| Trip to Spain We traveled to Spain in April 2004 Home > Spain |
 Madrid (27 Pictures)  Toledo (19 Pictures)  Cordoba (12 Pictures)  Sevilla (37 Pictures)  Granada (28 Pictures)  Barcelona (44 Pictures)  Semana Santa Processions (30 Pictures) |
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This year we are trying something a little different with our trip pictures. If you just want to see all the pictures, just click over to the right and see our photo albums for each city. But, we also wanted to write a mini-travelogue for our trip--mainly to help us remember this terrific trip, but also to share it with you. Wednesday, March 31, 2004We left on a 6:00pm flight to London...Thursday, April 1, 2004 - Getting to MadridConnected through London to Barcelona. While planning our trip we had a booking mishap (we meant to fly into Barcelona), so from Barcelona we caught this local plane to Madrid.We checked into our hotel (HH Campomanes) around midnight and had late night Tapas at Taberna Real right around the corner. Very tired, we went to sleep for the night. Friday, April 2, 2004 - MadridStarted our day with an OK breakfast in our hotel and started out walking to the Prado museum (on the other side of town). On our way we got lost and got more confused when we passed an area of the city that the police had blocked off (never found out why).We finally made it to the Prado. We saw lots of paintings but jet lag was kicking in and we weren't really into it. We walked over the the Reina Sofia which has lots of modern art from Miro, Picasso and others. We enjoyed this museum much more. Since we were right next to the Atocha train station, we stopped in to buy tickets for our trip to Sevilla. The train station was a madhouse, the AVE trains had been stopped and there were lines of angry people trying to get information, a refund or to reschedule. We didn't know what was going on but we got a train schedule and got out of there. We later learned that they found a bomb under the train tracks on that day. (later in the weekend the terrorists suspected of the 3/11 bombings blew themselves up in an apartment complex outside of Madrid). This made the idea of a train trip a little scarier, but still not as scary as the alternative: driving stick. We sat at the counter for lunch at La Plateria Bar Museo near the Prado and had one of most enjoyable tapas experiences. The woman behind the counter helped us learn a little more Spanish and was just a delight. We headed accross the street to the Royal Botanical Gardens, but it was too early in the year, no flowers were blooming. The best flowers--the tulips--were outside the gardens near the Prado. We started to head back towards the hotel and exploring Madrid. See the picture of Scott at Kilometer 0, the official centerpoint of Spain (see the little plaque).  Then,
we went to one of the highlights of our trip. Following advice from a guide
book, we made our way to a convent where nuns sell the candies and pastries
they make. To enter, you ring the doorbell for the nuns and say "dulces (sweets)".
The nun buzzed us in and we made our way down a few hallways to a little
doorway with a turntable contraption. Its all set up so you can't see the
nuns. You say what types of pastries you want, put your money on the turntable
and she spins it from behind to take your money and return a box of goodies.
The kind we got were sort of like macaroons. After more walking we were
ready for a nap...That night, we bought our tickets for the train at El Corte Ingles department store (they sell everything there) and again, our Spanish came in handy since no one spoke English. In typical spanish style we ate a late dinner at Carmencita in the Chueca neighborhood (fish soup, meatballs "Casita" and monkfish - a great meal). We visited a few bars and then finally headed towards home. Finishing off our incredibly full day we stopped at Chocolateria San Gines for Churros & Chocolate a great late night treat. Churros are a pastry like thing and you dip them into this think pudding-like chocolate (very good). Saturday, April 3, 2004 - Madrid
Outside we bought a chocolate waffle from a street vendor and set off for lunch. We took a suggestion from Rick Steves and ate at Casa Ciriaco. He seems to love this kind of place - a place where waiters still wear black slacks, white shirts and ties and where older locals go to eat and kibbitz. At the table next to us a couple was showing off their family pictures to their waiter (obviously a friend). But we don't think the waiter liked us very much since we only ordered one dish Shrimp in Garlic (which was great).
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