Day 7. Friday 14 March.

Finally got the Days gone sorted – today we’ve reached the end of the first week.

Started the day with a coffee at a cafe at the end of our short street. The place was occupied by mostly young folk enjoying the early morning coffees and quite possibly WFH. Coffee was terrific, as was the service – another lovely Spanish lass apologizing for her poor English which was in fact quite good.

We’ll go back to try those sconesss.

Our first task was to get to a Big Bus booth to purchase tickets to Toledo – a choice made after much research and agonizing on the best option for us. Metro ride to Santo Domingo station. Along the way we came upon a crowd outside a small shop, with lots of notes attached to a grid and the walls. The notes were wishes – you posted your wish and rang the bell. If your wish came true you put the note into a box and rang the bell again. This was explained by a young women, who merely rolled her eyes when D asked if anyone had their wish of winning the lottery granted. She has apparently not heard of manifesting. 

This was followed by a rather unfruitful discussion with the attendant whose  English was on par with our Spanish (to be fair, she was slightly better, but not enough to answer our (T’s) detailed questions. Light bulb went off: what about a tourist centre? And fortuitously, there was one in the adjacent Plaza Mayor.

Highlight of that little venture was finding a wedding party (ground level in the plaza) and the regal waving (and chaste kiss) from a balcony by the bride and groom.

Maria at Madrid Tourist Office was very helpful, and after discussing things we might do in Toledo, directed us to Castillo La Mancha – essentially a Toledo tourist centre. That visit added a bit to our knowledge, so we headed back to the Big Bus booth, to be accosted on our way by a BB hawker, with great English – so we bought our tickets from him. Mission accomplished.

We then decided to try again to get into the Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, which had been so busy yesterday. So back on the metro (a terrific system) from Gran Via to Estacion del Arte. Hungry by now, and T wanted something hot & soupy, as the day was very cold.

Across the road from what turned out to be a misspelt disappointment, a taverna offered a Cocido a Tres Vuelcos, but we had no idea what that was, despite an explanation by a waitress.

The menu photo looked like a bean soup which T thought perfect but detailed chat with the waitress didn’t clarify. So we opted for the dish of the day, of two courses – T had a soup: chorizo & beans were fine (but couldn’t come at the pigs ears), and D had what was essentially a schnitty: cheese between slices of jamon, battered and deep fried, with chips on the side, and bread and a glass of wine.

The museum was not busy when we entered, although it swelled during our visit, mainly with students. At the ticket counter we were asked if we were over 65 as this meant free admission. D thanked the woman for asking and said ‘yes’. She then asked for proof, which were obliged to provide, not at all reluctantly. What an ego boost!

Our main focus was the Guernica painting by Picasso. We admittedly had little background on the subject, apart from it being symbolic of civilian suffering as a result of a bombing during the Spanish Civil War (we have since Googled it, of course). It was confronting, as were the other artworks in that section.

The Guernica rooms were bleak & confronting, so we needed an uplifting light finish to the day & headed for a shop called Magpie Vintage, located in a whole street of vintage clothing shops. Someone was in her little heaven – but, surprisingly, came away (almost) empty handed, despite at least one other temptation.

It has been a feature that there has been plenty of community activity – another example was the plaza at the end of the ‘vintage’ street where family groups watched over kids playing and old men sat together enjoying a beer. As we’ve moved around Madrid we’ve been taken by how clean it is – virtually no graffiti (we’ve seen just one example) and there are constant teams of cleaners doing their good work. The streets are full of stylish young folk, active and having fun, there’s been no loud aggressive behaviour, no swearing (that we’ve noticed), no push & shove and on trains we’ve even been offered a seat. Perhaps we’re only seeing one aspect of the city but it has been noticeable: a few elderly people (other than us), a city of the young.

Magic Moment.

Can’t go past being asked for proof of age!

Dinner. Pasta with asparagus and a tomato and greens salad, with a Vina Albali Crianza 2020.