome," I thought to myself, "I will have to remember to go to this!" I noticed the date of the sheep parade was Sunday, October 21, and then realized that October 21 was today! I woke up Nathan, as well as our two friends who were staying with us for the weekend, dragged everyone out of bed, and said, "There's going to be more than 2,000 sheep parading though downtown Madrid today! Come on, we've gotta go find them!" It was around 12:30 p.m. when we woke up, and according to the article, the sheep were going to be passing through Puerta del Sol around 1:30 p.m. We all quickly got ready, and headed out to Sol.

I was somewhat skeptical about this whole sheep thing, because I hadn't heard anything about it before, and it seemed too good/weird to be true. How could I have just stumbled upon this event the exact day it was happening? I was a little relieved when we exited the meto station at Sol and heard music being played, and saw a parade of many people in traditional Spanish farming clothes. This event was actually happening! We were all really excited for the sheep to pass through, but the parade was over in about five minutes and not a sheep was in sight. I asked a policeman when the sheep were coming, but he said they already had! He told us to go to Casa de Campo (which is ironically about a 10 minute walk from our apartment) because the sheep were headed there. 

We decided to follow the parade route, hoping to catch up with the sheep. Nathan decided to run ahead, hoping to tell us a faster way. For almost two miles we speedwalked/jogged through the massive crowds of people as we looked for the sheep. Just when we were about to give up, Nathan called to say that he found the heard and we weren't too far away! We walked for about two more minutes, and knew we close because we could hear all the sheep bells ringing! Lucky for us, the sheep took a small grazing break in the fields of Casa de Campo, so we were able to catch up just in time.

We stood there in shock, looking at all the sheep as they grazed in the park with the Royal Palace of Madrid in the background. Talk about a sight you never expect to see! It was incredible. Then, the shepherds began rounding up the sheep to continue the parade. Somehow, we ended up right in the middle of the flock, and sheep were running at full speed around us left and right! It was one of the craziest things I have ever experienced. Soon, the sheep were in one massive blog, and continued to walk through the streets. We followed behind and watched as the sheep paraded down the hill, through the park, and around a fountain.

As I watched the flock parading, all I could do was laugh. I couldn't believe all these sheep were here! It was so funny seeing the juxaposition between the sheep and the cosmopolitan city of Madrid. It was like one of those children's books where, "one of these things doesn't belong," but in this case there were more than 2,000 things that didn't belong! Needless to say, I was glad I checked my Facebook this morning!