The Journey and Madrid

 We partied a little too hard on our last night onboard Explora I….one too many espresso martini’s while we were dancing away which then made the next day a little hard!   We disembarked in the port of Piraeus - Athens leaving the ship around 9.30 am.   Our plane was not until 2 pm, so we had plenty of time!   Little did we know that the efficiency of Iberian Air and Athens Airport would make our smugness disappear.  We caught the train to the airport which took about 90 minutes - after a 30 minute walk from the ship.  Still…plenty of time!  At the airport we found the check in counter without any fuss…there was a rather large que so we joined the end and others joined after us.   We stood, and we stood.  We sent messages on our phones and caught up with all our emails and we stood some more.  

Around 1 pm, after check in staff had come and gone….with only one working at any one time for most of our 1.5 hours, we got to the head of the queue…we had 30 minutes until boarding, and still no guarantee of a seat - they told us we would have a seat allocation at the boarding gate but refused to tell us whether there was a reserved seat.  When we looked at flights we knew there were a number that afternoon however we were unsure whether we would need to exit security and queue again.   We had not eaten and had run out of water but thought we might have 10 minutes air side to fix this situation.  That was, until we saw the line through security!  It was mammoth in proportions - the longest I have ever seen…the barriers had the line snaking back and forth and back and forth in multiple layers to get to two screening stations (8 remained empty).  We were still there 5 minutes before boarding time and were about to ask for mercy to go the head of the line, when suddenly our line moved a little faster and we managed to get through - we did everything to ensure we were not pulled up and inspected!  Once through, we ran to our gate - they were loading the plan by bussing passengers out and there one a handful left - and luckily they allocated us seats.  We were the last to board!  

We didn’t factor that…there is limited food service - no water, tea or coffee.  You have to pay for any drink/food!  Our heads were pounding to the point of making a commitment to not drink alcohol for a week while until we recovered!  

The flight itself was relatively okay….we were however astounded at the amounts of luggage people had - huge - I mean really huge - suitcases and then two large bags for carry on - and here we were with our carry on bags only - that said, we were over the carry on limit (hard to see when you compared to others) so we voluntarily check our bags.  

we caught a tax to the building where we were staying…Mola Suites (AND HOSTEL).  We have a one bedroom apartment - with everything we need - it is roomy compared to others we have had.  It is right smack bank in the middle of Centro….with a lot of the major attractions only minutes away.  Very touristy, but we don’t need to catch transport.    

View from our lounge window balconette

We found a Lidl supermarket, bought a few basics and opted for cheese on toast and a cup of tea before hitting the hay for a decent night (non-alcoholic) sleep.  Call me a little strange, but I love exploring a local supermarket and looking the the foods on offer.  One of the things (amongst many) that caught my eye was the availability of Octopus in the meat section, the number of salami style meats and cheese types ——very exciting!  

Waking refreshed the next morning, we went to the -2 floor (minus two) to enjoy an 8Eu breakfast of very nice croissants before meeting our guide for the ‘free’ Madrid walking tour.  

Sofia is half English half American, so she spoke excellent English.  I heard her speak Spanish and to my naive ear, she sounded extremely fluent in that too!  She is an ex elementary school teacher - who burnt out after COVID times, so now teaches creative writing and leads walking tours - and loves life!  

Sofia gave us a wonderful recount of Madrid history, starting from its Arab founding and naming as Mayrit (place of lots of water) to contemporary times.  We visited Plaza Mayor - its dimensions both 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional are worthy.  Created as a market place, one case see how it must have worked, however today it is sweeping cobble stones playing homage to King Fillippe III of Spain - on his three grounded foot horse.  

The tour group at Plaza de la Villa - Admiral Alvaro de Bazan  

The Plaza Mayor with King Fillippe III in the background

we walked down hill through Puerta Cerrada Square and then up  Calle de La Cava de San Miguel - looking at the architecture and passing the Mercado de San Miguel - a market built on the site of an old Church named after San Miguel, hence the market name.  The use of iron was interesting, as was the smell of delicious food coming from inside.  It might be a visit in future, as we didnt have time to do so - just walking around the outside.  

I loved the architecture - three, four and five story buidings, straight street fronted.  Many with little balcony totes so there a full windows for air flow.  Sofia explained that when King Fillippe decided to make Madrid the capital - he moved his court, and many of his friends, their servants to the town - which was small and did not have the means to house everyone - so he compulsorily acquired the first floor up of every building - the owners were only allowed the ground floor.   Apparently many found loop holes…a gradual reduction in floor size, so they weren’t considered full floors; moving windows, creating basements; adding odd little attics..all designed to get around some of the laws that made Fillippe not very popular.  You can still see these today…no angled roofing with terracotta tiles and odd little attic additions - but flat fronted to the street! 

Lots of the city has been built ontop of the old city - wooden buidings catching fire etc.  In the ‘90s they were redoing a street way and found remains of the old church which you can now see under glass.  There is public art…a many watching the building (as Sofia said many men do).  

It is said if you squeeze one of his cheeks you get good luck, if you squeeze 2 you get 7 years of good luck.  I wanted to know if that theory worked, if I squeezed hard, would I get 14???? It was worth a shot as 14 years of good luck would really be appreciated!

14 years of good luck???

The rear of Almudena Cathedral…
the dome is on the other side.

The ironwork of Mercada de SAN Miguel

Almudena Cathedral

We walked and found the Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena which looks interesting - a mix of different architectures and apparently what a recently completed Cathedral looks like - making it unique as most are centuries old.  

The Royal Palace

We ended our tour at the Royal Palace - which has 3418 rooms - and looks very Versace like, indeed having and is considered the largest royal palace in Europe.  Although the official home of the Spanish royal family, it is not where they ‘live’.  

A cold one on the Plaza Mayor, while the temp climbed post midday!

Around midday we finished and decided to find a sidewalk cafe/restaurant for some lunch…unfortunately it was Sunday and so did everyone else in town.  We ended up back at Plaza Mayor and paid for the seat at a very average restaurant in order to watch the people with a cool beer, some Calamares and mixed Paella for lunch.   We decided that the Spanish tradition of siesta !

For dinner we went to a Tapas Bar near by - called Matador.  It was decorated with Matador memorabilia - including a mannequin dressed in the appropriate garb…resplendent with a stuffed crotch that was quite noticeable…I couldn’t get a photo as I thought that might be seen as a little creepy for a middle aged woman!  

Our apartment building - Mola Suites

Rose at the Matador Tapas Bar

After Tapas and a glass of rose, we wandered the streets down to Plaza del Sol watching the crowds and eating gelato!   Not a bad end to the day at all.