Day 5. Wednesday 12 March.

A good night’s sleep and we awoke to a bright sunny day but with a forecast of rain in the afternoon. After breakfast of gazpacho and Spanish omelette, we decided to make the most of it and take the metro into the Parque del Buen Retiro and perhaps a bit more if the weather was kind. 

The first task after breakfast (and doing the washing) was to manage the Madrid metro system. We walked to the closest subway, Canal, where a very kind assistant, who claimed she had a little English but had quite enough, ran us through the simple process of getting a rechargeable train ticket for 10 rides, after which we caught the #2 line into the Parque and wandered around the gardens for several hours. We. Had planned on visiting the Crystal Palace, but it was closed for renovations until 2027. The Jardines de Cecilia Rodriguez had potential – but the roses were just budding at the start if the season.

We caught sight of the double-decker buses, doing the tours of Madrid, so decided to check it out.

On our way there dropped in to the Museo de Prado, which was showing an El Greco exhibition: it was closed (we think for a temporary break). Then stepped into the Iglesia Parroquial San Jerónimo el Real de Madrid: perfect record, it was closing too! Quickly ushered out by the priest.

There were two tours on the same ticket – as it turned out they cover some of the same ground. As we’ve found in other cities, this was a useful way of getting an overview. After the tours walked into Sol, the main shopping precinct and from there onto the metro to Canal.

At the end of the day after a fair bit of walking (12.6K steps) we caught the train back to our accommodation, picking up some supplies for this evening‘s meal, plus of course a reserve of wine. As it turned out, the weather was kind all day. Very cool here but sunny and no rain.

Magic Moments

1: the bird feeder/ photographer in Retiro

 2: The family exiting their car at the green traffic lights near plaza de Cibele (centre Madrid)…no rush…no pressure – kids, luggage & oops… a couple more bags from the back seat! sang froid (or whatever the equivalent is in Spanish). Other traffic not impressed.

Dinner: Chicken Little Patricio with zucchinis in a sweet red wine jus with a Castillo De Haro Rioja Crianza 2021. (Jus ingredients – cummin, onion, leak, red wine, vinegar, raw sugar, salt, pepper, water, inspiration)