On the move again!

Hola from beautiful downtown Madrid! 

 

And, what a day it has been!  So, up this morning about 6:30 am for an 8 am departure from our truly wonderful apartment in Cadiz!  We have had such a wonderful time here, and are thinking that definitely we want to return at some future date.  Always a good sign, I think!

 

We were breakfasted and ready to go on time, and actually pulled out of the parking garage right on 8 am!  I was a bit concerned about traffic in and around Sevilla, but fortunately, there is a fairly new addition to the Spanish freeways, and we were able to go up the east side of Sevilla and miss it entirely!  In all, there were several areas of road construction, but unlike Tucson they don’t stop up the highways for miles on end for no reason – barriers appropriately signed and through them quickly, I am SO happy to report!  We knew today would be a long driving day, as the estimate from Cadiz to Madrid Airport was something on the order of 6 hours 30 minutes.  

 

[We know we really won’t need the car in Madrid, but the fact is that we do have the car.  We could have turned it in and then picked up another when time came to leave, but we opted to stay with a single rental to avoid an obscenely expensive ($900!!!) drop charge (the car was rented in Portugal).  So, Margaret had the brilliant idea of leaving it in the long-term parking at the Madrid Airport – a much, much less expensive option to parking in the center of the city.  But getting there was another matter; see below. – R]

(Once again, absolutely NO idea why the photos came out in reverse order...)

Lovely Plaza Santa Ana with moon!

Our five tapas ... all fabulous!

R loving the Temprenillo!

Stunning!

The building things beautifully around here!

Love the greenery at the top!

Our new home for the week!

Bedroom

Table and living room

REAL wind mills!! Where is Don Quixote?

Crossed a lovely mountain range!

We did stop for lunch at a very big road-side rest area, and ended up with Burger King Whoppers and fries!  Neither of us have been in a Burger King since we tried the “impossible” burger experiment … definitely prefer the beef!  In all, it took us about 7 hours to get to Barajas airport – at which point the real fun began!  We had made a reservation for long-term parking last night on the computer, so had some idea of where to go – the airport, right?  However, as it turns out, especially in foreign airports, nothing is ever easy!  

 

Finding Barajas was difficult in and of itself, as the signage on the freeways was terrible (directing to Terminal 4 – the Executive Terminal, but no directions to the normalterminals), and Emmy wasn’t exactly spot on.  However, after circling several times, we were able to get to Terminals 2 parking lot.  But stop!  That wasn’t where we were supposed to leave the car!  That was in a different place!  I’m not sure how Robert manages sometimes – although he found Google Translate pretty useful this afternoon, but he walked into the airport while I was illegally parked going the wrong way up a one-way street, and came out with not only written instructions, but “the” spot indicated on Google Maps!  To say it was a bit vexing is truly an understatement – but we managed to find long-term parking, and Robert found the office and checked us in – as I say, I do not know how he does it, but he always, always comes through!  So, car parked and luggage unloaded, and on to the airport bus we went; ride to the terminal was less than 10 minutes.  Off and luggage onto a (free!) cart and downstairs and on to a taxi.  The driver was, truly astounding!  Here it was rush hour in Madrid, and he just sashayed here and there through bus lanes and moto lanes, and we were at the apartment!  Neither of us could believe it – although, I’m pretty sure I was able to read the part numbers on one guy’s tail lights, to tell you something about the driving speed. 

 

Luis was waiting for us, and we were in the apartment!  The only difficulty, which we are both trying to understand, is why elevators here do NOT go all the way to the ground floor???  We had to schlep the luggage up a short flight of stairs and find the two elevators.  Duh…at any rate, we’re in for the next six nights.

 

Apartment is very nice; absolutely slick Ikea everywhere.  R has taken some photos that we will post, or if anyone is interested, we can refer them to the Airbnb website for “official” photos.  We are on the 3^rd floor of the building, and have lovely windows overlooking the street. It’s pretty chaotic down below, but we will be heading out for dinner as soon as the David Goffin vs. Rafa Nadal match is over; they’re in the third set.  Hopefully heading to La Vinoteca, a wine bar where we ate three years ago.  Lots of other places if that doesn’t work out, but I’m hoping it does; we really enjoyed our tapas dinner there last time. 

 

I do have to note that we have had a domestic accident.  The one comfy chair in the living room collapsed – while I was in it!  (I know there are diets, but sheesh…) Hopefully something can be done, as the couch isn’t particularly comfortable!  Missing Cadiz, that’s for sure!

 

Still plotting tomorrow, as we need to get bus passes and then hopefully to the Archaeological Museum, which we absolutely LOVED last time!  So, from Madrid, on a 72-4 degree day, lots of blue skies and sunshine, more later!

m

xxx

 

Hola!  Just back from our first dinner in Madrid!  I had forgotten how truly beautiful this city really is!  The different buildings we have seen – the lighting, the decoration – all truly superb!  I have started making R photograph them as we pass them – I am sure we will have a lovely collection!  

 

Tonight, for our first dinner in Madrid, I wanted to go back to the place – tapas – where we had our first meal three years ago … and we found it!  It was about a 10-12 minute walk from our apartment, but the streets were crowded with people!  It’s called La Vinoteca, and while their outside-in-the-square-Santa-Ana was crowded, there weren’t that many people actually inside the restaurant – so in we went!  For a first meal – incredible!  We ordered a bottle of Spanish Temprenillo, and it was superb.  Then, all our tapas came at once!  We had – beautiful white asparagus with sauce (haven’t had white asparagus since Lago di Orta with Mom quite a few years ago!); mushroom “toasts;” cheese croquettes; Iberian acorn-cured ham; bread with tomatoes and salt.  I think we both agreed on the asparagus as #1, but it varies after that.  We didn’t even have any room left for dessert!  Stopped for some sparkling water and cookies on our way back to the apartment … now in for the night, and it sounds like things are just getting started outside!  Those people have more energy than I EVER had!  [I think the average age in this part of Madrid is about 30. Lotta young people about. – R] Fortunately, the windows come with double glazing and the place has not one but two air conditioners … so if we can’t sleep after that, there isn’t much hope for us!

So, posting now and heading to bed!

m

xxx