Madrid, Spain

We got off the train and started walking to find a place to stay.  Some guys stopped us on the street and asked if we wanted to have a drink with them.  We were tired, but we said, YES!!!  We had a nice chat with them.  I think they wanted more than to share a drink but the three of us were happy to just have a time to sit. Amazingly, my 7 years of Spanish in high school worked and I was able to converse with them easily.  That was then…now I can only say a few words.  LOL!   We found a hotel with the help of the guys and checked in.  We looked up what there was to see in Madrid since we only had 1 day.

Options were the Museo de Prado – a world famous art museum.  There was a bullfight happening that day at the Plaza del Toro.  El Escorial, which is 25 miles from Madrid, is the burial place of all Spanish kings from Charles I to Alfonso XII.  What did we choose?

We went to the Basilica and this was a crucifix on the altar of the church.  We didn’t stay long. We’d seen so many temples, churches, shrines, etc. that we were sort of done!

This was a street not far from our hotel where we went to a restaurant to eat.

The streets were busy.  We decided we were DONE with sightseeing.  We didn’t need to see another museum, shrine, old building, nothing!!!!  We were so on overload with experiencing and learning for the past 5 months.  We sat in our room and played cards and made arrangements to leave for Cadiz, Portugal in the morning.  We were ready to go home!  It’s been a whirlwind!