Arrival in Spain

Madrid – Day 1

Sorry it’s been a week since I found my blogging legs again but the time difference and cheap, but delicious, wine requires some getting used to but mostly....it's the challenge of finding Wi-Fi.

We left Cape Breton in the afternoon, full of excitement about our trip but sad to say goodbye to Grampie and Grammie.  The flight from Cape Breton to Madrid via Halifax and Toronto was long but we were lucky as there was room for each of us to stretch out and get a few hours of sleep before landing in Madrid.   Two movies and thirteen and a half hours later we landed in Madrid. 

We collected our bags and needed two taxis for our ‘backpacks’.  We were fortunate to have taxi drivers who played tour guides on the way to Hotel Regina, in old town ‘Centro’ Madrid.  Our room was small and comfortable but in a perfect location for walking to all the best historical, cultural and artistic sites of old Madrid.  Centro Madrid did not offer hotels with pools but our bathroom was equipped with a bidet or as Devin calls it “butt washer” which proved to be as entertaining as any pool.  

We launched into our new European lifestyle by taking a three hour siesta.  When we awoke at 4:30pm we were anxious to explore and starving after the Air Canada chicken wing we had on the flight over.  Our first stop was Plaza del Sol which is a popular gathering spot where many streets converge like the spokes on a wheel.  It seems every second storefront is a restaurant offering various tapas options.  The boys but especially Noah was very impressed with the architecture and narrow streets.  He wondered if all of Europe would look like this. They all asked lots of questions about the carvings in the buildings and the cobblestone streets.  Aidan started his search for a Barcelona Football jersey with his favourite player Messi.   

We made it to Plaza Mayor, a 17^th century square that was a focal point of the city for hundreds of years, where Kings were crowned and beheaded and bullfights were held each week. 

We found a great spot that was busy with locals, Mercado de San Miguel which was the most amazing tapas market (think Granville or St. Lawrence Market).  There were sections for all types of food – oysters of all kinds, grilled meats, olives stuffed with sundried tomatoes, anchovies, shellfish, desserts including frozen yogurt and ice cream with your own toppings.  The boys were hungry and dug into some frozen yogurt -Aidan was mango with chocolate brownie, Noah was caramel and mango and Devin was chocolate and chocolate brownie.  It was a hit and we headed home to escape the heat.  A mild day for mid-summer Madrid at 36 Celsius. 

We left again at 8:30pm to find some dinner and found a place full of locals and luckily, a table in the middle of everything – it was early for dinner as most don’t have dinner until 10:30pm.  We asked our waiter to put together his best tapas for five and it was exceptional.  We walked much of the Centro area that night and watched many great buskers.   Madrid is truly a town that does not sleep; it was still vibrant at 11:30pm that night.   We took a few days to acclimatize to the new time zone and would sometimes stare out our windows at 3:00am – it could have been noon with all the foot traffic.

Madrid – Day 2

We awoke at noon the next day struggling to acclimatize to the new time zone.  We planned to visit a few sites and headed out to find some food.  I don’t want to spend too much time just describing meals but food is such an important part of the culture here and well, we love food !.  After spending so much on dinner last night we thought it would be wise to find a ‘cheaper’ location for breakfast…after all….how can you mess up bacon and eggs.  Did I mention the pig is part of every meal here…ham sandwiches, ham croissants, ham cookies, etc..  The eggs were runny, the bacon was undercooked and as we were nearly finished our meal, a mouse committed suicide from the top steps of the kitchen and landed on the floor only a meter from our table.  That ended our meal and our desire to eat in cheaper restaurants.  Picnics or 4 star eateries but no more cafeterias. 

We meandered around and picked up a Starbucks coffee which we swore we would not do again.  No locals partaking in the Starbucks experience.  We were walking to the Parque del Retiro to spend the day playing soccer and just chilling.  Aidan had not found his Barcelona jersey at that point as he refused to pay the 40+ euros at the souvenir shop but luckily we discovered a stall selling ‘authentic’ made in China jerseys for half the price of the souvenir shops.  He closed on the deal and looked very sporty in his new Messi jersey.   Noah bought a soccer ball for us to play with in the park and Devin picked up a flamenco fan to help us with the heat.  It’s a non humid heat so it doesn’t feel like it’s 36 degrees in the shade.

We walked around the park to find the perfect place to hang out.  It’s one of the most popular places for relaxing in Madrid.  We strolled down the tree lined avenue in the park to the lake in the middle where you can rent row boats.   There were families everywhere on a Wednesday afternoon and many sun worshippers were in their G-strings catching a few rays.  It is a HUGE park and various buskers played great music in the background.   We picked an area with lots of shade and a saxophone player played in the background.  We were there for hours with our own saxophone player…..some popsicles and some soccer and we were in heaven.  

 We waited until 6:00pm to get into one of the world’s best art galleries – the Prado Museum.  It’s full of the great artists of the world and works of art.  The Spanish kings used the spoils of North America to fund the purchases of some great art over the last couple of centuries.  The museum offered free admission at 6:00pm and we thought arriving 10 minutes early would put us ahead of the crowds.  There were 400 lined up when we got there and 400 more lined up while we waited the 15 minutes for the doors to open.  We were all in shortly after 6:00pm and really enjoyed looking at a few key pieces as a toe dipping experience for the boys.  We plan on visiting many museums and want to ‘ease’ into this with the boys.  We went to the Bosch and Fra Angelico exhibits to view the Garden of Delights and Annunciation.  The boys had different perspectives on this experience.  Devin was curious why there were so many naked women during this period but all the rich wore collars up to their ears and gowns that covered their toes.  Noah found many faces were similar in some of the works, especially the Dutch works.  He was also impressed with the pieces that were 13^th and 14^th century and noticed how different they were from the more recent works and Aidan was a bit freaked that many of the eyes appeared so real and appeared to follow him.  We could not believe how interested they were in the art and the gallery and the respect they showed for the art while walking through.  We walked the thirty minutes back to our hotel and stopped for another wonderful meal on the way.  Madrid is truly an amazing city and has well exceeded our expectations.  We regret that we have only reserved a few days of our vacation for such a wonderful city.