Saturday 21 September

Our last morning call to have the suitcases out and down for breakfast. Thank goodness the coffee is better than the last place. At about the half way point of the 215km to Madrid, is the town of Avila. A Roman Fort and a town were established here, and the defensive walls have been added to (mostly 11th to 14th Century) and maintained in near perfect condition since that time. We take the usual escalators up into the Old Town but stop in at Restaurante Las Murallas for a surprise treat of a traditional hot chocolate with Churros (fried pastry in a long curved shape, dominantly choux). Then we take a quick walk around the town and capture numerous shots of the walls, which have featured in many films and are said to be the best in Europe. We agree, they are spectacular.

On to Madrid where the coach parks outside the Royal Palace and some of the group walk up to the Playa Mayor with Emma. However we peel off at the Mercado de San Miguel which is a combination of food and wine retail market together with tapas bars. Always very busy we manage to find a spot to sit and eat our pinchos and glass of wine for lunch. Insight then includes a city tour on the coach with a local guide, before dropping some of us at the Hesperia Hyatt hotel in mid afternoon. Others on the tour have opted for a visit to the Royal Palace with the Guide, but we will do this another day by ourselves as the period from 6.00 to 8.00pm is free for EU citizens.

The final event on the Insight tour is a meal at a restaurant on Paseo de Recoletos called El Pabellon del Espejo. The wide boulevard has side roads either side that run parallel but are separated by pedestrian zones with gardens and trees. The restaurant sits in one of these park areas with a long thin glass pavilion and al fresco area under large umbrellas. There are 2 large groups in the restaurant tonight and it would seem that it is popular with tour operators. The food and service are good considering the number of patrons, although we thought the white wine was far preferable to the red. On the walk back to the coach one of the group reported a pickpocket attempt which he managed to foil.

Sunday 22 September

Free of the itinerary imposed by a coach tour we don't have breakfast until after 9.00am. Today is a domestic duties day so we spend some quality reading time while the laundry is done at a local laundromat. After a late lunch in a small local bar we catch up with blogs and chill out. A bar snack in the Hyatt completed the day.

Monday 23 September

Today we have prepurchased tickets for the Prado Museum, which is Madrid's answer to the National Gallery, and contains an extensive collection of Spanish classical art, focussing on certain artists such as Goya, Velazquez and El Greco. After a 3km walk we bypass most of the queue and make a start walking through the gallery rooms. It soon becomes apparent that we cannot see everything and listen to the audio guides in any reasonable time. The Prado guide lists some 54 "Masterpieces" so we focus on these and manage to tick off 30. We also visit a temporary exhibition comparing Spanish and Dutch painting through the works of Velazquez, Rembrandt, Vermeer and others. After lunch at the Prado Tony walked through the sculpture galleries before we called it a day and walk back along Paseo de Recoletos to the Hyatt. Dinner was at a popular local bar with Kathy opting for a salad and Tony "Popcorn Chicken."

Tuesday 24 September

This morning breakfast is Spanish style in a Cafe across from the Hyatt. With the locals eating so late in the evening it makes a long day, so we only head out on the Metro around 1.00pm for a walk around Parque de El Retiro, which is a great resource for the city with restaurants, cafes and a lake for boating. We eat al fresco at Las Eststatues and then walk a few hundred metres to the Museo Naval. The museum has just reopened but the only exhibition on show is of Magellan and his round the world voyage. The exhibit opened on 20 September, which is not by chance as Magellan left Spain in 1519 on this date, i.e. 400 years ago exactly. Some 80% of the cost of the expedition of 5 ships and 270 men was provided by the Spanish Crown. Although one ship under the command of Juan Sebastian Elcano, together with 18 men, did return to Spain on 6th September, 1522, Magellan did not, having been killed in the Philippines. An English explanation was available on WiFi and the genuine logs, reports, maps and documents from the voyage made the exhibition instructive and enjoyable.

We walk from Fuente de Cibeles up to Puerta del Sol for a coffee, and then along Calle Mayor to the Palacio Real de Madrid where we join the queue for a 20 minute wait until the free entry period starts at 6.00pm. We spend over an hour with our €3 audio guides wandering through the Royal chambers of the largest Palace in Western Europe with nearly 3,000 rooms. We only see around 30 rooms, including the throne room, dining room and other large salons that are still used for official occasions such as receiving new Ambassadors and visiting Heads of State. Well worth the entry fee!

With two museums in a day, we have had enough. So back to the hotel for a meal and then bed.

Wednesday 25 September

Our last full day in Madrid. Breakfast is again in a local cafe. Then research for today's activities and checking of our flights over the next 2 days. We take a long walk of 4km from the hotel and on the way, stop for lunch at El Pabellon del Espejo so we can take some photos in the daylight. We finish our walk at the Madrid Atocha Railway Station. A railway terminus was first built here in 1851, but was largely destroyed by fire, and reopened in 1892. The new building was constructed in the "renewal style" being wrought iron and glass with a curved roof. It was designed by Alberto de Placio Elissagne who collaborated with Gustav Eiffel. The old station has been retained as a waiting and eating area and looks a bit like the inside of a Kew Gardens glasshouse with mature palm trees and other tropical plants. We take the Metro back to the hotel.

For our final evening in Madrid we plan to do as most tourists do, and have a drink and some food at one of the restaurants in Plaza Mayor. We expect average service and overpriced food, but the view of the buildings, lights and people that make up the atmosphere will make up for it, hopefully.

Big surprise. We find a nice restaurant with a good view of everything, and settle down with a glass of wine to do some serious people-watching. It's all here, school or other groups of youngsters some of whom break into song, tourists scanning menus and looking very unsure, the restaurant boss pacing out front because not all the tables are taken, the sunlight disappearing and the lights coming on along the colonnades, funny police motorcycles with 4 wheels and the street sellers with their aerial toys with coloured lights that shoot high up into the air. Just a simple salad for us, and a bill that included €2 each for bread & olives that we didn't order, or eat, but a small price to pay for the view.