5C's Que Pasa

There was so much that we could do on our last day here in Madrid but mostly we wanted to simply walk the streets and get a feel for the place.  The city has almost 3.3 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.5 million.  The only thing we had to do was a dry run via the metro to the train station as we would be lugging our luggage with us.  Because of the increased traffic in the city due to the Champions League final and the one way streets we were advised to not even think about taking a taxi.

We found Km 0 which  sets the zero kilometer point, from where the six national roads or motorways A-1 to A-6, of Spain, start. Also from here  the numbering of the streets of Madrid begin, being the lowest numbers of each street, those that are closest to Km 0.

Madrid is known for its ham. They even have jamon museums.

Cute advertising.

Sadly more and more is being surrounded by barriers every day.  They are now starting to put port a potties along the pedestrian street we live on.

So we made it to the train station but it required the help of a few people.  This is the first metro station in all of my and our travels that has stumped me.  We had trouble figuring out how to get a ticket out of the machine for just the one leg of a trip, from our metro station to the metro station for the train station.  Finally got the ticket but we had to pay 2.5 Euro just for the card to place the fare on.  I thought that 5.5 Euro was a lot to take the metro four stops.  We then had to figure out how to change from the metro to the train station, all the while lugging suitcases.  Done.  Last was to find where our departure point was.  All this took over an hour,, it was a long walk between the two.  So glad that we did it as we would have likely missed our train the next morning.  Turns out that I screwed up when I had the idea to load the same trip onto our metro card so we would not have to do it in the morning. In real time, this morning, it would not work.  Turns out it is only valid for the day. you had the trip even if you don’t use it.  So we lost 3 Euro.  It then took us a longtime to reload the fare for this morning.

Exterior of the train station.

One area has a beautiful garden area to relax in.  Sadly the photo did not pick up the crystal ceiling nor the intricate brick work of the walls.  There are several restaurants in this area.

So back to yesterday and our walkabout.  Here our some photos just of what we saw.  By the way I found a 5 Euro note jut laying on the street.  It pays to look down.  Yes I am being very careful with almost every step.  I have only had two tiny stumbles.

It seems that there is great architecture everywhere one looks.  We were looking for a particular place to take a view photo but it was all uphill.  We were hungry and wanted lunch but did not want to stop in one of the fast food places.  Finally we found a Mom & Pop well worn small restaurant.  The food and wine were great.  Now we are ready to keep trekking  along.  There are few direct routes and mostly it is go down or up one street and do a jog to left or right for a block and then go straight again.  You really need a map.  Ww have also been using the free app MAPS.ME, a detailed offline navigation system.  Colin had downloaded all of our destinations before we left home.

It seemed to take forever but we finally found Circulo de Bellas Artes.  We were shocked to discover that we had to pay 4 Euro each to go up the elevator.  However once at the top we found out that we were not obliged to order a hight priced drink so we simply enjoyed the views and then left.

We walked along Gran Via for a bit before ducking off and encountering a good deal of road construction.

Finally back to the quiet side streets.

We stopped here for a very reasonably priced glass of wine with a large pour.

Interesting rental except this fellow was hot and was perspired profusely and was stuck in traffic.

I think it was close to 6PM when we got back to our street. Lots of people out strolling.

Once back at our apartment we did some organizing and packing.  Finally about 10PM we started out for dinner by just walking until we found something.

We ended up here, apparently the best Italian restaurant in all of Madrid.  However we had a 30 minute wait but we ended up with the table on the left.  Best red wine Colin has ever had.

By now I was exhausted ( it was a 16,000 plus step day )  and I did more packing and was  preparing for bed while Colin serenaded the folks in the street below.  I doubt that anyone heard a note as there is so much noise out there.

So ends our time here in Madrid.  The next post will feature our new destination.

Tuesday, May 28th, was our first full day here in Madrid.  We love our neighborhood as it is within walking distance from anywhere we would want to visit.  Our Airbnb, complete with photos, can be found here by clicking this link.  The host is very customer orientated.  He is also very high tech with smart key fobs to open the doors.  Should you not be able to open the street door because of a sticky key or such, you only have to hit the buzzer an he will unlock the door for you from his iPhone 😛

View from our balcony. That is Puerta del Sol in the background, we are that close.

Our only gripe is that the major plazas have been taken over with football fever or soccer as we call it.  The 2019 Champions League Final is Saturday, June 1, 2019. The game will take place at Wanda Metropolitano, the home of Atletico Madrid in Madrid, Spain.  Stadium seating being set up in front of huge TV’s in the various squares.  The city is fuller than normal and we can’t see many of the sights we had hoped to as they are behind scaffolding, etc.

Our guide used examples and role played to get us involved in the understanding of the city that he is so passionate about.

We took a three hour free tour this morning to get the lay of the area and to get the historical background of Madrid.  We both learned so much about Spain and Europe and the how’s and why’s of how things are today.  Our guide was excellent at communicating historical facts to us.  One of the tidbits I picked up that is wasn’t until 1981 that married woman were free to work, to travel nor basically do anything unless they had a written permission from their husbands.  1981!!!  They were not even allowed to divorce their husbands.  Apparently there were many divorces when the law changed in 1981.  We were told many facts pertaining to Spains participation in various wars over the years and that things were not as they appeared.  We learned a entire new aspect of understanding this country through its history.  Here are some photos taken during the tour.

Plaza Mayor, the main square in Madrid now under construction for the soccer event.

The oldest restaurant on earth, Sobrino de Botin, opened in 1725.  It even has a plaque in the window from GuinnessWorld Records. Hemmingway mentions this place in his novel ‘The Sun Also Rises’.

The doors to a nunnery next to a church which still exits today.

Going back to they days when the church would give bread to poor after mass. To this very day you can press the buzzer, go in and order sweets made by the nuns.  They are behind a screen and money is placed on a revolving tray and then your order comes to you the same way in a white box.  Apparently their baking is excellent.

One of the official government buildings dating back to the time of the Habsburgs ( 1516-1700 ).

The Royal Palace which is now a museum.

The mountains that the invaders came over time and time again. Also the Royal Palace in the background.

Royal Opera House. So sad that there was nothing playing while we are here.

There are really neat doors every few feet.

Lunch was a traditional calamari sandwich. Lots of deep fried & lightly breaded calamari on a fresh bun but with no sauce of any kind.  A bit dry but tasty for 3 euro.  I just ate the calamari.  The wine at 2 euro per glass was excellent. We were served by a young lady whose grandfather had established this place.

Any restaurant ( and perhaps other establishment ) that is older than 100 years old ( and there are a lot of them ) have a metal plaque either on the door sill or on the stone in front of the door.  This one was established in 1894.

While I did laundry Colin went out looking for more of the same shoes he bought in Rome last year as they are made here in Spain.  There is a sale at the shoe store across the street with a line to simply get into the store.

Illegal immigrants from Africa selling their wares on the street.  The items are on a white cloth with ropes attached.

That way when the police are spotted they can quickly bundle everything up and make a run for it.

We headed out about 10PM to a restaurant literally just around the corner from us. It is very popular as you can see.  Colin is at the end of the line.  We were seated within 25 minutes.  There were several other tapa restaurants down the street and they were empty.  We made an excellent choice as it turns out.

A lovely white Monsalve, Rueda Verdejo, the top line reads ‘M. Jesus de la  Hoz’.   Here is Spain you can buy wine by the glass or by the bottle.  We have yet to run into house wine here in Madrid.  This wine was 3 Euro per glass or 14 Euro for the bottle.  Back in Greece, house wine was sold by the glass or by a 500 ml carafe or 1000 ml carafe. 500 ml usually sold for 5 Euro, so overall much better wine prices.

We had a late large lunch ( all that calamari ) so only started with two large tapas. This is Burrata bloody Rossi, goat cheese with pesto and tomato sauce.  Here the waiter is injecting the cheese with pesto.  Can you see the guy over my shoulder?  He ended up ordering everything that we did.

The other tapa was vegetable lasagna with onto, tapenade and béchamel.

There is an art to serving this particular dish. You cut it into four and spoon pesto in the center of each quarter followed by the tomato sauce. It was very tasty.  More than enough food for us.  The waiter’s parents are from Italy and he learned English in New Jersey.  Our hostess has cousins in Edmonton that she visited once during the winter.  Needless to say her impression of Canada is that it is only ever cold there.

Whatever is retired beef from Argentina?

Can you believe that with all that we have been doing to date, that we only left home two weeks ago?

Tags: Stone Island

For some reason I was awake at  515 AM and could not go back to sleep.  We didn’t get to bed until just before 12:30AM and the alarm was not set to go off until 6:30AM.   We had an 8:00AM rendezvous in the restaurant but not to eat.  Anyone who had a flight before 1:30PM ended to have special priority disembarkation.  Long story short, instead of putting our luggage outside our door no later than midnight where it would be transported to the exit area within the port building, for us to pick up this morning, we had to carry it with us.  Our cabin was on the sixth floor and the restaurant was on the fifth floor but the elevators were full or only able to take a few people and the weight their luggage. Finally Colin just hefted them down the stairs. I know that the larger of the two weighed in at just over 20 kg, yes very heavy.  Once at the restaurant we waited.  Finally the ship was cleared and we were to follow someone who would lead us off the ship and the way to the port building exit.  However by now all passengers were waiting in the corridors with their carry on luggage.  We were to leave the ship on level three at the forward exit and we were at the back of the ship on level five.  We finally did get off and then had about a two city block walk with our luggage which fortunately is on wheels.

We did love our cruise.

Adios Greece.

Coming into Zurich.

We got about 30 minutes in the business class lounge which is incredibly busy.  I could hear French on one side and Japanese on the other.

We were on a small airplane on the next leg. The only concession to business class is that we got two seats each and of course we were fed.

Welcome to Madrid, Spain, our next destination.

Our overlarge car and driver, only 6 euros more than a regular taxi but we got to enjoy cold bottled water and received many tips and suggestions for our time here.

We landed at 7:00PM and it was 29C/84F and once we picked up our luggage we walked right out to meet our driver.  No passport control.  Turns out it was rush hour and it took a while to get into town.

Again, like Athens, we are on a pedestrian street so through the magic of texting we met our host on an extremely busy street corner.  It was perfect as I was beginning to wilt and he dealt with the heavier luggage while Colin dealt with mine.  I only had to carry my personal time carry on bag.  This is the only place that we are staying on this trip that has one flight of stairs.  Turns out that flight is 23 steps.  As I have said before, steps are not my friend.  Anyway we got orientated, unpacked and out the door to buy some wine before the stores closed as 10PM.

By now we were hungry and settled for the first a non fast food place that sold pizza.  This one came with tuna and was very good as was the house wine.

Once again it was after midnight before we got to bed.  More tomorrow.

 

 

We were only in Turkey from 10AM until 4:40PM.  Again a free half day tour to Ancient Ephesus and yet again we chose to do our own thing.  We walked from the ship to old town which is also a pedestrian only area.  I soon got tired of being politely asked into a shop over and over despite saying no.  The Turks are pushy salesmen.  They don’t take no for an answer.  I might have purchased something, perhaps a cotton blouse or maybe a leather wallet but as soon as I looked at anything I felt swarmed.  So we walked and checked out the sites and even walked a bit in what was a normal non tourist area.  Overall impression, everything was very clean, the shops large and well designed, lots of tiny coffee shops and lovely flower gardens and most of all tall trees everywhere.  We later walked along the malecon enjoying the views  and young families out with their children.  Once back at the ship we had a light lunch as we expected to have an early dinner.  The afternoon was spent packing in preparation for our early morning departure off the ship.

I actually was up for a bathroom visit and saw the sunrise.

Preparing the gangway to exit the ship. Those on the tour got off first. Those blue carts with a white roof  were older Turkish men who for two euros would pedal you to the grand bazaar which was only two blocks away.

I assume that the water coming out of this public tap is good water. We saw a few in the centre square. This older gent was refilling his water containers.

For lunch we had spanakorizo this is spinach sautéed with garlic, onion and rice pilaf. It was a huge service and we could only eat half of it.

I had this lemon verbena scented fruitcake which was served with lemon sherbet. The sherbet was fresh made with a very tart finish.

I have to say that dinner was our least favorite meal of the entire cruise.  The salmon was cinnamon coated which just was not right and it was served without any sides.  Fortunately we had a salad and a bowl of vegetable soup as starters.  Dessert was not what we expected based on the menu description.   It was still a lovely meal but we had become spoilt over the week.

The final performance of the week was ‘Mythologia’, a spectacular  show inspired from the Greek mythology.

Our plan was for a quick drink in the lounge and to say adios to our favorite cuban band.

However as usual we became involved in the music.

Once Colin and I started to dance, others joined in and soon we had seven couples on the floor.

We met Patricia and her sister who were traveling with their mother. They are from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

A wonderful end to a very special week.  Danny, our cruise director, told us that this past week, our ship had 388 crew from 29 different countries and 788 passengers from 35 different countries.  Wouldn’t it be nice if the rest of the world could get along as well as we all did on a small ship?  The ship is 162 meters/531 feet long.

Saturday, May 25th, day six of our cruise, offered another free half day excursion to see the ruins of the Knossos Place and the Archaeological Museum.  Neither of us wanted to spend hours traipsing through more ruins.  We make have overdone it in Pompeii last May ? Instead we chose to walk into Heraklion from the port and do some exploring of the town.  Apparently many others made the same choice.  A lovely city port city which is the capital of Crete.  Guarding the city’s Venetian port is the 16th century Koules fortress.  The old fishing boats along the shore were interesting as the bright yellow fishing nets. There was a very young girl trying so hard to make a sound with her accordion that it was almost  painful to watch.  She did had so much trouble with the instrument and I felt sorry for her so I put some coins into her empty hat.  I hope that her day got better.

Yes that is snow up there.

…and we are off to sea again.

I just want to add that at the moment I have no control over my individual paragraphs, they all seem to mush together.  Also the photos should be separated.  Such is life at sea.