Day 2 in Madrid

We had a great sleep in our apartment and didn't get up until 9:00 am. I guess we had to recharge after a couple of hectic days plus, sunrise is not until 8:30 am. It is another below normal temperature day (high of only 18C) with some rain in the forecast for late in the afternoon.

We got underway at about 11:00 am after the showers stopped and thought we would try to take in some attractions within a couple of km in case the rain started early. Our first attempt was for a tour of the royal palace. By the time we got there, the line up to buy tickets looked like at least an hour so we decided to leave that until tomorrow when we could get an earlier start. We did get another view of the main courtyard from outside the fence.

Next to the palace is the Cathedral de Nuestra Señora de la Almudena, a cavernous structure with colourful modern ceilings. No line ups so we decided to make this our Cathedral visit of Madrid.

Upon exiting the Cathedral, we noticed a brochure for the accompanying crypts, located just around the corner. This was a huge structure in the basement of the church with ornate architecture and full of prominent dead Catholics from past and present centuries.

Only a km or so away was the Museo de Cerralbo. An old mansion owned by a collector of paintings, armour, expensive furnishing and keepsakes. And it was free for seniors! I would like to see an episode of American Pickers filmed here!

From there we walked to the Opera House to do a tour. Unfortunately the main theatre was closed today so we declined and wandered the streets in the neighbourhood.

It started to drizzle at about 2:30 pm so we decided not to venture too much further from home. We discovered a Tim Hortons at Plaza de Santo Domingo and stopped for a coffee. The barista says, "do you want an American Coffee?". I say, "no, a Canadian coffee!".

About the time we finish our drink, the skies open up with and absolute deluge. We left our umbrella and rain jackets behind because the forecast was for the rain to start around 5:00 pm. Fortunately it let up a bit and we didn't get too wet on our quick walk home.

After spending a few hours at the apartment, it was time to head out in search of some supper. This time we were smart enough to wear our rain jackets and bring an umbrella. It was just drizzling on our way to the restaurant at the Plaza de Isabell II.

We had another Tapas dinner in a restaurant featuring 60 different tapas selections. When we left it was raining a bit heavier but not too bad to inhibit getting a few photos.

Chris got inspired by the girl posing by the fountain but moved around to the other side where there were no Asians posing and so I could get a photo of just her and the other end of the horse.

Flying to Madrid and Day 1 of Touring

We have never had it so smooth flying out of Toronto. No traffic slowdowns on the non-toll roads all the way to the airport "economy" parking. The shuttle bus was there within a few minutes. We were early to drop our luggage at check-in and had to wait 10 minutes because we were early.  Then there was the one-person line up at the security screening! Hence we had lots of time to kill waiting for departure and we pushed off 15 minutes early.

Chris had an empty seat next to her so had lots of room to spread out on the seven hour flight. Unfortunately, leaving at 6:45 pm messes with your internal clock a bit and I was only able to get a very brief 5 or 10 minute nap before we were preparing to land at the equivalent of 1:30 am Toronto time. Again the customs line-up was one person and we breezed through the airport to meet our ride service driver who whisked us to our downtown hotel to drop our bags. That part was a bit slower due to morning rush hour but no where near as painful as Toronto in the morning.

We dropped our bags at the front desk and headed out on a walking exploration of the centre of Madrid.

Our hotel/apartment was across the street from the royal palace so we had a chance to check out the exterior. It was a bit cool and damp (16C).

We were on our way to a Vodaphone store to get a SIM card for my phone so we had data and calling for the time we were here.

We ended up at the Plaza de la Puerta del Sol.

With the phone all set up, we started on a self guided walking tour. By now, we had figured out that every prominent Spanish leader has a statue of himself on a horse in a city square. Complete with pigeons.

We made our way to Plaza Mayor.  A popular tourist mecca complete with the Sengalese counterfeit goods vendors. It looks like the Madrid police are trying to control them in contrast to what we saw in the south of Spain last year. They lay their stuff out on a blanket that has ropes attached to each corner and when one of the scouts sees a cop coming, they pull the string and immediately close up shop. Like the cops can't figure that out????

There are many pedestrian streets with a myriad of small shops we have long lost in North America.

A real gem was the Mercado de San Miguel. A lovely market that featured a large variety of tapas, beverages and other foods.

We wandered a number of more streets before finally wanting to sit down for lunch. We picked a little square with a tapas restaurant and enjoyed a light lunch and a beer/wine. The one thing that struck us however that detracts from the Madrid experience is the pestering you experience from vendors selling crap or begging for money. Something we haven't seen in over parts of Spain. They seem to understand a firm "go away".

After lunch we slowly made our way back to our apartment to check-in. Some interesting street scapes.

After a bit of a rest, we headed out to get a few essential supplies at a little supermarket in our neighbourhood.

By now we were pretty well tired out and consulted Yelp for a nearby restaurant. We lucked out and found a very small place within 5 minutes of our place and had some amazing homemade paella and a bit of wine.

I just have enough energy to finish the text of this issue of the blog before retiring for the night.