Arrival
We were about one hour late in arrival so we were deplaning at about 11 AM local time. After the typical long walk to customs, we waited a while for our luggage. Once we got all our luggage, Margi triumphantly was able to ask an attendant in Spanish where was the exit!! Outside, we easily found a cab. The driver did not really speak English, but I had an email from the Hotel Europa which had the address. It is located on the Peurta del Sol which is the center of Madrid. The fee was 30 Euro’s and took about 25 min to get there (around noontime). The cabbie points to where our hotel is, across the pedestrian part of the square, just down a pedestrian only side street. I pay with a credit card, which I had removed from my wallet, but in my jet lag stupor, I got out of the cab and DROPPED MY WALLET IN THE STREET. We roll our luggage across the plaza to the hotel, enter, and give our booking info to the hotel staff. As they are starting to process our reservations, a lady walks up to the counter and speaks to the staff. All of a sudden, they ask “Mr Fatcheric”? I look up, again in my stupor, and the lady has found my wallet, followed us to the hotel, and showed it to the staff who identified me via my drivers license. I am shocked, surprised, and happy. I give the lady a big hug!! Should I have offered money??
Hotel
Hotel Europa was a recommendation from Rick Steves Spain book and I would also heartily recommend it. The location was great and there was a cafe in the hotel with outside seating for the afternoon and indoor seating for breakfast (not included). The room was good sized, had two double beds pushed together, had a large modern bathroom (with a tub for sore bones after day long walks), and had a window into an inside courtyard. The only odd thing was that there was a straight backed chair, but no soft, lounge type chair. The hotel staff was excellent, speaking perfect English and very willing to help.
Day One – Friday
After just a short 1 hr nap, we venture out to Puerta del Sol and the surrounding area. While quite tired from the long plane ride, we take the approach of trying to stay up the first day to get on a “Spain” sleep schedule quickly. pictures of Puerta del Sol. We then found our way up to Plaza Mayor and Mercado del San Miquel. The Mercardo was fascinating, with hundreds of vendors selling all manor of food and drink. We were there around 2 pm which is prime lunch time and so the place was absolutely packed. We treaded our way through all the crowds to see it all and came back later in the day to actually grab a bit to eat there. Pictures of Plaza Mayor and Mercado
We walk to the Palacio Real which is basically straight down the street from Playa del Sol. Palace is very nice, but no pics. We pass on seeing the separate exhibit of armor as we are getting beat. We walk back to the hotel.
Back at the hotel, we sit at the cafe outside to have beer/Coke Lite/Paella tapas (free). Go up to room and rest a bit before dinner. Hotel staff recommend La Finca de Susana, which is about a 5 min walk away. It is Italian/Mediterranean and seems like it is made for English speakers. As it is only about 8:30, the place is empty but fills as we are eating. I had squid and Margi had cod and we just got table wine. A Spanish couple sat next to us (bench seating along one wall) and we struck up a short conversation with them. Was a very pleasant meal. We walked back to the Hotel and slept through the night.
Day Two-Saturday
We had breakfast in the Hotel Europa dining room (ground floor). We walk to the Prado, about 15 min away. On street where the Prado is located, Margi spots a Starbuck’s and we stop to buy a Madrid mug for her collection. At the Prado, Margi shows an attendant our pre-paid ticket (bought online prior to trip) and she points to a line. After waiting for 10 min in line, we get to the window to find that we did NOT have to wait in line!! We enter and begin about 2+ hours looking at so much great art that our eyes hurt when we were done. We did not rent the audio guide, as I think we would have been there for two DAYS. We saw Goya, Picasso, Valaquez, Raphael, Duer, etc, etc, etc. Somehow, my camera accidentally took some pictures.
After getting some things at the Prado museum store, we went across the street and found a cafe outside the Raddisson Blu. Margi has potatas frita (fries) and a beer and I have salmon & brie on toast and a beer. We share a second beer but can’t finish it. After our lunch, we walk back pastthe Prado and up to the Retiro. The park is impressive but as this is just March 31st, it is not really in bloom. We walk down to the Reina Sofia museum which has a Picasso exhibit. We have some trouble finding the museum but finally see the entrance with two external glass elevators flanking the entrance. We get in for free as we are over 65 and have the passports to prove it. While the Reina has a great deal of modern art, we are a little “arted out” so we target the Picasso exhibit with includes Guernica but also see some Dali.
As we are really tired at this point, we get a taxi to “Playa del Sol” but the lady taxi driver corrects us, as it is Puerta del Sol – but we get there anyway – LOL. We actually get out a few blocks before the plaza as the traffic is heavy and we walk up. As we enter the plaza, there is a pastry shop which is literally jammed with people. We have to wait for people to exit in order to get in. We push our way to one of the counters with fresh pastries and Margi gets a crema something or other. We struggle to get out and Margi eats her treat as we cross the plaza to our hotel. We stop at the cafe outside for a Coke Lite and a beer (cana – with squiggle over the “n”, which is basically a small beer). We are sitting on the outside edge of the cafe with lots of people passing. I take a picture of Margi sitting and put my camera on the table as I sit. A passing older Spanish couple tells us (actually mostly pantomime) to NOT leave my Nikon on the table as someone may take it. This is the second example of people in Madrid being honest and helpful. There are lots of warnings in travel books about pick pockets in Spanish cities, so I wear a soft wallet type thing around my neck so that it hangs to my chest under my shirt. It contains our passports, two credit cards, and most of our Euro cash. I carry only a small amount of Euro’s in my pockets. So I am heeding the warnings but have found pleasant surprises from the locals.
We go up to the room to rest for about 30 min. It is after 6 pm and Margi wants to use the Madrid City Hop on Hop off Bus tickets that we bought online before our trip. So, we go to one corner of the Puerta del Sol and take the historic bus tour. Many people are opting for the upper open deck, but it is getting chilly, so we opt for the enclosed lower. A number of people come down to join us during our 1.5 hr tour.
The tour is pretty good with earphones provided and multi-language recorded descriptions. We have 8:30 reservations for dinner (made by hotel staff) and we notice that if we just stay on the bus for a few stops beyond where we got on, we will be close to where we are having dinner. Unfortunately, as we just get past Puerta del Sol after our tour, traffic is stopped by some sort of police activity. We wait a little and then like most others before us, we exit the bus and walk. Our directions to the restaurant are for us to go to the Hyatt Hotel, turn right, and then go down a few blocks. Unfortunately, the police activity prevents us from even walking to the Hyatt and so we are forced to take an alternate route to the restaurant. That is not as simple as it seems as we are in the old part of town, so the streets/alleys are NOT laid out in a grid and the hotel supplied map does not show every street/alley.
We arrive at Restuarante Terramundi which Margi had found on the internet before we left. Our 8:30 reservation is early by Spanish standards and we arrive even earlier at 8:15 to an empty restaurant, with wait staff just setting up. They let us sit and once they recognize that we are not fluent Spanish speakers, they provide us with the ONE hand typed page of English menu. Menu is actually three courses and we order a bottle of cava (Spanish “champagne”). I have veal carpaccio, grilled squid, hake (white fish), and tiramisu. Margi has “beef tartar” (for me), scallops, panko chicken, and tiramisu. Total bill was $36 (US). We walk back to hotel (police activity is gone).
Day Three – Sunday
We are flying to Sevilla around 7 pm, so we pack up our luggage and leave at the hotel. We also have asked the hotel staff make reservations for a taxi to Madrid airport around 4:30 pm. After a breakfast in the hotel dining room, we go to front desk and get them to print our boarding passes for Iberia flight, which they do happily. Then we head out. We are trying to find El Rastro, the Sunday flea market. We found it and as Rick Steves suggested, it is mostly new/knock off stuff. We did find one courtyard with two levels of 20+ true antique shops which was interesting. The flea market is on local streets and mostly downhill from where we entered it. At the bottom there was a major street and the flea market continued down one side of the street. We were not interested in the new stuff, so we crossed and headed down to find the Metro. We had hoped we could use our Hop on, Hop off bus tickets but we weren’t close to any of their stops. So, we entered the Metro, conquered the automated ticket machine, and for 3 Euro’s, went two stops to our Puerta del Sol “home”.
We decide to do the Hop on, Hop off bus again, but this time a different route. We go though the more modern section of Madrid, sitting in the open top section as it is a bright sunny day. The route went out to the Real Madrid stadium where there is a soccer match later in the day, so that area has lots of people, but traffic is surprisingly light. Bus drops us back at Puerta del Sol.
We go to a different cafe which was a little past our hotel and had lunch. Margi had potatas frita (with ketchup) and I had salmon and cream cheese on toast, all washed down with a beer and Coke Lite. After lunch (mid afternoon), we went to El Cortez Ingles department store into the lower level where there was a supermarket. We picked up some candy (“American”) for us and got some safron for Alec (Debbie/Don’s son). Upon checkout, we found that in order to receive a plastic bag for your purchases, you have to pay 0.05 Euro’s. We stuffed our purchases in my backpack – LOL
Go back to hotel, use rest rooms, and wait for taxi, which comes as planned. Trip to airport is much faster than way in as it is Sunday at around 5 pm. We find an Iberia check-in line, but there is only one attendant and we seem to be behind some type of tour group. After waiting about 20 min, Margi finds an Iberia person and we discover we are in the WRONG LINE. We wait in a much faster moving line, but find that I have probably made a mistake as I have NOT indicated we will have checked luggage (for which there is an additional charge). The nice lady checks our luggage at no charge and we get our boarding passes, which indicate that we are boarding at gates “H, J, K”. We do not notice this oddity until we get down to the boarding area but we find an information booth and find that we have to watch the monitors when it gets close to boarding time when the actual boarding gate will be displayed. Of course, gate K86 turns out to be at the farthest end of the terminal. We are flying coach and seats are cramped, but it is only a 45 min flight.
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