I'll start with Madrid. What can I say other than we have fallen in love with it. There is a gentleness to this city even thought crowded beyond belief. People were out in the streets well until 4:30 in the morning. Since we had no air conditioning, we had to leave the veranda door open all night for air circulation and were woken up during the night/early early morning numerous times. Obviously it didn't help that we were there while there were UEFA quarter final games being played in Madrid along with kids out for Easter holiday all over Europe and there were a lot of student tour groups. In fact, while eating lunch one day, we realized the group next to us were American. We started a conversation with the standard question "so where are you from?" Turns out they were from Westchester New York. They were chaperoning teachers for a group of 16 year olds. The kids were having lunch somewhere else while the teAchers stopped for a brief interlude of adult beverages.
Our first few days in Madrid were spent following the Rick Steves walking tours along with just getting lost and trying to find our way back. It also took a little time figuring out the whole tapas thing. The ideal way to do Spain is the start with caffe con leche (expresso with equal amount of warm milk) or dense hot chocolate (a spoon could stand up in it - like our pudding) and churros. The Spaniards like to dip the churros in their coffee or hot chocolate. You then eat lunch somewhere between 1:00 and 3:00, along with requisite pitcher of sangria or wine. The. You go to your hotel for siesta or quiet time - if not just sitting in a park or at a cafe with a lovely vermouth people watching. Once you are revived, you are ready to start again with the tapas crawl. For us, the tapas were our evening meal. For the locals, tapas are the appetizer and then they have dinner around 10 pm. Way too late for us!
We did find an amazing little bar where we could sit at a table and get the tapas while we watched the soccer games. Jesus was our waiter and he kept our glasses full with great Rioja wine and the tapas just kept coming.
One of the highlights of the Madrid visit was eating at Botin which is the oldest restaurant in the world (according to the Guinness Book of Records.) it was founded in 1725. Ernie had the Castilian style suckling pig. Of course we had to have paella a couple of times. Quite delicious, glad we had it and don't need to do again for a while. It is quite filling and a lot of rice for one sitting. I'd rather make it at home with a lot less rice and more seafood and chicken in it than is served here.
The Cathedral of Santa Maria la Real de la Almundena. The main altar is a bit understated while the chapel to the Almundena Virgin was massive.
The other amazing place to visit was the Royal Botanical Garden. This is so much more than a garden, it is a botanical museum. As we started walking through it, I told Ernie that the one thing that would just make my visit to the garden was to see a Dogwood tree. We'll guess what? We found one and it was in full bloom. A few walkways from that, we found Lila's in full bloom! I never expected that so my day was doubly blessed!!!!
Trying to do this post and the photos seems to be problematic today. I think the only photo not identified are the lilacs. I'll end with this since it's time to get Ernie up from his siesta and start thinking about our tapas crawl tonight!
This was a "character" in one of the plazas. When you put a coin in
his container, he starts to clap his jaws and bounce up
and down. Just really funny. Brought a smile to my face.
This is Botin
These are the suckling pigs waiting for their turn in the oven
Here they are in the oven. Yes they still cook that way
The cathedral
This is the main altar. As I said, extremely understated
This is the chapel!
Here I am in from of Palacios Real. This was an amazing tour.
Every room has a different theme and color. Most of walls were covered
in silk. One room was actually all porcelain. The porcelain was made in
small pieces and then the design was put together in the room. Ceiling and walls covered
in the porcelain motif with the joining screws hidden in the leaf designs.
Unfortunately you weren't allowed to take photos. You'll Judy have to go yourself.
Believe me, it is well worth it.
These two building were designed and built at a 15 degree angle
to act as a gateway into the more modern Madrid.
This is the bull ring. Unfortunately no bull fights until late May
This little fellow was on a Rock in the Royal Botanical Garden
Amazingly beautiful rhododendron
Here's my dogwood!
This picture is for Joelle
One of the buildings in old Madrid that has this amazing roof dome
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