Mornings in Madrid

Madrid

After the long trip from Louisville, and since I had gotten some sleep in Cologne, I decided to go meander about Madrid for the morning.  After finally finding the airport express and stashing my bag at Atocha Station in town, I set off to see what I could see.  Armed with an one day tourist pass on the Metro, I started my trip at Plaza del Sol.  I was looking for a sign that Grace has memorialized on celluloid in her abodes for years.

Unfortunately it has been removed. 

Palacio Real

From there I walked down Calle Mayor and found a coffee shop to stop into for a caffeine jolt and wifi.  On down the road I came to the royal palace and Plaza de Oriente.  There's a rally neat, if pricy, cafe there.  I maybe just enjoy plush red velvet covered furniture.  But I dug it.  So I had another coffee while waiting for the Palaca to open.  Turns out, it didn't that day. I bet the flocks of Asian tourists were even more disheartened than I.  By lunch I was in the Plaza Mayor watching the crowds and street performers with a cerveza and tapas.  I also discovered there was a rather significant fútbol match in town that day between RealMadrid and Manchester United.  This is my second trip to Spain, and for the second time there was a big match in the city I was visiting (last time FC Barcelona vs Chelsea in a semifinals match).

Plaza Mayor

After lunch, back to Plaza del Sol and another cafe, complete with cerveza and wifi check in.  The the obligatory Irish Pub world tour stop for a Guinness.  My last item on the to do list before leaving town was a stop at the Hard Rock for a pin.  After locating the HRC, back to Atocha and off to Cordoba.  The high speed train (270 km/h) whisked me away, and it was all I could do not to nod off...  And more than I could do at times.  I had this giant fear of sleeping right through my stop.  But I do remember some lovely scenery out the window.

Arrived unscathed in Cordoba, and found my way to my hotel thanx to a helpful cab driver.  Found a nice bar to watch the fútbol and have a couple cervezas, which all came with snacks.  I like it.  By the time I got to sleep, it'd had be 24 hours of wakefulness.  Involving 3 cities in 2 countries.  I plan to make a return visit to Madrid when I can focus more on just that area, perhaps some one I know who's spent some time there will be happy to show me around :-).  Next day, to see Cordoba in earnest.

 

 

Cerveza and a snack??  Yes please!