JillMelancon Travel

17 June 2023

Got up at 4am to catch an Uber to the airport.  Arrived without incident—had McD for breakfast—sausage egg and cheese McMuffin and hash brown that of course tasted different from the US version.

Foreign countries sell water for 1 euro…man, the US rips us off.

Flight was uneventful…so short there wasn’t even any beverage service!  Once in Madrid, I headed for the metro, got my metro card and headed for the luggage drop off place.  It is SO hot here, but not as bad as Lisbon.  The luggage place was a small coffee café and they were very nice and gave me some water since I was clearly hot and sweaty!  I also wound up buying some iced tea to feel more normal.

When I was finally ready to leave, I headed to Thyssen Bornmiszer museum—lots of good stuff from the Renaissance forward—Fra Angelico, an amazing Van Eyck that looked like a photo (from the 1400s!), Caravaggio, Van Gogh, Hopper, Picasso, Kandinsky, etc. etc. Spent quite awhile there—about two hours—then went to their café for some food—good pasta and a beer.

Headed back to get my bag, then over to my Airbnb which was mediocre (especially compared to the one in Lisbon).  The a/c was weird (it sucks hot air out so there is a huge tube going out the window), the tv doesn’t work at all, and my host isn’t helpful.

But dang, Madrid is BEAUTIFUL!

I met my walking tour in the giant Plaza del Sol where there are a ton of beautiful buildings (and the Presidential Bldg)…then went past some REALLY old ones—if they are over 100 years old in the same business, they get special brass plaques on the sidewalk in front.

We made our way to Plaza Mayor which used to be underwater, but has been built over.  Saw Hemingway’s favorite (and world’s oldest) restaurant, Botin.  We walked past the San Miguel market, the Queen’s pharmacy (she had a secret tunnel to get there because she didn’t trust the royal one), Plaza de la Villa (at one time both a prison AND city hall which is why it is the only government building with TWO doors in front), the “curious neighbor” statue (originally built to bring attention to the ruins of an old church, but quickly became more popular for its supposed luck), the Madrid cathedral (one of the few blessed by the Pope), and the Royal Palace—just gorgeous.  We took a photo of the group just outside.

Learned about the Hapsburg period and the Muslim gate, and Christian gates around the city at one time.  This city truly blows my mind.

Realized my morning tour tomorrow is basically the same stuff, so I cancelled it and sleep in J

(June 18)

So yeah, I slept in and decided not to do ANYTHING today—not even the other two museums.  I didn’t feel like walking or sweating—I think I’m burned out, and I have a long day in Barcelona tomorrow, so figured it would probably be a good idea to take it easy today. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed and don’t want to do anything which makes me sad. 

I ordered some pad thai (which again didn’t taste like pad thai and chocolate/churros from the famous place here.  Watched the Office all day on my tablet since I had no tv.