Our day in the capital city of Spain didn’t start so well, then again it didn’t finish too well either. Another different campsite, another different set of showers. We’ve found showers with taps (always good), showers with push buttons (not so good) and this morning a shower with a sensor!!! It’s the first time we’ve come across one of these and if you’re not very tall, then it’s really not a great invention. The water wasn’t very hot and every time I moved my head, or bent lower, the water would stop flowing. Wave a hand in the air, and it would start again, but with a nice little burst of cold water as an entrée. I can honestly say it’s not a good way to start your day.
Our campsite in the middle of nowhere had two bus stops nearby, with two different routes available into Madrid. We opted for the bus/metro option, which seemed to run more regularly than the bus/bus option and we plodded down through the campsite turned right, went up and over the enormous pedestrian bridge to the bus stop on the far side of the road. It was gratifying to know that no buses went pass, so we thought we wouldn’t have long to wait for the no. 567. Forty-five minutes later an ‘express’ bus finally turned up to take us to the metro station at Ferial de Boadilla. At least we had been entertained by a man up a ladder nearby. He was replacing the massive billboard advertisements, including one for the Pope…….does he really need advertising?
As we puzzled over the ticket machine at Boadilla a train came in and left without us. We were stumped with the machine, but a young Johnny Depp lookalike was also having problems and he stepped forward to help us. With the help of the large yellow button, Mr Depp’s Spanish, and also his near perfect English, we all ended up with a ticket and boarded the next train to Colonia Jardin. We thought it would only be a short stroll to the palace from there, but ‘Johnny Depp’ explained that we were still at least an hour’s walk from Madrid. He suggested we buy another ticket to get us to the main station at Principe Pio and then transfer to an underground route through to Opera and he also helped us on which ticket would be best to buy. He was so helpful and absolutely correct with all of his suggestions, we were very glad to have met him. We decided that Spaniards were helpful people, but as it turned out he is a chef and comes from Columbia!
After two hours of travelling we were finally in the centre of Madrid and we wandered through to the Plaza Mayor clutching our maps and trying to orientate ourselves. Using our handy Michelin guide, we followed one of the tours which seemed to almost go around in circles at one point, but we enjoyed roaming the streets and getting a feel for the city. The sights in the San Miguel market were fascinating; it’s quite amazing what some people will eat!!
We had a rather more conventional three-course lunch outside the Madroño Taberno in Plaza Puerta Cerrado. Rodney had a rice and lobster soup followed by veal. I had a huge plate of spinach laced with cheese and sultanas, followed by roast chicken and we both finished the meal with that old favourite, the crème caramel.
We strolled through some back streets and plazas to the Puerta del Sol, stopping by a fountain to take in all the bustling atmosphere and then realised that we were sitting right next to ‘Johnny Depp’. We had another chat and quizzed him further on a few more things, wished him well and thanked him yet again, then strolled down the Calle del Arenal and over to the palace and cathedral.
We were both feeling a bit weary, but we made the decision to spend a bit more time wandering along footpaths thoroughly blotted with dog poo and cigarette butts and then to move on further south on Tuesday, rather than tackle the public transport again the next day; which did turn out to be a good decision.
We caught another metro across to the east side of the city to Banco de España and then promenaded through a small part of the enormous Parque de El Retiro. The boating lake was quite busy with people rowing about in front of the enormous Monumento Alfonso Xll, in fact the whole park was quite busy with people of all ages promenading along the pathways.
At the Palacio de Cristal there was a strange exhibition, with one pair of shoes on a large carpet inside a cage. Surrounding the cage were several rocking chairs, some of which had a book attached to them by a chain. Neither of us grabbed a meaning for it all, but the chairs were quite relaxing after so much walking.
We meandered back to the Banco de España metro station, via the Prado and the galleries, palace and museums that are all lined up along the Paseo del Prado. Two short metro rides and the longer light rail journey to the Ferial de Boadilla station, had us back to the bus stop for our final leg of the journey. Hmmm, would we have to wait forty-five minutes for a bus this time? According to the timetable, there was a bus due in ten minutes and another one only five minutes later. Fifty minutes later a bus finally appeared and dropped us at the campsite 7kms down the road at 9pm; we were seriously calculating if we could have walked the distance in that time…..but then again we were far too tired.
We had intended to spend another day in Madrid, but it all seemed too hard, so we had a late night shower, settled in to bed and made the decision to move down to Aranjuez, hopefully to a campsite with better showers…..
