Back on Board

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Unfortunately, it was another 7 hour day on the bus to sunny Madrid. Thank god for Harry Potter, or I would be going nuts. I finally finished the last 6 chapters, and boy, what a book! J. K really ties everything together and I really enjoyed the storyline.

With two stops at more motorway eateries, we arrived in Madrid at 4:30pm, and had to back on the bus for a 6:00pm City Lights tour. Madrid is a little different to Barcelona, and is definitely the city of fountains - they are everywhere. Our guide showed us an Egyptian temple to start with - that was moved here by Spanish archaeologists (this was because the Egyptians were creating a new dam, and the temple would have been submerged).

From this parkland, you can look out on to a huge green area, known as the Madrid Forrest. The mountains where the Spanish go skiing are in the background, and only 20 minutes drive away, so they really have the best of both worlds - though it is super hot here in summer (around the 40’s) and very cold in winter (down to -12). I don’t think I could hack that.

We also made a stop at the Royal Palace, and walked through the old area of Madrid. The city is very similar in looks to Vienna, because one of the Hapsburg’s sons married Princess Isabella, and they ruled here for many years. The families employed the same architects to create sections of the city.

We stopped in the main square, Plaza Mayor, and had some more Tapas, which was very disappointing when compared to the delicious selection we had eaten in Barcelona. After some deep fried seafood, and a quick walk around the Plaza, we consoled ourselves with a yummy banana split from Ben and Jerry’s.

On the way home, our guide took us past some more of the many fountains here, and then it was time to head to our lovely hotel room for bed. Finally, a HUGE Queen size bed - let’s sleep!

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Photos

Black Bulls
These appear everywhere on the roadside coming into Spain.

Madrid Forests
Check out the background.