We have had a wonderful time in Madrid and been way too busy to do a blog and there is way too much to put into one blog, so here we go!

We left Valencia and had a stop on the way to Madrid in Cuenca. a UNESCO site. The old town is a well preserved medieval fortified city and it has Spains first Gothic Cathedral, however its claim to fame are its “hanging houses” suspended from sheer cliffs and built in the 15th century.

The San Pablo Bridge (with the former monastery behind now a 5 star hotel), was rather scary to walk out on when Greg was rocking it, but it did give us great views of the town. We wandered back to Barney, loving the colourful narrow streets on the way!

Then it was time to hit the road and take Barney into the “slap bang centre ” of Madrid with its 6.7 million people, the largest city in Spain. After a little manipulation, closed roads and driving down pedestrian streets, Greg miraculously found our car park that we had pre booked, where we left Barney for our 4 nights to explore Madrid! Our apartment was fabulous, right in the heart of the city and every monument and building we wanted to see was within walking distance (well sort of). We did however have a little trouble sleeping with noise pretty much all through the night as we have discovered the Spaniards do not sleep!

Although our little street, Calle de Marques did look very cute, trust us at night it was rather noisy!

The first night in Madrid we were ready for a drink, so we headed first into Plaza Mayor, which originally was the first marketplace and bull fighting ring in Madrid. Today it is surrounded by bars and restaurants, particularly good for drinking jugs of sangria! The facade of the Casa de la Panaderia (The Bakers Guild) is covered in beautiful frescoes. It was where in the 1500 and 1600’s the main bakery of Madrid stood and controlled the price of bread and on the opposite side of the Plaza was the Butchers Guild where meat was stored and sold.

We then headed up to Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun) another huge Plaza and known as one of the busiest places in Madrid and we agree! The Casa de Correos is the Headquarters of the Madrid Regional Government and apparently each NYE as the clock on the top chimes 12 times it is traditional to eat a grape at each chime, slightly weird we thought! Spains klm zero is also in front of the building which is the starting point for all major roads in Spain.

We had read about the famous Iconic statue in the plaza, which is the symbol of the city, “The Bear and the Strawbery Tree”, with the bear symbolising the fertile soil of Madrid and the strawberry tree symbolising the aritocracy! ????? Well, we were expecting it to be quite larger than it actually was, even had to ask locals where in the Plaza it was situated, but here is a photo. The Tio Pepe is an iconic neon sign in the Plaza advertising a local Spanish sherry. Julie did try one but was not impressed so we decided to trust her and did not imbibe.

The next morning we went for a walk early and came across La Mallorquina, a wonderful pastry shop that was established in 1894. It had just opened and had no queues so we decided to go in and have breakie. Yum.

Then it was time for our walking tour of Madrid. When we arrived at our meeting point, we realised something was going on, there were heaps of people heaps of police and security cameras everywhere. Our guide told us it was 10th Anniversary of the Coronation of King Felipe of Spain and a parade was going to happen. We moved on as our guide told us some details of the Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace). The Royal family does not live there but it is used for State Functions. The present Palace was built between 1738 and 1764 after an “apparent accidental fire”, because the new tenants did not like it! It is said to be the largest palace in Europe with 3418 rooms.

We then went into the Almunda Cathedral. Construction began in 1883, so not old by European standards and was consecrated by the Pope in 1993 making it the first Cathedral to be consecrated outside the city of Rome. The Crypt of the Cathedral (you know by now that Rhonda likes to see where people are buried!) features over 400 columns and even has the Bear and the Strawberry Tree somewhere inside. We didn’t see it! It is the largest crypt in the country!

We then wandered through the Plaza de La Villa, known to have some of the oldest buildings in the city. It was one of the main centres of the Medieval Capital with buildings from the 15th 16th and 17th Century.

Julie had googled a place near the plaza where you could buy “cookies from the secret nuns” world, so when in Madrid! Our guide took us to a very non descript door, we entered, and came to a menu with a “lazy Susan” type thing. You order your kg or 1/2 kg of cookies, put your money down, and voila your cookies and change comes around back to you! You are unable to see the Nuns as they are “cloistered nuns” and do not have contact with the outside world. It was a bit of touristic fun and the cookies weren’t too bad!

We had a few drinks and lunch along the way to our next stop, Plaza Cibeles and Cibeles Palace. This a relative newcomer, it was built in 1919 as the Spanish Post Office Headquarters, a bit flash we thought for a PO now it is the Madrid Town Hall and it is pretty stunning.

Then it was onto El Retiro Park , Madrid’s answer to Cenral Park. It was once the Royal Gardens of the old palace built by the Kings of Spain in the 17th century. It was quite a warm day so wandering through the park and stopping for a drink was quite pleasant.

We decided to go out for dinner, so we booked a table at Posada de la Villa. It first became an Inn in 1642 but fell into ruins until 1980 when it was rescued and restored and the “splendour of the old inn” was returned. The specialty of the house is the wood fired oven roasted lamb, so of course we had to try it. The peppers and roast veges prior to the lamb was pretty good, and then had to have the after dinner digestive before heading off to get some night shots.

Because it was the latest we had been up we thought we should head over to the main squares to get some night shots…it doesn’t get dark till 10:30pm! So we returned to Plaza Mayor, Puerta de Sol and Plaza Cibeles.

So that is just the first couple of days in Madrid, part 2 hopefully will be ready tomorrow!

We are now back in France but have more of Madrid and also San Sebastian to bore you with!

So, it’s time to rest, have a drink and go to bed!!

Lots of love

Greg and Rhonda and Julie