MADRID:
- Saturday night: fly from Paris (CDG) to Madrid. Encounter many Metro stairs with our bags and Halloweeners before arriving at Hotel Anaco.
- Sunday: sleep in. Metro to Prado where Sundays are free and we visit the Goya rooms. Follow the Fodor's guidebook for stroll from Prado to Puerto del Sol (pastry shop) to Plaza Mayor to Palacio Real (picnic of bocadillos). Sun/warmth/ease of language/quaint beauty puts us in better moods. 2 hour nap at hotel. Dinner at locals' hangout, Restaurante Pozo Real (yummy veggie stew, rosemary lamb & flan).
- Monday: walk to Opera Metro (stop at Puerto del Sol pasticerria for warm pastry) and take train then bus to Segovia. Walk thru medieval walled city with moorish exteriors and Roman aqueduct built 300 BC. Yummy cookies in Plaza Mayor. Walked around old Gothic spired cathedral, bought moon art, walked to Alcazar and toured it from top to bottom. Bought more cookies and sandwiches for the long bus ride home, watching Mission Impossible en Espanol. Bocadillos to go from Pan and Co. for in-room picnic.
- Tuesday in Toledo: Metro to bus to Toledo. Walked up hill to Plaza Zocodover, where we eat stand up tapas lunch at the Bar Parilla. Bought tour book and wandered around Toledo, where we saw: El Greco painting, ancient synagogue, various churches, post office, and bought scissors before heading back to main cathedral, which is very impressive (especially Transparente). Catch local (ugh) bus home to Madrid, where we eat Pizza Hut (oops) and go to bed.
- Wednesday: Catch bus to El Escorial. Tour it, including basilica and biblioteca. Try to order bocadillas in bar outside bus stop, but are ignored so leave in time to catch bus to Valle de los Caidos, Franco's fascist inside-out basillica containing 50K dead from Spanish civil war. Cold and spooky. Bus back to Madrid, where we change for tapas stroll: Las Bravas for "patented," original "patatas bravas;" then on to Casa Alberto (first tapas bar in Madrid) for croquettes jamon and chorizo. Back to hotel for short evening on the patio.
- Thursday: last day in Madrid. Wake early to be at Prado by 9:15. Tour almost whole Prado by 12:15 (including cafe con leche break in cafe). Walk through thru Retiro Park, where we see Crystal Palace and Alphonso XII's monument in the Estanque. Metro to Puerto del Sol, where we walk to Plaza Mayor, then Palacio Real's Plaza de Oriente, where we grab lunch at the Cafe de Oriente. Tour Palacio Real with Pharmicerie, then Metro to Reina Sofia to see Picasso's "Guernica" and other modern art. Metro back to hotel, pick up bags, then metro to train station for overnight train to Barcelona.
- Friday: arrive by overnight train from Madrid at 8am. Drop bags off at our hotel, Meson Castilla, where we have a little patio off our room. Stroll Las Ramblas. Stop at St Josep's Mercateria - an explosion of butchers, fishmongers, cheeses, bakeries, and more - where we assemble a picnic lunch. Tour Gaudi's Palau Guell, then eat on dock at the end of Las Ramblas, opposite the Christopher Columbus monument. Metro back to hotel, just in time to meet Colleen for coffee at a cafe around the corner! Shower and naps before meeting Colleen and Aaron onboard Redwings for cava, cheese and jamon. Walk to Calle Merce for tapas (ham and salted potatoes, tinto) at La Jarra, and octopus at La Polporia. Finish with pizza in Placa de George Orwell, then home to bed.
- Saturday: walk to Picasso museum, lunch at 11 Caffe de Roma near Jaume metro, walk back through Gothic quarter. Dinner at Siete Puertas with Colleen and Aaron, then night stroll to Gothic Quarter's cathedral to Las Ramblas, then to bed.
- Sunday: hotel breakfast. Walking tour of Moderniste Eixample buildings, including tour/museum/roof of Gaudi's Casa Mila Pedrera. Metro to Sagrada Familia - tour, museum and elevator to tower, where I experience vertigo for the first time). Metro to hotel, with stop for patatas bravas at Cervecas d'Or. Pack for return home. Stroll down Las Ramblas for flowers for Colleen, because we are having dinner onboard Redwings. Good food, great company!
- Monday: Up at 5am, taxi to airport for 7:20am flight to Paris, where we catch a noon flight home to San Francisco.
