30th June - 4th July - Madrid, Spain

29th/30th 13 hr flight from Santiago to Madrid. We shared 3 seats so were able to lie down for some of the flight. We arrived in Madrid to a sultry 35°c. The airport information was very helpful in getting us to our hotel. We caught 3 trains and ended up only 50m from our hotel. We went for a walk down to Plaza del Emperador Carlos V looking for a bank. We then walked back up our street and in the other direction where we had dinner on Plaza de Benavente at around 9pm and it was still very light. We walked down to Plaza Mayor after dinner and took a few photos. ourThe sun went down at around 10pm. We found an internet cafe to print out the Madrid walking tours we had stored on our memory stick then headed back to the hotel.

1st - We woke at around 10am to another hot 35°c day. We had breakfast and quick showers and headed off on the first of our walking tours - Old Madrid. The tour started at Plaza de la puerta de Sol which is the geographic centre of Spain. Our first stop was at a little café Chocolateria de San Gines where we sampled a hot chocolate and David had his with churros. We then walked to Plaza Mayor, and many other pointes of interest. Including this garden next to the Royal Palace

We had lunch at around 3pm in a little restaurant then found a park to have a lie down in. We set off again around 5pm after taking this shot back at the Palace and the Cathedral.
We headed up along Gran via past theatres, shops and lots of traffic. The final stop on our walk was Plaza de la Cibeles and the ornate Palacio de Comunications. We had Tapas for dinner on the sidewalk outside a bar near Plaza de Emperador Carlos V.

2nd - 10am wake up again this morning. This walk (Artistic walk of Madrid) started a little further away so we caught the Metro 5 stations to Bilbao. The walk said to start with a coffee in the Café commercial, so Catriona obliged. Our first stop was a plaza with outdoor sculptures. We took a couple of photos and headed off again down Paseo de la Castellana, walking through the centre under the shade of the trees. We made it to Plaza Santa Ana for lunch of paella mixta. We then headed off to the Prado. We found out it was free after 6pm so decided to check out the Parque del buen retiro. We had fun walking through the many shaded, hedge lined walkways.
We stopped to see Alfonzo XII mausoleum, Palacio de Valasquez and the Crystal Palace (below) which was once a green house but is now an exhibition centre.
We stopped to have a siesta here as well, then set off to view the old city gate (see it at the end of this garden bed David is standing in front of) We headed off back to the Prado where we viewed many paintings from the 12th - 15th century. There was also an exhibition of paintings by Goya. After we had finished at the gallery we walked back to Plaza Santa Ana for a wine, some beer and a plate of olives and pig fat! We didn´t realise that is what it was when we ordered it. 3rd - Todays walk was pick of the plazas. Only 28° today. We started off by walking to Plaza Lavapiés from there we headed all over Madrid city centre. We stopped off just outside Plaza Mayor at this café for a coke and a coffee. Then off again all over the city finishing at Plaza de Chueca the gay capital of Madrid, where they were getting ready for some kind of festivities, mayge something like Sydney´s gay and lesbian mardi gras. We had a very late lunch at around 5pm and spent the rest of the evening bar hopping.