LS ON A BIKE

By Virginia Burke

University of Mississippi

CIEE did not wait long to take our group to the streets of Madrid in a very memorable bike tour. While I’m sure our large group of bicyclists was a sight to behold, our tour was very eye opening and beneficial for all of those involved (especially me since I hadn’t been on a bicycle in probably ten years haha).

Our tour guide, Professor Cristina Ruiz, did a fabulous job of highlighting various famous places and areas in Madrid many of which were relevant to legal studies.  The tour began at El Congreso de los Diputados and I somehow managed to narrowly miss at least ten different people on the way there. At this site we learned about the two different houses of the legislature, which make laws and amend the Constitution. El Congreso de los Diputados is considered the lower house and the representatives are elected directly. El Senado is the upper house, which is partially elected and partially appointed. This was particularly interesting for me since this differs greatly from the legislative system in the United States where all representatives are directly elected.

After gaining some confidence in my bike riding skills we arrived at la Plaza de la Villa de Paris where three of the most important courts in Spain are located. First, we learned about La Audiencia Nacional. This is one of the highest courts in Spain that can rule on many different types of cases from criminal to constitutional conflicts. Next, we saw El Tribunal Supremo, which differs greatly from the Supreme Court of the United States in that it is the highest court that can rule on non-constitutional matters. Finally, we heard about the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Madrid which rules in matters of civil, criminal, and social law.

By the end of the bike tour I was actually starting to get the hang of riding a bike again. After seeing the sede del Partido Popular or seat of the popular party and Tribunal de Cuentas or fiscal court, we returned our bikes and began a walking tour. Overall the bike tour was a great way for us to see a large cross section of the city and Cristina did a great job of giving us an overview of many of the important government buildings in Spain.