Day 9 - Homeward Bound

Sunday, November 17th

Homeward Bound

We slept in until after 8:30, then went down to breakfast for a bite. We weren’t too hungry after the big dinner. The weather looked not as pretty as yesterday, but we decided to head out for the last few hours here. Luckily, we have an afternoon flight so no rush, but it will make for a very long day.




We took the metro back to La Latina and walked to Plaza de la Paja. I liked this restaurant sign along the way. Looks fresh!






A few minutes' stop in the Garden of the Prince of Angola. It looks like it should be a private back yard but it’s really a small public garden, with free access. Nobody else was there.

Then we visited the San Isidro Museum, which was also free. A smaller museum about the history of Madrid, with some prehistoric stuff a la the Archaeological museum, but then some pieces from the Muslim and Christian eras as well.

Iglesia San Pedro el Viejo

Now it was time to head back, pack up, and head out. We stuffed the wine checks full of dirty clothes, for extra padding, and squeezed everything else back in the suitcase, lightening up our carry-on backpacks considerably. No point in carrying much on; since we have to check the wine anyway, we'll check our rollaboard as well.


Then checkout, where they tried to charge us for breakfast. It would have been a complete ripoff, since we hardly ate anything this morning. After a brief conversation with the supervisor, that charge was removed, but I wonder why the inconsistency. This is not the first time that’s happened, and they clearly told us that it was included when we checked in.






It was a slog to the train carrying all of the wine, but an easy ride to the airport, and we were there a little after 12:30. But it was a really long walk to Terminal 1 from there! Finally we checked in, cleared security (almost no wait, as they have a VIP line) and passport control (less than 5 minutes). We were in the lounge relaxing before 1:30.

The food and wine were decent and soon the boards said to head to the gate. Our jetway was at the farthest part of the terminal, in the A gates (the lounge was at the B gates), but as we got there, people started lining up, so we were the second couple to board. Unfortunately we had to stand on the jetway for a good 10 minutes, because they started boarding before the plane was fully ready.

Once we got on the plane, our overhead compartments were full of stuff which was surprising. But it was seat covers for the business class seats, so the FAs took them out and used them shortly, so the compartments emptied and we could move our backpacks to our bin.

Some nice sparkling rosé Cava to start, then we pushed back a few minutes early. After a short taxi, we were airborne. Scheduled arrival at JFK was 6:20, but we were on track for 25 minutes earlier than that. The earlier, the better, as we have to drive back to Albany and work tomorrow.

This was our first time on Air Europa, which is a SkyTeam partner. We'd booked as a DL codeshare, mainly because it was far cheaper than the DL flight which left earlier this morning. The extra time in Madrid this morning had been another bonus.

In-flight service was quite attentive and the FAs were super nice. The seats weren’t bad; almost lie-flat, but with an odd configuration. The seats were aligned normally when upright, but when the window seat was reclined, it was about a foot higher than the aisle seat. Chris did find it easier to climb in and out over me, though, so maybe that's why they are set up this way.

We watched some movies. The food was tasty and plentiful. The wines were delicious. Then we had a "bedtime" G&T before napping for a few hours. Just thinking about the drive home was making me tired!

We were still ahead of schedule when they woke us up for a snack about 90 minutes before landing. Again, nice food – I had pork cheeks confit – and a sip more wine, then it was time to switch to coffee.

We touched down as expected, 5:57 and taxied a bit – to a parking spot where we had to use a bus! That was unexpected. But they didn’t overcrowd it, and we were let off right at passport control, so it wasn't all that bad. Global Entry was fast and luggage just a few minutes' wait, so we were in the car and on the road just after 7:00.

Traffic after the usual I-678 mess was better than average, and I drove nonstop. We were home at 9:42, which was much earlier than we'd expected. That gave us time for fixing a few impending disasters at home (the fish tank was low on water, and a breaker had tripped in the sunroom, shutting off the accessory refrigerators).

We verified that all of the wine had arrived safely, had a glass of wine ourselves, and went to bed. What a whirlwind! I think I need a vacation just to recover.

Day 8 - Madrid in a Day

Saturday, November 16th

Madrid in a Day

We took a relaxed approach this morning, slept in, and had breakfast at the hotel. It looked like gorgeous weather, though our phones said that it was in the low 30s this morning. Time to bundle up, I guess. We wore sweaters under the parkas.





We left the hotel just before 10:00 and wandered through the Plaza de Oriente for more pictures. Felipe IV looked regal in the sunshine.

Then we got to the Royal Palace about 10:10. It was (as I should have predicted) mobbed! The lines were streaming way out the entry door, and I wondered if we’d ever get tickets for a reasonable time.

Even the line for people who already had tickets was stretching out the door, but at least that line was moving. After waiting about 5 minutes in the ticket line without moving much more than a few feet, I got an idea...

Smartphone with international data plan to the rescue! I went to their website to look at tickets, and there were only 4 slots left for the 10:30 entry. Yikes!






I snagged two of the tickets posthaste, paid by credit card, and downloaded the mobile tickets to my phone. Then we quickly jumped into the prepaid ticket line, and were in and touring the palace right at 10:30. The mobile tickets worked perfectly. So glad I thought of that!













Fun tour, nice rooms with ornate decoration, like many other similar European palaces we’ve seen. No pictures after the first few rooms, though. Still worth the visit.














The Grand Staircase has a nicely frescoed ceiling. Plenty of tapestries and beautiful chandeliers to go around. The central courtyard looked like a nice quiet place to escape the crowds.
















There is another viewpoint on the terrace, at one edge of the front courtyard, but despite the beautiful viewing conditions there isn't a ton of cityscape to see.






After the palace, you can tour the armory, which was worth a quick stop. They have some neat historical stuff including a few possessions from the last Moorish Sultan of Granada, Boabil, who was defeated by the forces of Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492.


The guards had just changed over as we passed the front of the palace. But they put the horses through their paces for our viewing pleasure.

We took a detour around the torn-up Plaza d’Espana, through the Jardines de Sabatini,









and headed to the Temple of Debod, in a nearby park.





Lots of climbing, but the lines to
get in were huge, and we figured we’d seen plenty of Egyptian temples already. They only let 30 people in every half-hour, and there were over 100 people in line. Who has time for that?




There was a nice mirador in the park as well, but again, not much cityscape to see. So back down the hill to a nearby Metro where we popped into the hotel for a few to recharge for the afternoon.

Of course, as luck would have it, they were busy servicing the suite. We waited a while, but they had no intention of finishing, so we dropped off our sweaters and then asked our hotel staff for dinner reservations.

The lady at the front desk suggested a nearby restaurant; we asked for an 8:30 table, and she said she’d take care of it and send a confirmation to the room. Then we headed back out. Today was the nicest sunny day we’ve seen all trip, so we wanted to take full advantage! The high was predicted to be 50F, but it wasn't quite there yet.

Back down to Puerto del Sol to find lunch, but it was insanely crowded. We decided to head over towards Retiro Park instead, since the afternoon and early evening’s activities would be centered in that part of town. So, a quick jump into the Metro then we were there.

We wandered the park a little and then looked for nearby restaurants. It took a while; everything here was quite crowded as well. Finally we found an outdoor table at a café and had some drinks and sandwiches to tide us over until dinner.

It was relaxing, once we finally found a seat, and a good way to pass the time. Our feet really needed the break after this insane week!






But we eventually pried ourselves loose from our table, and walked over to the Archaeology museum – which was free entry after 2PM on Saturdays. Score! Nice museum, and worth visiting even if you have to pay, in my opinion.




While wandering through the museum, I got the dreaded message from Delta that it was time to check in. I always hate that reminder; it means that vacation is almost over!

So I negotiated that process for a few minutes – since we were on a DL codeshare, on an Air Europa plane, it took a little while. But I wanted to make sure that our seat assignments, which couldn't be assigned until check-in, were good. No choice but to do it ASAP. We got the last pair of outside seats in a 2-2-2 configuration.


We finished up at the Archaeological Museum after 5PM, having spent two full hours there. We grabbed a coffee for me, as museums always make me tired, and walked towards Retiro Park. The Puerta de Alalá was on the northern edge.

We wandered aimlessly through the park some more. This time, we took a few pictures. Here, the Monumento a Alfonso XII glows with the rays of the setting sun, on the edge of a beautiful lake.







The Jardin del Parterre was another nice photo stop.

Time to move along to the Prado.






El Casón del Buen Retiro, and a statue of Maria Cristina de Borbón.

Eventually we got to the Prado, right on time, a few minutes before 6:00. We thought we’d timed that one perfectly, since admission is free after 6:00. But we hadn’t anticipated…


That this is the world's worst-kept secret! The line for free entry looked long, so we started walking to the end. And we walked. And we walked some more. The line stretched along the entire front façade of the building! It was insane, and we seriously thought of not bothering with it. But, we were here, and we figured it was our only shot so we better at least try.

It took almost 40 minutes to get into the museum, and we almost froze to death waiting. As soon as the sun went down, the chill was back in the air. I missed my sweater!

But we did get in and it was indeed totally free, so that in itself was pretty amazing. And, we had a plan for a speed visit – again, thanks to Rick Steves. We don’t use his books very much, not for any good reason other than it seems a bit cliché, but in reality his Madrid guide was pretty helpful.

So we zipped from room to room, following his tour, saw a ton of great art, and learned a little more history, in about 75 minutes. It was a perfect amount of time to spend there. The museum was truly amazing and perhaps some day we might revisit in a more relaxed manner. Perhaps, but not likely – that’s just how we vacation!

They started ushering us out around 7:50, so it was time to face the long-ish uphill slog back to the hotel to get ready for (hopefully) our dinner reservation. There were a few photo stops along the way, including the Fuente de Neptuno.






It took over 20 minutes to walk back, because of the photo stops. Also, the crowds slowed us down somewhat. This impressive building is called the Congreso de los Diputados.





When we got to the room around 8:15, we were actually relieved to find that the restaurant we’d wanted had no availability and she’d substituted another nearby place for 9:00. That is more relaxing. We sat, rested our feet, and drank a bunch of water.

Once more, we stepped out into the throngs on Gran Via, until we got to some slightly less-crowded side streets, and ended up at Taberna La Carmencita for our 9:00 table. A nice rustic place, seemingly full of locals, with nice substantial dishes on the menu. We grabbed more water, and of course some wine, and ordered.

A local wine, mostly Garnacha, fit the bill nicely. We started with an appetizer sampler of ham croquettes, fried calamari, and fried cheese. Delicious.











Chris then had pimientos rellenos. Her serving was a reasonable size.

I had bistec, a thin simply-prepared veal steak served with lots of garlic, fried potatoes, and a fried egg. That was great, and I soaked up the egg yolk with the fries. So tasty! But a big portion.




We lived large and had dessert too: French toast (which they called Torrija Quijotesca), and a limon sorbet served in a wine glass with rum and vodka. Now we were stuffed.















One last short walk to the hotel and it was time for bed. Tomorrow, we come home, but what an amazing trip. I can't believe that we've managed to stick to this crazy itinerary, and to see all that we've seen without much of a problem.

Another check on the Portuguese tolls was in order before bed time. All looked well - the last set of tolls from Thursday have registered, and they’ve processed and paid all of the earlier tolls except those last few. It looks like I'll have €2 or so left over once everything is paid. Cool!

Day 7 - Salamanca to Madrid

Friday, November 15th

Salamanca to Madrid

Today was a fairly unplanned day. We slept late due to the time change, and headed to breakfast at the hotel around 9:00. That’s OK, because the sites we wanted didn’t open until 10:00, and we didn’t need to check out before noon. Breakfast was nice and they cooked eggs to order, so I had a yummy chorizo omelet.

We bundled up against the chill (it was about 30 degrees out), mostly sunny, but definitely cold. We wore our full parkas and slipped on our gloves as well. What’s this all about? We started off at the University and wandered through one of the buildings, Anaya Palace, for a look.





Then we decided to visit the cathedrals. There are both an old and a new cathedral in Salamanca, but they are both in the same spot. How is that? The new cathedral was built right next to the old one, pretty much sharing a common wall. This is the new cathedral, and the smaller old cathedral is hidden behind it.



So, you can visit the cathedrals for a fee, or TripAdvisor says you can visit the tower of the old cathedral for about half the price, and as you climb, you get views of the cathedral interiors. That sounds better to us, of course, so we skipped the crowd at the cathedral entrance and went around to the back, where the tower climb had just opened up. We were the first ones in, and off we went.

Here we got a peek inside the old cathedral.  This was a great tower climb! You got lots of information about the history of the buildings as you went, lots of side trips along the way to rest up, and indeed we had views of both interiors along the way.














In addition, you could walk around on the roofs of both cathedrals and get views of the city.






The interior of the new cathedral. And a remnant from an earthquake! Not one from here, though.







This crack was caused by the Lisbon earthquake of 1755! Are you kidding me? That was a powerful quake. Lisbon is far from here - we know, because we've actually driven the whole way!













The building just to the right of the tower is Anaya Palace, the University building we were in first thing this morning.

More city views. Despite the cold, we were relatively warm in the bright sunshine, as long as it didn't get too windy.



Finally we went as high up as we could go, into the bell tower. Nice views, and gorgeous sunshine for photo taking. And total solitude; we were the only ones here!





But watch it; as we were standing at one of the windows, the bell right over our heads decided to chime the 10:45 hour. It scared the pants off of us! We both jumped like crazy.

In this direction, there is a Roman bridge. We wouldn't have time to go there today.




The roof of the new cathedral in the right-hand foreground of this picture. The Iglesia de la Clerecía, just left of center.

There is a red light - green light to ascend and descend from the bell tower, because it is a very narrow spiral staircase. Chris is urging me to stop playing around taking pictures, because the light is green. There's more to see here, and not much time!

Back down and now it was time to visit a few more buildings in the University. It is a neat old place, with plenty of courtyards and facades to see. We peeked into the courtyard where he famous zodiac ceiling was, and managed to even find the right room. No pictures here, though.





We saw the famous door façade where you are supposed to find the frog, but couldn’t find it. And we didn't want to stay there too long looking.





The University recently celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2018. Amazing to think of how much has changed since 1218!







That concluded our brief stop in Salamanca, but we’d enjoyed it very much.

One last shot of a church tower, and that amazing blue sky, before we headed back to the hotel and finished packing.









We checked out and were on the road around 11:40. Love the bulls along the highways in Spain! It was a fairly straightforward drive to Madrid.



You do have to go over some mountains along the way. It was wild to see snow on the ground right next to the highway. The temp again got as low as 3C and I was really glad that we had stopped in Salamanca. I bet it would have been really ugly driving through here last night.



I had no trouble finding a gas station about 15k out of town. We entered the city and it got a little interesting, when we got into a very long underground tunnel, and the phone lost the GPS signal. When it stopped tracking my position, my exit disappeared. Luckily I knew that I wanted a certain train station, and I was able to find the correct exit which was labeled with that train station.

We found the entrance to the parking lot where the rental car returns were, but ended up in the wrong section. We pulled up just next to Hertz but they said to come back out and go around to anther gate. Just made it!

Now a moment of worry, when the agent asked about the scratches on both sides of the car, compared to the report which only showed one side. Thankfully, Chris had taken those pictures! So all was well there, and they brought us to the train station with their shuttle bus.

It took a few minutes to find the stop for the Cercanias, and then a real cluster to get the transport ticket we wanted. I was looking for a tourist ticket which worked on both the trains and the metro, and would also work for the airport. Turned out that the Cercania station machines wouldn’t sell that ticket, so I had to leave Chris with the bags, run next door to the Metro station, and use their machines. Easy enough but a pain to figure out.

One stop on the train, then a brief slog (uphill) to our hotel, and we were checked in quickly; Chris had already done most of the check-in using the app while we were driving in. They told us several times that breakfast was included with our stay, which seemed different from what I remembered, but they seemed quite definite so we believed them.


Soon we were in the room, and it was really nice! But our time here was pretty limited, so it was time to start exploring.

Just down from our hotel, a large department store had a cute Christmas display.




But the first order of business was lunch – it was after 3:00, and we were hungry! We went to a deli-type shop and looked at all of the meat and cheese.

That did it! We grabbed seats at their counter. First we had a plate of ham, then some cheese and sausage, along with wine, for about €15. It was plenty for what we needed.





Now in the afternoon light, we went back to Puerta del Sol and spent an hour or so doing a Rick Steves walk through part of the city.





Carlos III, here on horseback, in Puerta del Sol. The bear scratching the tree is an emblem of the city.







The former main post office of Madrid, below.

Tio Pepe, of course.

The spot from which all distances in Spain are measured. Km 0.







Side street (Calle de Postas) with beautiful architecture, and outdoor dining.








Plaza Mayor.

San Miguel Mercado. This looks like a fun place!

So much jamon!

And a wine bar. Hm. Should we stay put?

We kept going, and stopped at City Hall.








Nearby was the oldest door in Madrid - a wooden door in a Moorish archway, dating back to the 1400s.










The Church of the Armed Forces



As the last rays of the sun slipped below the horizon, we arrived at the Catedral de la Almudena.







And the Palacio Royal.









This looks nice; we should visit tomorrow!
















We got lucky, and ended up catching the last rays of sunlight on the Royal Palace.








Back through Plaza de Oriente, to see the statue of Felipe IV.

Then a slow wander through the pedestrian-only Calle del Arenal, back to the hotel for a recharge.

We lounged about, rested our feet and thought about some dinner plans but decided we'd play it by ear, and grab some tapas along the way.

We finished the cheap white wine from Portugal that we’d started last night and got ready to crawl.




We took the Metro to La Latina and wandered Calle de la Cava Baja, stopping in at two tapas bars for a nibble here and there. It was OK but maybe we were still full from lunch, as we didn’t eat a lot.




After a bit we decided to retreat back to the San Miguel Mercado, where it was really crowded, but that was a good thing. It means that the food was good too! We enjoyed some more wine and a few skewers which hit the spot, and finally some desserts. And more wine.

We headed back to the hotel about 10:00, when everyone else was just getting warmed up. That's OK, we still slept well. Tomorrow, we have to tour Madrid in a day, but the good news is, I’m not driving!

And, the Portuguese system is slowly but surely processing the electronic tolls as expected. If things keep up, the last €10 which I bought should cover the rest. Let’s hope!