Day 1 Photo Gallery - Madrid
MADRID, Spain While -- While most of Boilermaker Nation was asleep, the Purdue men's basketball team landed safely in Madrid to embark on its 10-day foreign tour.
The team left Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon at 2:15 p.m. ET, flew to Atlanta and then came to Madrid overnight landing at 8:15 a.m. local time.
Purdue started its trip with a bus tour of Madrid, Spain's largest city housing just over four million residents. The capital of Spain and the third-largest city in Europe, the city houses many historic buildings dating to the 17th century during the Spanish Golden Age under King Philip II. Skyscrapers first appeared in the late 20th century and the largest building in Madrid is no taller than 250 meters.
Several fountains and large parks also adorn the city, and sports teams receive fountains for winning championships. The futbol (Real Madrid) and basketball (Real Madrid) teams are well known throughout Spain and are European powers.
Bull-fighting arenas, housing around 25,000 fans, are also popular throughout the city.
Following the bus tour, the team took a tour of Santiago Bernabeu, or Real Madrid's futbol stadium. The stadium seats just over 85,000 patrons and is home to perhaps the most successful futbol club in the world. It was selected the FIFA Club of the Century (20th century) and has won a record 11 European Cups and 32 Spanish championships.
The team was able to visit the Real Madrid museum, which housed millions of dollars of video boards, interactive displays and projections and every trophy won by the club.
Following the tour, the squad checked into its hotel and was given free time until a dinner coming tonight at 5:30 p.m. local time. Many of the members walked around the city and grabbed a bite to eat or took to the rooftop pool overlooking the Madrid city center.
Tuesday's activities include a walking tour of Toledo and the first practice of the trip. Make sure to stay tuned to Purdue basketball on Twitter (@BoilerBall) and PurdueSports.com for daily updates.
