On Friday, we were heading back to Madrid, so Roger and I got up and walked to
the supermercado to buy some breakfast, but it didn’t open until 9, so we found
a café for some café con leche which we waited. We bought a nice selection of fruit, juice, croissants, meat and cheese
for 11 euros which ended up feeding us all nicely. We then packed and took a cab to the train
station for our 12:25 train. We were a
bit early, so we had time for more café con leche at the train station. As we lined up for security, they announced
the train was cancelled, so Roger and I got in line to get tickets for the next
train, which was at 13:25. Rasila said
she heard it was cancelled due to a strike, but I suspect the train was just
not populated enough to run it. So we
read for an hour while we waited. After
arriving back in Madrid,
we looked into the old station, which has a tropical garden in it. We took the Metro back to the Gran Via, where
we were staying in the same hotel. Our
rooms didn’t have a view, but there were as nice as the previous ones. We went to the Prado art museum that
afternoon, where they have a very impressive collection of Velazquez, Greco,
and Goya, among numerous others. We were
meeting Mark and Sabrina at 7 at the hotel, and we all went up the rooftop bar
for a pre-dinner drink. It had an
impressive view of the city and a tower that you could walk up that put you at
12 stories up that I got some good pictures from.
We were eating at a Basque restaurant that night and had an
8:30 reservation. When we arrived, we
were the only ones there. When we left
at 11:00, the restaurant was full with most people just eating their
appetizers! I had an unusual dish of
baby squid in a salsa tinta, which I found out was a sauce made with the
ink. t was very good.
Saturday, we woke at 9:15 (finally getting into the Spanish
lifestyle!), had breakfast, and met Mark and Sabrina at 11:00. We were going to go through Retiro Park,
but it was raining, so we went to the Thyssen Museum
instead. It has a collection of minor
works by major artists as well as the only collection of American art in Spain. Rasila enjoyed it as it had works by Monet,
Rodin, and others from the impressionist era, which she really likes.
We were doing a tapas crawl that night, so we decided a
siesta was in order, so after lunch at an Indian restaurant in the Lavapies
district, we took a nap. We were
starting our crawl at 7:00 PM, where we hit 7 different places, including the
place Hemingway did eat, before crowning off the evening with the San Gines Chocolateria. The hot chocolate is
famous and is served in 2 spots, both walking distance from our hotel. The chocolate is thick enough to float your
spoon, and you dip churros in it. It was
worth the wait, as Rasila had been hearing about it all week! We were finished at midnight, since we had to
travel the next day.
Sunday was our travel day home, so we got up at 7:00,
ate breakfast, and was on the Metro by 8:00. Roger and Julia’s flight was at 11, ours at noon. We had time to spend our leftover Euros at
the duty free shop and flew back with only a minor delay in Chicago due to thunderstorms. The long connection paid off as our bags made
an earlier flight and we just picked them up and took a taxi home! All in all, it was 24 hours from getting up
to going to sleep at 10 PM.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Trip to Spain, Part 2: Toledo
On Tuesday, we were traveling to Toledo on a 12:20 train, so we got up and had
a lazy breakfast at the hotel, then packed up and took the Metro to the train
station. The high speed train we were
taking has a separate departure gate with security like an airport. We were a bit early, and had to wait about 45
minutes to board. The train was a AVE
train, which travels at about 200 kph to Toledo. I think it is capable of faster speeds than
that, but the trip is only 30 minutes from getting on the train to getting off
the train.
We took the taxi to the Hilton Buenavista Toledo, where Rasila and I had traded our timeshare to get 3 night each for us and Roger and Julia. We checked in, then walked into the local neighborhood for lunch, which we found and enjoyed. I had calamari, eggs, and French fries, Rasila had a delicious chicken. We stopped at a supermercado and bought some water, juice, and wine on our way back to the hotel. We split a bottle of wine before taking a taxi to the old city for dinner. We ate at a recommended restaurant from Rick Steves’ book where we selected off the Menu Del Dia (menu of the day). We took a cab back to the hotel where we had a drink on the patio overlooking the Tajo river before retiring. When Rasila and I got into our room, we discovered a dessert tray! It had an apricot pudding, 3 small chocolate mousses, and some dried fruit candies with a large bottle of water. I think it was because of the Hilton membership, because Roger and Juila didn’t have one.
The next day (Wednesday), we ate breakfast at the hotel, which we didn’t do again since it was 21 euros each! We ate up once we discovered the price. We then walked to the old city, which had some Roman ruins on the way. We head towards where we thought they were, but ended up at the Plaza de Toros (bullring) and Hospital Taverna instead. The bullring had a concert that Friday starting at 10 PM, more evidence of the late nigh Spanish culture. We walked by the Bisara gate and up the hill into the city.
We first toured the Cathedral, which was very impressive. Rick Steves’ had a good self tour which pointed out some things we would have missed other wise, like the hats of the Cardinals rotting over their burial sites in the church and the seven deadly sins in one painting. From there, we walked down to the Jewish end of town to check out the 2 synagogues. The first, the Sinagoga de Maria de Blanca, was used by Napoleon as a stable in the 18 hundreds but is being restored. The second is a Sephardic Museum as well. It is called the Sinagoga Transito or Transit Synagogue. It was built by Muslim workers under Catholic permission. We tried to then visit one of the Mosques, but it was closed for siesta, so we had lunch at this wonderful pizzeria, where the wall was covered with awards from pizza competitions in Italy. By the time we made it back to the mosque, it was closed for the day, so we went to the Plaza Zocodover and tried to take the Zoco Train, but it had just left. We had a beer while deciding whether to leave and come back, when we decided we need to stay instead of making the trip. We wandered by Alcazar looking for a back entrance to a restaurant we saw a sign for, but couldn’t find it, so we ended up walking back up the hill and going down the alleyway to it. It ended up being an excellent choice! It was about 5 years old and had restored the building so you felt like you were dining outdoors in some ancient ruins. Very cool atmosphere. We took a card for Mark and Sabrina so we could send them there when they visit. We took a cab back to the Hilton, where unfortunately, no dessert tray was awaiting us.
The next morning (Thursday), we decided to eat in town, so we walked to restaurant we had had lunch at, but they were not serving breakfast that day, so we continued walking until we found a café. After some discussion in our poor Spanish, we ordered something grilled, which turned out to be a grilled croissant with butter and marmalade. It was delicious! We then walked up to the Roman Circus ruins, which were impressive. I realized I had left my guidebook at breakfast, so I headed back and they had kept it for me. We then took an escalator built into the hillside up to the city. We stopped for another café before heading to the Victorio Macho museum, which also had the Greco paintings from El Greco’s house, which was being remodeled. We then had lunch at a café, where we had a selection of tapas. From there, we went to see the mosque we had missed previously. We then decided to head back to the hotel for a siesta before dinner. On the walk back, we went by another mosque which was being excavated and found our restaurant for dinner which was at the old Bisgara gate, called the Hostel del Cardenal. After a quick nap, and a change of clothes, we took a cab back to the restaurant and dined elegantly in an outdoor patio seating with the gate rising above us. It was a great atmosphere. The house wine was a cabernet, which was unusual, and it was great. We managed to catch a cab that was dropping someone else off as we were leaving and took it back to the hotel.
We took the taxi to the Hilton Buenavista Toledo, where Rasila and I had traded our timeshare to get 3 night each for us and Roger and Julia. We checked in, then walked into the local neighborhood for lunch, which we found and enjoyed. I had calamari, eggs, and French fries, Rasila had a delicious chicken. We stopped at a supermercado and bought some water, juice, and wine on our way back to the hotel. We split a bottle of wine before taking a taxi to the old city for dinner. We ate at a recommended restaurant from Rick Steves’ book where we selected off the Menu Del Dia (menu of the day). We took a cab back to the hotel where we had a drink on the patio overlooking the Tajo river before retiring. When Rasila and I got into our room, we discovered a dessert tray! It had an apricot pudding, 3 small chocolate mousses, and some dried fruit candies with a large bottle of water. I think it was because of the Hilton membership, because Roger and Juila didn’t have one.
The next day (Wednesday), we ate breakfast at the hotel, which we didn’t do again since it was 21 euros each! We ate up once we discovered the price. We then walked to the old city, which had some Roman ruins on the way. We head towards where we thought they were, but ended up at the Plaza de Toros (bullring) and Hospital Taverna instead. The bullring had a concert that Friday starting at 10 PM, more evidence of the late nigh Spanish culture. We walked by the Bisara gate and up the hill into the city.
We first toured the Cathedral, which was very impressive. Rick Steves’ had a good self tour which pointed out some things we would have missed other wise, like the hats of the Cardinals rotting over their burial sites in the church and the seven deadly sins in one painting. From there, we walked down to the Jewish end of town to check out the 2 synagogues. The first, the Sinagoga de Maria de Blanca, was used by Napoleon as a stable in the 18 hundreds but is being restored. The second is a Sephardic Museum as well. It is called the Sinagoga Transito or Transit Synagogue. It was built by Muslim workers under Catholic permission. We tried to then visit one of the Mosques, but it was closed for siesta, so we had lunch at this wonderful pizzeria, where the wall was covered with awards from pizza competitions in Italy. By the time we made it back to the mosque, it was closed for the day, so we went to the Plaza Zocodover and tried to take the Zoco Train, but it had just left. We had a beer while deciding whether to leave and come back, when we decided we need to stay instead of making the trip. We wandered by Alcazar looking for a back entrance to a restaurant we saw a sign for, but couldn’t find it, so we ended up walking back up the hill and going down the alleyway to it. It ended up being an excellent choice! It was about 5 years old and had restored the building so you felt like you were dining outdoors in some ancient ruins. Very cool atmosphere. We took a card for Mark and Sabrina so we could send them there when they visit. We took a cab back to the Hilton, where unfortunately, no dessert tray was awaiting us.
The next morning (Thursday), we decided to eat in town, so we walked to restaurant we had had lunch at, but they were not serving breakfast that day, so we continued walking until we found a café. After some discussion in our poor Spanish, we ordered something grilled, which turned out to be a grilled croissant with butter and marmalade. It was delicious! We then walked up to the Roman Circus ruins, which were impressive. I realized I had left my guidebook at breakfast, so I headed back and they had kept it for me. We then took an escalator built into the hillside up to the city. We stopped for another café before heading to the Victorio Macho museum, which also had the Greco paintings from El Greco’s house, which was being remodeled. We then had lunch at a café, where we had a selection of tapas. From there, we went to see the mosque we had missed previously. We then decided to head back to the hotel for a siesta before dinner. On the walk back, we went by another mosque which was being excavated and found our restaurant for dinner which was at the old Bisgara gate, called the Hostel del Cardenal. After a quick nap, and a change of clothes, we took a cab back to the restaurant and dined elegantly in an outdoor patio seating with the gate rising above us. It was a great atmosphere. The house wine was a cabernet, which was unusual, and it was great. We managed to catch a cab that was dropping someone else off as we were leaving and took it back to the hotel.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Trip to Spain, Part 1: Madrid
In the middle of last year, an old friend of Rodney and his brother Roger told us they were moving to Spain for a couple years. We decided that we needed to visit while they were there. The last week of September, that's what we did!
We flew American Airlines to Chicago, where we connected to Iberia Airlines to Madrid. We arrived Sunday morning at about 7:30 AM, where it was still dark because the timezone in Spain is the same as Germany, even though it is closer in Longitude to the United Kingdom. We were met by our friends, Mark and Sabrina, who we first went and got a cafe con leche with, then bought Metro tickets and rode the metro to the terminal Roger and Julia were arriving at. It was 2 stops! Roger and Julia had just got through customs when we arrived, so we then all rode the Metro to downtown Madrid, where our Hotel, the Hotel Atlantico was located on the Gran Via.
Mark and Sabrina had participated in the Blanco Noche so they were as tired as we were. We planned on an easy day and took in tapas and beer for lunch at a place called Dona Juana and then walked to the Plaza del Sol, the Plaza Mayor, took in a drink at the belgium cafe, then went and dropped Rasila off back at the hotel.
The Gran Via was blocked off and when we asked why, we found out the Tour de Espana was finishing in Madrid by the Banco de Espana just down the street. We walked down and watched the finish of 5 laps on the Paseo del Prado. An italian won the stage, but a russian won the race.
We went back and woke up Rasila and walked to a microbrewery called Meson. We had a couple plates of meat while Rodney enjoyed a Tortilla Cerveza!
The next day, we got up, ate a nice breakfast at the hotel (included in the room), then Sabrina met us and we walked to the Palacio Real. The Armory was on loan to the Forbidden City in Bejing, so we missed that, but the palace is a museum into itself with lots of art and unusual rooms.
After lunch, we took the metro to the Banco de Espana stop to visit the Museo Reina Sofia, a modern art museum. It has an impressive set of glass elevators on it’s entrance and is famous for its collection of surrealistic art by Picasso, Dali, and Miro, among others. It has a very famous painting inspired by the destruction of a town in northern Spain that Franco allowed Germany to test their WWII weaponry upon called Geurnica. We were having dinner with Mark, who had to work all day, so we took the Metro out to the area that they live in and sat at a café having a beer waiting for Mark. There, we met 2 other people Mark worked with out grocery shopping and walking their dog. Our dinner was early, 8 PM, so we were seated outside, where we had a wonderful seafood Paella. Afterwards we all had a sidra (cider) from the local sidrea next door.
We flew American Airlines to Chicago, where we connected to Iberia Airlines to Madrid. We arrived Sunday morning at about 7:30 AM, where it was still dark because the timezone in Spain is the same as Germany, even though it is closer in Longitude to the United Kingdom. We were met by our friends, Mark and Sabrina, who we first went and got a cafe con leche with, then bought Metro tickets and rode the metro to the terminal Roger and Julia were arriving at. It was 2 stops! Roger and Julia had just got through customs when we arrived, so we then all rode the Metro to downtown Madrid, where our Hotel, the Hotel Atlantico was located on the Gran Via.
Mark and Sabrina had participated in the Blanco Noche so they were as tired as we were. We planned on an easy day and took in tapas and beer for lunch at a place called Dona Juana and then walked to the Plaza del Sol, the Plaza Mayor, took in a drink at the belgium cafe, then went and dropped Rasila off back at the hotel.
The Gran Via was blocked off and when we asked why, we found out the Tour de Espana was finishing in Madrid by the Banco de Espana just down the street. We walked down and watched the finish of 5 laps on the Paseo del Prado. An italian won the stage, but a russian won the race.
We went back and woke up Rasila and walked to a microbrewery called Meson. We had a couple plates of meat while Rodney enjoyed a Tortilla Cerveza!
The next day, we got up, ate a nice breakfast at the hotel (included in the room), then Sabrina met us and we walked to the Palacio Real. The Armory was on loan to the Forbidden City in Bejing, so we missed that, but the palace is a museum into itself with lots of art and unusual rooms.
After lunch, we took the metro to the Banco de Espana stop to visit the Museo Reina Sofia, a modern art museum. It has an impressive set of glass elevators on it’s entrance and is famous for its collection of surrealistic art by Picasso, Dali, and Miro, among others. It has a very famous painting inspired by the destruction of a town in northern Spain that Franco allowed Germany to test their WWII weaponry upon called Geurnica. We were having dinner with Mark, who had to work all day, so we took the Metro out to the area that they live in and sat at a café having a beer waiting for Mark. There, we met 2 other people Mark worked with out grocery shopping and walking their dog. Our dinner was early, 8 PM, so we were seated outside, where we had a wonderful seafood Paella. Afterwards we all had a sidra (cider) from the local sidrea next door.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)