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I share in Las Fotos de los Lectores de La Vanguardia these photographs taken this morning in the center of Madrid, which I title De cruces y quadrigas en el cielo de Madrid.
What we see are condensation trails, which leave this trail of roads in the sky. They are formed by airplanes after the kerosene combustion process. The gases expelled by the engine come out at a much higher temperature than that of the outside.
The sharp contrast of temperatures at a height above 30,000 feet (-50 degrees in the environment) causes the immediate condensation of the water present in this mixture of substances. This makes us see this kind of elongated ice clouds that dissolve after a short time.
In some of the images we see these condensation trails above the chariots by the Basque artist Higinio Basterra that have decorated the upper part of the Banco de Bilbao building for 100 years.
They were made in 1923 by the Basque artist Higinio Basterra. They weigh nothing more and nothing less than 25 tons each. Since then they have been defying gravity, the charioteers looking askance at each other, embellishing the city of Madrid and the view of all of us who stop to contemplate them.
The Banco de Bilbao building (banking entity currently part of BBVA) is located at number 16 Calle de Alcalá.
