I'm not feeling quite so brave or confident ths morning after my somewhat 'anxious arrival' last night I asked at the hotel reception if they could arrange for me to be picked up here in the morning for my Toledo day trip, but no I have to catch the metro. Oh darn. Will have to find my way today.

And then I went downstairs to the restaurant to have breakfast, but my name was not on the list as I had booked room only, and I was told I could not have breakfast. What?? I will pay for it, put it on my bill!! But no I was ushered away. So, I walked 5 blocks to find somewhere nice and inviting to eat. I walked in thinking I would just buy some juice and a snack, but it is a strange wee place - a dairy sort of thing in the front part selling take-away foods and drinks, then a section selling books, phone accessories, christmas gifts and decorations, a small amount of groceries (biscuits and spreads and other tins of stuff but no coffee or tea) and then a cafe at the back. I managed to order a toasted cheese, ham and egg sandwich and a cappacino and got a big glass of fresh orange juice free. That cost me E5.25 and I left a 55c tip and then bought a packet of bikkies and juice for E4.80 which will keep me going for a while. So all in all a cheap breakfast (and I think the hotel were charging E8 when I booked )

Now that I had had some food I went back to the hotel to take some Naprosyn before venturing back out. I decided on a taxi - a more expensive option but safter than trying the metro and I went to Isabella II Plaza. I wandered around, bought some souvenirs, had a Starbucks coffee and then spent 2 hours on the Hop On Hop Off bus. I managed to buy a ticket from a non-English speaking stallholder in the square. I didn't get off the bus, just listened to the presentation and tried to get my bearings in this city that seems to go round and round in circles. The traffic is crazy - three or four lanes of traffic each way, and going round these huge roundabouts to alter direction. And then all of a sudden you head down a little lane to join another main road.

I made it back to where I got on the bus, and had followed the route on the map, but not very helpful in terms of putting things into perspective with where I am staying as that place is somewhere off the map. Back at Isabella II Plaza I had a couple of hours to waste before I meet the tour guide for the Tapas, Taverns and History tour at 7.30pm tonight.

So some more wandering around, a few more trinkets purchased and a another coffee, this time at Cafe and Te. Not a lot of Inglis around here and the locals talk so fast, and the pronunciation is nothing like it is spelt.

The plaza is a bustling place, people everywhere, not a lot of places to sit if you are not at a bar, so people just standing around. There are accordian players busking around the bars, and now its getting darker there are more and more people arriving. Very well dressed women, men - a mixture, some very casual, some very dressy. Lots in a big hurry, others just meandering. Apart from the phone call this mornng to Rowan, I haven't spoken more than a brief sentence to anyone. My iphone is going flat fast, so not a lot of photos of the bus trip or here in the plaza - Dam. Technology still a pain - I am on Global Roaming from Vodafone for just $5 a day but even though I turn it off when I am not using it, it seems to be using a lot of battery, and I did try to follow the taxi on the google map which was a very silly idea. I won't do that again.

After all the wandering around I have a pretty sore foot, and the Naprosyn doesn't seem to be helping, although the knee is holding up well.

I meet up with the Tour guide from Devour Madrid at just before 7.30pm. Altogether 8 of us - a couple from Texas, a Taiwanese couple from Califronia, two lads from Israel and another guide learning to do this tour.

The first bar was right in the plaza and here we were given Vermouth to drink, and had ham, olives and tomato on bread to eat. All very delicious and apparently this place has the best ham in Madrid. It certainly was very different to the ham we get at home, and my word it was good. We stood at the bar beside the locals, and were told to drop our olive pips, tooth picks and serviettes on the floor. The messier the floor, the more popular the bar.

A 20 minute walk with a lot of history thrown in about this part of the city before reaching our second bar where we had anchovies (fresh, in vinegar and olive oil - an acquired taste but I quite liked them) bread with blue cheese (a very special cheese matured in caves and a grey color rather than streaked with blue like we are used to - very yum) and meatballs in gravy with bread, and a white wine.

Next stop was famous for its mushrooms, We got to sit down here, and there was a guy playing the keyboard, and this is obviously a very popular bar as it was very crowded and very noisy. Red wine and soda water accompanied the absolutely delicious mushrooms - fried whole with a bit of chorizo and garlic and oil and a dash of lemon juice.

Stop number 4 - Shrimps in oil with garlic. They were sizzling hot and smelt delicious, and everyone enjoyed them. I was given a plate of grilled asparagus with olive oil and garlic. Again, delicious. I will certainly try to copy this one when I get home. This was washed down with a glass of really sweet red wine.

Last stop, up some very narrow stairs to sit at low tables for a selection of raciones. Grilled green peppers, cuttle fish, ham which has been boiled then fried with paprika, and aubergine lightly crumbed and fried and drizzled with honey.

Dessert were Nun's cookies dipped in a very sweet dessert wine.

This was a really fun night, everyone in the group joining in and having lots of laughs and sharing stories of their travels and of home and we left to go our seperate ways at midnight. Gosh the time went so fast, but what a great night. So worth the E95. We walked a long way, tasted some amazing foods and heard some great stories - too many to relate here now, but hopefully I will remember some of them and be able to add them when I get home. eg. the ugly family, the lisp and the nuns.

Aha - so now that I am editing this at home I will add the stories - the ugly family- apparently, as the story was told to us by the tour guide, many hundreds of years ago the king came from a very ugly family. He also had a terrible speech impediment, and it is believed that the common people developed the lisp so as not to speak the language better than the king. Hence Barcelona is Bathlona and gracias is pronounced grathyus.

We walked past a cloistered convent where the nuns live, and make and sell cookies. Of course it was closed at this time of night - and only open a few hours a day. You have to ring the bell, and wait to be let in. You don't get to see the nuns, the transaction takes place through a windo with a revolving lazy susan. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get back to the monastry to buy any cookies as I was off to Toledo the next day, and then heading to VaughanTown, but this will be on my list of things to do when I return to Madrid.