Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Madrid is Wonderful
After spending all night awake - to catch our 5am flight, we arrived in Madrid to SUNSHINE!
We left our bags as the hotel and went off wandering - walking all the way down to the Retiro (a huge and lovely park) just off the Calla del Prado. Unfortunately Charlie was still suffering from the after effects of her recent chest infection and couldn't walk all that far - but we took a slow stroll back to the hotel, booked in and had a siesta (a great institution). Later we went looking for a tabaconist - and discovered a great plaza just of the Avenida Filipe II - and ended up in a pavement cafe (driving the staff nutty by ordering wine with ice) - something that quickly became a holiday tradition!
Good Friday was spent wandering around the Plaza Mayor, the Palacio Real and the Teatro Real and discovering the joys of the Madrid Metro - an absolute joy by comparison to LUL! And dirt cheap - 1.20 Euro per trip - or 6.15 Euro for a 10 trip pass - which can be used on either buses or the metro. Whole system very easy to negotiate and although a lot of the Madrelino's don't speak English - this was never a barrier to communications.
Saturday was spent shopping - including buying a magnificent ceramic from a wonderful little gallery on the same Plaza. Managed to get a couple of wonderful presents for my folks and a couple of dinky things for the kids.
Sunday Charlie was feeling poorly - so I ended up going out alone to the Retiro again - and just relaxing and reading my book. The only downside to the whole experience was the 4 hour delay in the plane ride home - but even that didn't dampen my enthusiasm for Madrid - I will be back!
After spending all night awake - to catch our 5am flight, we arrived in Madrid to SUNSHINE!
We left our bags as the hotel and went off wandering - walking all the way down to the Retiro (a huge and lovely park) just off the Calla del Prado. Unfortunately Charlie was still suffering from the after effects of her recent chest infection and couldn't walk all that far - but we took a slow stroll back to the hotel, booked in and had a siesta (a great institution). Later we went looking for a tabaconist - and discovered a great plaza just of the Avenida Filipe II - and ended up in a pavement cafe (driving the staff nutty by ordering wine with ice) - something that quickly became a holiday tradition!
Good Friday was spent wandering around the Plaza Mayor, the Palacio Real and the Teatro Real and discovering the joys of the Madrid Metro - an absolute joy by comparison to LUL! And dirt cheap - 1.20 Euro per trip - or 6.15 Euro for a 10 trip pass - which can be used on either buses or the metro. Whole system very easy to negotiate and although a lot of the Madrelino's don't speak English - this was never a barrier to communications.
Saturday was spent shopping - including buying a magnificent ceramic from a wonderful little gallery on the same Plaza. Managed to get a couple of wonderful presents for my folks and a couple of dinky things for the kids.
Sunday Charlie was feeling poorly - so I ended up going out alone to the Retiro again - and just relaxing and reading my book. The only downside to the whole experience was the 4 hour delay in the plane ride home - but even that didn't dampen my enthusiasm for Madrid - I will be back!
# posted by Anni @ 8:24 PM 
