Category: Spain Portugal 2016

Last night we did our own tapas tour for dinner. At the first place we had a big plate of grilled peppers – pepitos. At the second we had fried potatoes covered in a spicy tomato sauce – patatas bravas, and cheese croquettes. At the third we had fish and prawns in a garlic sauce. Our plan is to do more tapas for dinner tonight.

 

 

 

Today is cold and rainy but it is still a nice day to be out and about in Madrid. We went to the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia which has 20th century Spanish modern art. Lots of Picasso’s and Dalis. Their most famous painting is Picasso’s Guernica

 

 

 

And then to warm up we had to go to Chocolateria San Gines for chocolate and Churros!

 

 

 

I think the jet lag caught up with me last night. I was wake from about 2 til 6 and then slept soundly until 9 am. After I post this I’m due for a siesta!

Last night we had olive tapas and sangria in Mercado De San Miguel before dinner.

 

We ate dinner at Restaurante Botin the oldest restaurant in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records. We had a table in the cellar and had roast suckling pig, roast lamb, and artichokes with ham. A great setting and a great meal.

 

Today we walked to the Prado to see the paintings. There were so many wonderful ones. They had a temporary exhibit of works by the French painter Ingres which I really enjoyed too.

 

 

After the Prado Museum we wandered through the botanical garden. It is very much in winter mode but still beautiful and peaceful.

 

 

It is great to be here in Madrid without the crowds. I’m sure I would enjoy it less if it was hot or rainy but cool and sunny is great. Madrid seems so clean. None of the buildings are dingy and it seems like most of the streets are pedestrians only.

Duke and I left Sunday for a big adventure. We are going to spend two months exploring Spain and Portugal!! My plan is to blog about all we see and do pretty much every day.

Sunday we caught BART to the San Francisco airport and then caught a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul where we changed planes to fly to Madrid. Duke found a really good fare for us by going through Istanbul. Although that meant two long flights. On the way home we plan to spend a couple of days in Istanbul.

The 13 hour flight from San Francisco to Istanbul was exhausting but luckily the plane wasn’t full and we had three seats for the two of us. I thought the food was some off the best airline food I’ve had. I especially liked the Turkish delights they serve right after take off on all Turkish Airlines flights! I also got to watch the movie The Martian again. I really like that movie!

Our four hour flight from Istanbul to Madrid was even less crowded. We each were able to claim three seats to lie down and sleep.

Once we arrived in Madrid we took the Metro to our hotel and fell into bed for some glorious sleep. We are staying at the 7 Islas Hotel which is relatively new and in an old building.

This morning we strolled and explored the streets, just soaking in Madrid. I kept saying can you believe we are really in Madrid!

 

The weather is perfect – temps in the high 40s and the sun is shining. We toured the Palacio Real.

 

And then stopped for churros and chocolate on the way back to the hotel.