Tag: Spain

Madrid to Molina de Aragón

This morning after breakfast we walked about a mile to Atocha train station where we picked up our rental car, a Seat Arena. The weather today was absolutely perfect, blue skies and a high of 75.

It was a beautiful day for a walk

The Parador of Molina de Aragon is less than a year old. This is our 97th

Parador out of 100!

This is the view of the castle from the lobby

We went for a walk down into the town. They have a fascinating museum. It highlights the region’s natural and cultural history. It’s also the interpretative center for the nearby Geopark. This area has a lot of fossils.

The museum is in the former Franciscan convent in the background
There were some really cool fossils

When we got back to the Parador we enjoyed our welcome drinks. It is great to be back in a Parador!

We had an excellent dinner
The castle is beautifully illuminated.

To read my next blog post when we explore a bit of the castle click here.

Madrid Day 3

This morning we had plans to go to our favorite Madrid breakfast cafe, Cafeteria La Austriaca. But when we got there they were closed. I assume that was because of Good Friday. So we went to another random spot and had a typical Spanish breakfast of bread with olive oil and tomato.

Pan con tomate

Then we went in search of a Churreria we visited on a prior trip. When we got there we ordered churros and chocolate for two. They arrived at our table steaming hot and sooooo good. We could see them being made behind the glass in the kitchen to our left.

Getting ready for my first bite.
Churros being cooked

Today we went to the San Fernando Fine Art Royal Museum. It’s an art museum very near our hotel that was listed on the New York Times list that I mentioned yesterday. I can’t believe we’ve never been there! It was wonderful.

They had an exhibit of Goya etchings and the original plates that the etchings were made from.
They have four floors of paintings by Spanish artists
Including this painting of George Washington
Almost all the signs were in Spanish and English
When we were done at the museum and our feet were sore we found a nearby tapas bar and had a snack.

We went back to the hotel to rest and relax then about 9 we went out for tapas for dinner.

Lots of people were out enjoying the evening.
We had really good octopus at one place where we stopped

On our way back to the hotel the Good Friday procession was happening. There were bands, two human powered floats and soldiers on horseback. When we left the parade was still going on and it was after eleven.

There were lots of stops and starts. This horse stopped right next to us for about five minutes
We were near the end of the route and the people carrying the float looked tired.

To see tomorrow’s blog post click here.

Madrid Day 2

We had a very productive first full day in Spain. We started by doing laundry. While the clothes were washing we had coffee and pastry nearby. Then while the clothes were drying we had second cups of coffee at a different place. We almost always have breakfast included at our hotels so it’s a change and kind of fun to go out and find a place.

First breakfast
Done with laundry

Madrid is a beautiful city. In the last several years all the building facades have been cleaned, the city center has almost no cars, AND it was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the high 60s. It’s amazing how sun improves your experience of a place.

We’ve been to Madrid multiple times over the years so we have seen most of the must-see sites. But the New York Times recently published a Google map of its recommendations of things to do in Madrid. I went through the list and found a few good ideas of new things to do and see.

So Thursday afternoon we went to the Teatro Real (Opera House). The ticket price included an audio guide. The whole visit was wonderful. The Teatro Real is directly across from the Royal Palace with a beautiful garden in between the two. Highlights of the tour include the view of the Royal Palace from inside the Opera House, the view of the stage from many different levels of seating and the multi story foyer surrounded by Lebanese cedar pillars.

Scale model of the Teatro Real. The red part on the map in the background is the seating and the blue box to the right of the seating is the stage.
Looking out at the Royal Palace from inside the Opera House.
The foyer from the fourth floor. The pillars are wood.
The stage from the very top and the very back.

It was such a beautiful day to walk. There were a lot of people out but we finally found a place for coffee.

Flowers in the plaza between the Teatro Real and the Royal Palace
Coffee
In Puerta del Sol

To read the blog post for Madrid Day 3 click here.

Pravets, Bulgaria to Madrid, Spain

We had to set an alarm for 6:30 this morning so that we could have breakfast, checkout, drive an hour to Sofia, fill the car with gas, return the rental car and catch the 10:40 plane to Madrid.

A combination of confusing car return instructions and Google Maps suggesting ‘shortcuts’ put us on some very bad roads as we tried to find the right place to return the car but we finally did it.
It was interesting to see a lot of American Air Force planes parked on the tarmac as we taxied to the take of runway.

We had so many grey and chilly days in Bulgaria that it was fantastic to see the sun when we got to Madrid. It was also really nice to be able to read the street signs and understand some of the language. We’ve been to Madrid so many times that it almost feels like home.

Looking down Gran Via from our hotel
We had jamon, sangria and wonderful bread and olive oil at Museo de Jamon.
Then we had cañas, olives, and patatas bravas at Cervecería Alemana

To read our blog post about our second day in Madrid, our first full day click here.

Parador de Aiguablava, Spain to Lyon, France

Today was a travel day. This morning we left the Parador of Aiguablava at 7 A.M. for the one hour drive to Girona, where we returned our rental car and caught a 9:00 high speed train to Lyon, France.

Our room at the Parador included breakfast, but the breakfast buffet didn’t open until 8:00. So yesterday I ask if they would give us some breakfast to take with us. They said yes, they would give us a picnic.

These are the picnic bags they gave us – water, juice, ham sandwich, cheese sandwich, cake, muffin, tangerine, grapes. Wow!

There was very little traffic and we had no problem returning the car and catching the train.

On the train to Lyon

The high speed train ride was 4 hours and 20 minutes. In Lyon we walked the mile or so to our hotel.

Our hotel was just on the other side of the river

After a bit of a rest we went out exploring and later had a great pizza dinner.

Walking in Lyon
Our pizza dinner