Our rooms turned out to be absolutely lovely so they were worth the wait. A portion of our group had arranged for a tapas tour so they rushed off to meet up with their guide. The rest of us went out to explore the city a bit and ended up doing our own tapas tour. We went to several different tapas bars and had delicious food and wonderful wines and sangria. We had our own built in guide in Irene as she was familiar with Madrid. We had a wonderful evening and ended up back in the bar of our hotel for a nightcap. I had a baileys that ended up costing me 15 euros! That was almost what our evening out cost me.
Friday dawned and we were supposed to be going on a bike tour but since it was raining we decided to cancel that and use the hop on hop off bus instead. We took the bus and stayed on for the entire ride to get an overview of the old part of the city. We got some good ideas about which sights we would like to go back and visit. We were quite cold after getting off the bus so Belinda, Susan and I stopped in a little cafe and had something warm to drink and shared a plate of churros and chocolate. It is apparently a favourite breakfast of the Spanish. I could see why, it was so good. I have never been a fan of the churros that they sell at markets with the cinnamon sugar, but when dipped in hot, thick chocolate they are quite spectacular. The rest of the afternoon we spent wandering the streets, shopping and having lunch in the sunshine that showed up. We headed back to the hotel to drop off our purchases and relax a little bit. We met up with Irene again and explored some more. We went past an amazing building that was decorated using a beige coloured plaster. Apparently it was reminiscent of Gaudi, whose work is in Barcelona. Then we stumbled upon a fantastic food market that had a great rooftop bar where we stopped for a drink and photo opportunity with some pigs! We then went on a search for a little shop that only sold espadrilles, a style of shoe made from cotton and rope. It was a wonderful little shop that has been run by the same family for four generations. A couple of us found a pair or two that we liked and went on our way. We went back to one of the tapas bars we had found the night before and stopped in for a bite to eat and a nice glass of Rioja. As we were imbibing a huge thunderstorm raged outside with buckets of water flowing in the streets. We hadn't quite adopted the European custom of eating late at night so we went back to the food market and bought some items to have a picnic back at the hotel. We had some delightful eats and headed to bed relatively early.
We had bought tickets for the Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofia for Saturday morning. It was a short walk from our hotel and luckily the line was relatively short when we arrived. I had wanted to go to this museum specifically for the Picasso's. His Guernica painting was in this museum so I got to see that which was pretty spectacular. It was really huge - almost 8 meters by 4 meters, quite an impressive sight! There was a lot of modern art in the museum, some which made us scratch our heads and wonder how anyone could think that it was art. But I guess art is subjective, right? We also saw some works by Salvador Dali, really interesting and some slightly disturbing. All in all, an enjoyable museum. On the way back to our hotel we stopped by a great shop full of all sorts of souvenirs and gifts so, of course, there was a fair bit of shopping done.
After dropping our purchases back at the hotel we were out the door and back on the hop on, hop off bus to see if we could find a market that we had spied while on the bus the day before. We found it, and hopped off the bus. Our stomachs were rumbling and there was a great big grill beside the market, selling all sorts of grilled meats. I shared a mixed plate with Vicki and we really enjoyed the ribs, chicken, and chorizo. After our meat heavy lunch we strolled around the market which unfortunately was a bit lacking in interest. We were close to the Palacio Real so we went there to take some photos, our attention was diverted when we got there by a handful of photographers taking pictures of someone who turned out to be the tennis player Jo Wilfried Tsonga! Next to the Palace was the Catedral Sta Maria La Real Almudena, it was a beautiful cathedral, with very high, bright, colourful painted ceilings. A pit stop for churros and chocolate again fortified us for a bit more shopping on our way back to the hotel. We rested for a couple of hours and met up again for our group dinner. We gave our lovely organisers, Belinda and Susan, a gift of appreciation and caught some taxis to our dinner venue. We were booked into the Corral de la Moreria for dinner and a show. The food was fantastic and was followed by a flamenco dance performance. The dancing was really impressive, the dancers feet moved so quickly and the accompanying music and singing was great! Irene convinced a couple of us to join her for a drink before heading back to the hotel. Irene had a list of must visit places that her father had given her so we went to the last place on her list. It was a restaurant on the top floor of a pretty run down building, it was ok but would probably be better on a sunny day when you could sit on the balcony. We headed in the direction of our hotel and happened upon a bustling bar and had a couple of really yummy mojitos before going back to the hotel.
The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast before going our separate ways to fill up some time before catching the bus to the airport. I decided since I hadn't taken many pictures, I would do a bit of walking and picture taking. After I was all walked out, I sat across from the hotel at a little cafe and wrote my postcards. Irene and Vicki found me sitting in the sun and joined me. It was a nice spot to sit and take in the bustle of the city. While we were sitting there, a antique car parade drove by with the owners all dressed up in period costume. Later, across the street there was a clock chiming 12:00 and the doors above the clock opened up and five mannequins danced to the music that played.
Friday dawned and we were supposed to be going on a bike tour but since it was raining we decided to cancel that and use the hop on hop off bus instead. We took the bus and stayed on for the entire ride to get an overview of the old part of the city. We got some good ideas about which sights we would like to go back and visit. We were quite cold after getting off the bus so Belinda, Susan and I stopped in a little cafe and had something warm to drink and shared a plate of churros and chocolate. It is apparently a favourite breakfast of the Spanish. I could see why, it was so good. I have never been a fan of the churros that they sell at markets with the cinnamon sugar, but when dipped in hot, thick chocolate they are quite spectacular. The rest of the afternoon we spent wandering the streets, shopping and having lunch in the sunshine that showed up. We headed back to the hotel to drop off our purchases and relax a little bit. We met up with Irene again and explored some more. We went past an amazing building that was decorated using a beige coloured plaster. Apparently it was reminiscent of Gaudi, whose work is in Barcelona. Then we stumbled upon a fantastic food market that had a great rooftop bar where we stopped for a drink and photo opportunity with some pigs! We then went on a search for a little shop that only sold espadrilles, a style of shoe made from cotton and rope. It was a wonderful little shop that has been run by the same family for four generations. A couple of us found a pair or two that we liked and went on our way. We went back to one of the tapas bars we had found the night before and stopped in for a bite to eat and a nice glass of Rioja. As we were imbibing a huge thunderstorm raged outside with buckets of water flowing in the streets. We hadn't quite adopted the European custom of eating late at night so we went back to the food market and bought some items to have a picnic back at the hotel. We had some delightful eats and headed to bed relatively early.
We had bought tickets for the Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofia for Saturday morning. It was a short walk from our hotel and luckily the line was relatively short when we arrived. I had wanted to go to this museum specifically for the Picasso's. His Guernica painting was in this museum so I got to see that which was pretty spectacular. It was really huge - almost 8 meters by 4 meters, quite an impressive sight! There was a lot of modern art in the museum, some which made us scratch our heads and wonder how anyone could think that it was art. But I guess art is subjective, right? We also saw some works by Salvador Dali, really interesting and some slightly disturbing. All in all, an enjoyable museum. On the way back to our hotel we stopped by a great shop full of all sorts of souvenirs and gifts so, of course, there was a fair bit of shopping done.
After dropping our purchases back at the hotel we were out the door and back on the hop on, hop off bus to see if we could find a market that we had spied while on the bus the day before. We found it, and hopped off the bus. Our stomachs were rumbling and there was a great big grill beside the market, selling all sorts of grilled meats. I shared a mixed plate with Vicki and we really enjoyed the ribs, chicken, and chorizo. After our meat heavy lunch we strolled around the market which unfortunately was a bit lacking in interest. We were close to the Palacio Real so we went there to take some photos, our attention was diverted when we got there by a handful of photographers taking pictures of someone who turned out to be the tennis player Jo Wilfried Tsonga! Next to the Palace was the Catedral Sta Maria La Real Almudena, it was a beautiful cathedral, with very high, bright, colourful painted ceilings. A pit stop for churros and chocolate again fortified us for a bit more shopping on our way back to the hotel. We rested for a couple of hours and met up again for our group dinner. We gave our lovely organisers, Belinda and Susan, a gift of appreciation and caught some taxis to our dinner venue. We were booked into the Corral de la Moreria for dinner and a show. The food was fantastic and was followed by a flamenco dance performance. The dancing was really impressive, the dancers feet moved so quickly and the accompanying music and singing was great! Irene convinced a couple of us to join her for a drink before heading back to the hotel. Irene had a list of must visit places that her father had given her so we went to the last place on her list. It was a restaurant on the top floor of a pretty run down building, it was ok but would probably be better on a sunny day when you could sit on the balcony. We headed in the direction of our hotel and happened upon a bustling bar and had a couple of really yummy mojitos before going back to the hotel.
The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast before going our separate ways to fill up some time before catching the bus to the airport. I decided since I hadn't taken many pictures, I would do a bit of walking and picture taking. After I was all walked out, I sat across from the hotel at a little cafe and wrote my postcards. Irene and Vicki found me sitting in the sun and joined me. It was a nice spot to sit and take in the bustle of the city. While we were sitting there, a antique car parade drove by with the owners all dressed up in period costume. Later, across the street there was a clock chiming 12:00 and the doors above the clock opened up and five mannequins danced to the music that played.
It was a great trip to Madrid and a little sad because it will be my last trip with this great bunch of ladies!
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