Departing our apartment in Centro Madrid, we had a leisurely exit and caught the metro to Legazi where our next hotel is and where we met the people on our tour.
We dropped our luggage at the hotel which was ready and waiting for us, and we caught the metro back into the city to visit the Almudena Cathedral - which is right next to the Royal Palace. It took 100 years to build and was only completed in 1993, so a baby in terms of European cathedrals! The first plans date back to 1789, the first stone turned in 1883 with work stalling for various reasons. The original plans were altered in the 1950s and it was finally blessed by the Pope in 1993.
There was a Mass going on when we entered so we sat quietly taking in our surroundings until it finished. It had a modern twist to its interior decoration but still had the traditional layout, and antique furniture and alter decorations. It was a serene and peaceful place in the midst of the heat and crowds.
We decided to go to Mercada San Miguel on our way back to our lodgings. It offered a vast array of Spanish and Mediterranean food…fritto misty; chorizo; fresh seafood and many drinks but was extremely crowded and hot, so we ate our very expensive cone of Fritto Misto and left - preferring to find somewhere closer to our lodgings, that was cooler and more realistically priced.
Fi chanced upon Hygge restaurant around the corner from our hotel. We enjoyed two typical Spanish dishes - Tiger Mussells and Stuffed Eggplant. Both were delicious and washed down well with a local beer.
The end of the day we connected with our group for the next two weeks. There are 12 of us to be expertly guided by Juan a native Argentinian who now lives in Barcelona. We had a lovely dinner in a local restaurant to get to meet everyone.
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