Día Madrid
After all that dancing came a day trip to Madrid. We woke early to get to the train station where we would meet Irena, Cesar, and Irena’s sister Maria Jose, . I love taking the train in Europe and prefer it to flying. You get to really take in the topography and see the changing landscapes.
To be perfectly honest, I never wanted to visit Madrid. It just hasn’t been on my list, but appreciated that my family wanted to show me a new city. I always welcome being pushed into a surprising discovery. It was about a three hour train ride and I spent the time reading and looking out as we sped past the terrain. Madrid’s station is HUGE. Madrid is HUGE. This is not a city that should be devoured in one day, but my time is limited here so we jumped right into all that was Madrid. We started by finding a pretty famous historic restaurant called El Brillante. We got some cafe con leches and some churros to fuel up to what I consider the walk that kept giving.
I was trying to stop and inhale this massive city, but what I had not realized was that our nimble walk through the Calles and Avenidas was to meet up with our reserved tour guide my cousin set up. I was concerned about my mom because she was having pain walking and this walk was not an easy one, plus we were on a time crunch. I would have to save photo taking for later.
We would be walking a lot more on this tour of the history of Madrid—spoken in muy rapido Spanish, so, I understood about 50% of it. I took photos and the weather here was a lot hotter than that of the beach breeze in Málaga. I was glad when we finished the tour with the royal palace and got to venture on our own. We were all pretty hungry so César came to the rescue finding La Tagliatella, well I don’t know if he “found” it rather than this known Spanish chain was perfect for family style eating. I have to say, that was probably one of the best Italian restaurants I’ve ever ate at and the portions were well endowed. The service was excellent and the food perfectly satisfying. They gave you this focaccia bread in the beginning that have different things like olives or onions baked into it. I love that here they start you with complementary olives.
We filled our bellies and walked around the city where I found beautiful architecture, historical sites, beautiful tree ladened sidewalks, and missed Zelensky by seconds—seconds! He apparently arrived to stay two days in Madrid at the Four Seasons. Madrid reminded me of a prettier New York. I think I’d have to come back here and spend more than just a day of walking. Yes, walking almost 10 miles that day did me in. I still find Granada to be my favorite and am saddened I won’t be able to make that trip while I am here.
Our trip ended with the three hour train ride back to Málaga arriving close to midnight. The buses had stopped for the evening and was I, and my mom too, were secretly joyous we got to take a cab home. My feet could do more as they yelled for the bed. Madrid—check.