First something about some of the locations that were passed in this trip. Sergio Leone was the Italian film director of the movies "A fistful of dollars", "For a few dollars more", "The good, the bad and the ugly" and "Once upon a time in the west". The movies were mostly filmed in Spain, and are among my favourite movies.

Warming-up

Saturday, 17 November 2012: I flew to Madrid (by airline) where I arrived early in the evening. On Sunday morning first the mandatory check flight was on the programme, in which we flew to nearby Casarrubios del Monte airport for some landings, and a -- oh dear -- simulated engine failure. Following the checkride, the aim was to fly to the south of Spain. But since the promised VFR charts were not there, I had to wait until the next day to buy the charts from the pilotshop at Cuatro Vientos airport.

Cordoba, Granada and Almeria

Monday, 18 November 2012: After buying the charts on Cuatro Vientos airport, I departed at 10:30 for Cordoba. After passing Whiskey point, the heading was direct to Cordoba. On the way, Guadamur was passed with its 15th century castle. Further south, I passed the Embalse de Guadalmellato reservoir before reaching Cordoba. Most of the Cordoba region east of the airport was in low clouds, but luckely the airport was clear of clouds. After fueling and a coffee, I took-off from runway 03 to Granada via Iznajar. On Granada I had a sandwich and a coffee, and then departed again for the final leg that day to Almeria.

On the Sergio Leone trail, I first overflew a part of the railroad that was used in "Once upon a time in the west" where Morton had his final stop. Further to the south-east I passed "Flagstone" town , and then just a few miles further to the south-east along the railroad the location for the opening scene with the arrival of Harmonica and for the Tucumcari arrival scene from "For a few dollars more"

After another 30nm to the south-east along highway A92 I reached the Tabernas area, where numerous scenes were filmed for the Sergio Leone westerns. Only a few examples are; the opening scene from "For a few dollars more" ; Sweetwater from "Once upon a time in the west" and the opening scene from "The good, the bad and the ugly" .

After sight-seeing over the Tabernas desert, I headed to Almeria airport where I landed on runway 25, and finished flying for that day.

Murcia, Cuenca and Madrid

Tuesday, 19 November 2012: After checking the NOTAM's and the meteo in the hotel, I took a taxi to the airport. Madrid was in IMC, but the forecast showed that it would be cleared-up after 11:00am. I would not arrive in Madrid before early in the afternoon, so it appeared no issue, and before returning to Madrid I would first fly to Murcia, San Javier airport. On the way I would pass again the area east of Almeria where Sergio Leone also filmed many scenes, not in the least over Los Albaricoques where the final duel was filmed from "For a few dollars more" . After reaching the coast near Las Negras, I flew further along the coast to Murcia, San Javier airport. There was a training flight going on with an ENAER T-35C Pillan basic trainer airplane on the northern runway, and with two C-101 Aviojet trainer jets on the southern runway, but the tower was able to fit me in immediately to land on runway 23 left.

After landing at San Javier, a Follow-me car directed me to the apron. I fueled at San Javier, and then walked to the offices for the landing fees. There was a school class that were shown falcons that I assume the military use on the airport to hunt or scare other birds, and there was further excitement when a firetruck with sirens and lights appeared that was also going to be shown. Upon returning to the plane, ground control directed me again to runway 23 left, where this time a had to wait for some 10 minutes before I could take-off between the training flights. After take-off, I was to make a right turn-out and I could directly head to Madrid at or below 1,000 ft above ground level. When reaching the Madrid TMA early in the afternoon, there was still very low overcast that was expected to be cleared by 11:00am, and I made a 180 turn to the small Casas de los Pinos private airport, which lies in the middle of nowhere but luckely still had an internet connection. I fueled some extra AVGAS, just in case I had to divert again to some distant airport if I still could not reach Madrid trying later again in the afternoon. After two hours, it appeared the low clouds had sufficiently cleared, and I took-off again to Madrid. There were indeed no longer too low clouds on the route, and I landed at Madrid Cuatro Vientos airport within an hour.

Museo del Aire

Wednesday, 20 November 2012: In the morning Veleda arrived at Madrid Barajas airport. We met at Madrid Nuevos Ministerios metro station, as I first had waited too long in vain for a train to Barajas at the train station, and in the mean time Veleda already arrived. We first went to the hotel. Next to Cuatro Vientos airport there is also an interesting aviation museum, which is open until 2pm. We first went there before returning to visit Madrid in the afternoon and evening.

Segovia and Valladolid

Thursday, 21 November 2012: This day unfolded slightly different than planned. The plan was to reach Burgos by the end of the day, but we stopped at Valladolid. It started all as planned. We first flew past the creepy Valle de los Caidos monument to Fuentemilanos Airport, southwest of Segovia. After a coffee at the further quiet airport, we flew to Valladolid airport. When we wanted to depart from Valladolid to Burgos, the battery of the plane was not able to produce sufficient power to start the engine again. We arranged a jump start for the next morning, as in the mean time Burgos airport could not be reached anymore because it was already closing at 3pm. So we stayed in Valladolid.

Back to Madrid via "Sad Hill"

Friday, 22 November 2012: After having breakfast in the hotel in Valladolid we left for the airport. We had the plane fueled, and then with the help of airport services we jump started the plane. We first flew to the area 25nm south-east of Burgos. Here a number of scenes were filmed for "The good, the bad and the ugly", most notably the Ecstasy of Gold scenes and the final showdown at "Sad Hill" with the famous scores of Ennio Morricone, but also the Langstone bridge scenes and the POW camp scenes. Next we headed back to Madrid Cuatro Vientos airport.

Near Aldea del Fresno we overflew the final film location, that was used for the Rojo's trap scenes for "A fistful of dollars". Upon returning at Cuatro Vientos we went to the hotel in Madrid.

MUSEO THYSSEN-BORNEMISZA

Saturday, 24 November 2012: In the morning we visited the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, which offers an overview of art from the 13th century to the late 20th century, and we visited the temporary "Gauguin and the Voyage to the Exotic" exhibition. After lunch, we left for Madrid Barajas airport for the flight home.