Category: 2018 European Adventure

March 27

We haven’t posted the last few days as not much happened. Saturday Lynn had a hair appointment while Peter went to a nearby town for market day.

Then in the afternoon we drove to the marina and walked on the beach for a few minutes. There was a cold wind off the Atlantic, so we picked up some pretty seashells and headed back to the condo.

On Sunday we took a day trip out to Silves and Foia, the tallest point in the Algarve. It was cloudy on the coast, but it cleared up as we headed into the hills. In Silves we toured the castle then had a nice lunch in the square.

Yesterday (Monday) was a travel day. We drove back to Lisbon stopping at FedEx to mail a box of stuff home and at the Doubletree Hotel to drop off our stuff before taking the car back to the airport.

Then we took a bus back to city center where we strolled down the pedestrian street and had a delicious dinner. The weather has turned quite nice, it was in the upper 60s and sunny in Lisbon. What a change from 3 weeks ago when it poured every day.

Today, we had a lovely day. We went back to Belem to see the things we missed the last time. Peter went when we were here before but that was the day Lynn stayed home and out of the rain. He didn’t see that much that day either as it was raining so hard, he didn’t want to stand in line to buy tickets. But today was a 180 from 3 1/2 weeks ago. It was a beautiful day…70 and sunny.

Our first stop was the Coach Museum. They had dozens of old coaches on display, some were used for ceremonial purposes and others were for everyday use. It was quite interesting. Here are some pictures of the different types of coaches.

These are used mostly for ceremonial purposes.

This was a type of litter that is hooked to four horses.

Coaches for the royal kiddos.

Coach for everyday use.

For mail and passengers. It took 34 hours to get from Lisbon to Porto. It stopped 23 times to allow passengers to rest and to change horses. We drove from Lisbon to Porto in about 2 1/2 hours.

After the museum we walked to the Jerónimos Monastery which is the #1 tourist attraction in Lisbon. The line was crazy long, so it took over an hour to get our tickets. While in line, we took turns visiting the church which was free and had no line. It was built in the gothic style and was very simple but nice.

When we finally got into the Monastery, it was a little disappointing. It was built in the 15th and 16th centuries and the architecture was beautiful but there really wasn’t much to see. The building was a large square with a courtyard in the middle. There were only two rooms open and those had exhibits, one explaining the history of the Monastery and the other honoring the life of a Portuguese writer. We thought there might be different rooms with tapestries, paintings, etc., like we’ve seen in other places. But there was nothing like that. There was one large room that had pretty tiles but that was about it. We actually stood in line longer than we stayed but we can cross it off our list of things to see in Lisbon.

By this time, it was almost 4pm so we headed to a nearby restaurant for a late lunch. We decided to split a pizza so we could have dessert. They had amazing ice cream sundaes that we didn’t want to miss. Of course, after having pizza and ice cream we needed to walk off some of those calories, so we walked to the Torre of Belem which was about a 1/2 mile away. It was a beautiful stroll down the waterfront, but we were getting tired so after taking a few pictures we headed back to the tram. Once we got to the city center, we couldn’t find the stop for the bus we needed to get back to the hotel, so we took a cab instead. Taxis are very inexpensive here so it only cost about a euro more than the bus tickets would have cost. And we got to the hotel much faster.

Tonight, we’re just relaxing as we have a very early morning tomorrow. We have a taxi coming at 4:15am for our 6:20am flight to Orly in Paris. It looks like we’re leaving the nice weather behind as the long-range forecast for France is rain, rain and more rain. We’ll keep the umbrellas close and hope for the best.

We’ll let you know how it goes. Love to all.

March 23

This is a short post as it’s been a pretty quiet couple of days.

It should come as no surprise that after a week of Peter coughing up a lung, Lynn woke up this morning with a cold. It’s not bad but she’s super tired so we stayed pretty close to home. The weather made that easy as it was cloudy and rainy all morning and most of the afternoon. This is supposed to be the last of it as the next couple of days are supposed to be sunny.

We had a very nice day yesterday (Thursday). After working out at the gym (the bike really helps loosen Peter’s ankles) we headed west to Cape de Sao Vincente or Cape of St. Vincent. It’s about 90 minutes west and is the southwestern most point in Europe. It was a gorgeous, sunny day so it was a nice drive down the coast. We visited the small lighthouse museum and enjoyed watching the waves crash against the cliffs. After watching the surfers for a few minutes and stopping by the ruins of a fortress, we headed to Lagos for the afternoon. It is one of the most visited cities in the Algarve as there are a ton of beautiful beaches, cool shops and great restaurants. It wasn’t too crowded yesterday but we imagine it will get crazy in the next month.

We had a delicious lunch on one of the squares then took a walk to yet another fortress. Lynn sat this one out while Peter explored. Then it was a bit of shopping before the drive back to Vilamoura. It was a low-key day but very nice.

Tomorrow while Lynn goes to her hair appointment at the spa, Peter is heading to the town of Loule to visit the Saturday market. If it’s nice we might rent bikes in the afternoon and explore Vilamoura.

Not much else going on so we’ll talk again soon. Love to all….

March 21

Yes, friends you heard correctly. The SUN IS SHINING!!! Even better is that it was shining most of yesterday and should be tomorrow as well. Three straight days. How exciting is that?!? Actually, as you can see from some of the pictures, it was a bit cloudy yesterday afternoon and actually rained but given that the day was 95% sunny and it only rained for about 30 seconds, we’re calling it a sunny day.

We started yesterday by taking the hotel shuttle to the city. We had a tour of Italica at noon, but we thought we could tour the Real Alcazar first. Unfortunately, the line was crazy long, so we just wandered around the streets for a while until our tour.

Italica is the first Roman city in Spain and is located about 15 minutes outside the city center. It was founded in 206BC and was the birthplace of Hadrian (as in Hadrian’s Wall). The ruins are very well preserved with many intact cobblestone walks and mosaic tile floors. There are also several original Carrera marble pillars. Since the Moors took much of the materials to build their homes, it’s amazing that any of it still exists.

They are still in the process of restoring some of the mosaic floors with a few more sections still to be completed. The first 3 levels of the amphitheater are still in relatively good shape as they had been buried in mud. It was the 3rd largest in the Roman Empire, holding over 25,000 people. That was in spite of the fact that there were never more than 10,000 residents in the city. Apparently, bigger was better and a sign of prestige for the city.

Once we got back to the city center, we went back to the Real Alcazar and found only a few people in line, so we got to tour the palace with relatively small crowds. There were several large school groups but considering how many people would have been there earlier in the day we were glad we waited until late in the afternoon.

The Real Alcazar is a palace originally built by the Moors but was taken over by Peter of Castille when the Christians regained the city in the late 15th century. It is one of the best examples of Mudejar (combination of Moorish and Christian) architecture in Spain. The walls are covered with Christian paintings and tapestries but the Moorish influence can be seen in the tiles and shapes of the doorways. The palace has been used as a set in several well-known productions including Lawrence of Arabia and, more recently Game of Thrones. (Which, by the way, also filmed in the Italica amphitheater.)

After touring the palace, we wandered around the old Jewish Quarter looking for late lunch/early dinner. We got back from our Italica tour around 2:30 and went straight to the palace so we hadn’t eaten lunch yet and were pretty hungry. Unfortunately, many places were closing as they stop serving lunch around 4pm and don’t open again for dinner until 8pm. We could get tapas, but we were too hungry for small plates. At 3-5 euros a pop, it could cost a fortune to get enough food to feel full. We ended up eating at Mr. Pizza which is a chain pizza and pasta place. Lynn’s pasta was pretty bad but the pizza, while certainly not great, was edible.

All in all, it was a pretty great day. Just seeing the sun for most of the day was a treat.

Today (Wednesday) was another beautiful day for our drive from Spain to the Hilton Resort in Vilamoura Portugal. According to what Peter read, Vilamoura is the largest resort area in Europe. The town isn’t that big but there are a ton of resorts. But there’s enough space between them that we don’t feel like the buildings are on top of each other. The Hilton resort is beautiful. We have a small, but nice one bedroom apartment with a king size bed. We’re very excited about that as most of our beds have been full size. Neither one of us is that big but we’re used to a queen bed so a full seems pretty small. We have a nice kitchen as well as a washer/dryer. Of course, it’s a euro style so there’s actually only one machine but it’s still better than nothing. Lynn has been doing laundry all afternoon and is just about done with the 3rd load.

There are several pools but being off-season only one of them is open. Peter went for a swim, but the water is super cold, so he didn’t stay too long. There is a spa area with several small pools, so we hung out there for a while this afternoon. We’re here until Monday so we’re looking forward to exploring the Algarve coast.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another nice day so we’re going to head to Lagos, a small town just west of here. We’ll let you know how it goes.

March 20

Good evening, everyone. The rain stopped yesterday (Sunday) afternoon, so we headed to Cadiz for a few hours. It’s only about 30 minutes from our flat so it was an easy trip. We visited the Cathedral then walked along the Atlantic most of the way around the city center. Being Sunday afternoon there wasn’t much open, but we really didn’t feel like sightseeing anyway. It was just nice to go out and walk in the sunshine.

Our first stop today (Monday) was to the Navy base to mail a box of goodies home. It actually took longer to get our base pass than it did to get through the post office, so we were on the road to Seville by 11am. It was an easy drive, so we were here by 12:30. Peter said he was feeling “snake bit” after trying to get out of Granada last week and didn’t want any part of driving into another city. So, we’re staying a little outside of town in a Hilton Garden Inn. We checked in early, got our food into the refrigerator and grabbed a cab for the city center. The hotel has a shuttle, but it only leaves at certain times, and we missed the last morning shuttle but arranged for it to pick us up to come back.

We had the cab drop us at the Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold) which is right on the River Guadalquivir. We don’t usually climb to the top of things, but this was only about five stories, so it wasn’t too bad. The view was nice, but a very large group of school kids followed us up, so we didn’t stay too long.

After that we headed to the Cathedral as it was only open until 3:30 and it was already 1:30. To tell the truth neither one of us enjoyed it that much. Part of the problem is that we have totally reached our saturation point for Cathedrals. Luckily this is our last one until we get to France next week, so we’ve got a bit of a break. It was also very crowded which took some of the enjoyment out of our visit. It’s a big church but there were people everywhere, some very aggressive about getting their photos. Lastly, while every Cathedral has had iron grates closing off the side chapels, this was the only one that had super tall gates which actually prevented us from enjoying the chapels. Even the choir section was closed off which was a first. Not only was the main altar behind a huge iron grate, but it had also so much gold that it was actually difficult to make out any of the individual carvings on the altar piece. In this Cathedral the audio guide was an extra charge, so we decided to walk around without it.

Unfortunately, by the time we finished in the Cathedral the sun was totally gone. But it wasn’t raining so we decided to walk around the old town. Of course, we walked in the wrong direction and ended up in a totally different part of town. It was still a nice walk but, on our way, back the rain started. We ducked into a restaurant for an early dinner but nothing on the menu appealed to us, so we just had a dessert and headed back out in the rain. By this time, it was 4:30 and our shuttle wasn’t until 6:30. We had no intention of walking around in the rain for another two hours, so we jumped in a cab instead. After resting in the room, we headed down to the hotel restaurant for dinner.

Tomorrow is supposed to be mostly sunny with only a 10% chance of rain. Of course, it wasn’t supposed to rain today either but we’re hoping for the best. Twenty days of rain out of 21 days of travel is more than enough for one vacation. So, keep your fingers crossed. Talk with you soon. Love from two rain-weary travelers.

March 18

Yesterday (Saturday) started as a beautiful, sunny day in Malaga but that quickly changed as we drove southwest. We quickly hit rain and it was rainy and windy for the rest of the day.

Originally, we had not planned to visit Gibraltar as it was a stop on the cruise we had scheduled for next year. But a week ago we were told by the travel agent that the cruise line had rescheduled the cruise from April 29 to March 27. We decided that we didn’t want an Atlantic crossing that early and certainly didn’t want to have shore stops in weather like we are having this year, so we cancelled the cruise. Luckily it was in time to add Gibraltar back into this trip.

It turns out, though, that cars are no longer allowed at the top of the Rock. We didn’t find out until we had driven a rather steep road about halfway up. We were stopped by a guard who said we couldn’t drive any further. When we mentioned that we simply followed the signs that said “Upper Rock” he told us that they stopped allowing cars 2 years ago and never changed the signs; he said he happens all the time. Well, in that case you would think they’d change the signs as it was not an easy drive up the hill on the narrow, windy road. Apparently now the only way to the top is either on an organized tour which are impossible to get without advanced booking or the cable car, which due to the high winds, wasn’t running. So, we turned around and headed back down the hill. We found a place to park and walked around city center for a short time, stopping for fish and chips for lunch. At least Lynn had lunch. Peter had an English breakfast minus the baked beans. Seriously, who eats baked beans for breakfast?!? Apparently the British, but…eew.

After a quick walk around the square where Lynn picked up some beautiful hand-blown crystal items as gifts, we headed back to the car for the 90-minute drive to Rota. It was disappointing that we didn’t get to see the historic stuff in Gibraltar, but at least Peter got there for a short while.

The plan on the base was to stop at the Exchange (department store) and Commissary (grocery story) and do laundry before settling into our flat in a nearby town. But it turns out that Lynn’s retired ID doesn’t allow her access to the Exchange or Commissary. Naval Station Rota is a Spanish base leased to the American Navy and the agreement says that only Active Duty and their dependents are allowed to purchase in the stores. The idea is that they want everyone else to buy on the economy. While we understand the sentiment, if we could have gotten Cheetos and Fritos on the economy we would have already done so. The ones we had last week were BBQ flavored and, yes, they taste just as bad as they sound. But the good news is that we could access the mini mart which had just about everything we were looking for, including Cheetos and Fritos. Oh…the simple pleasures when traveling overseas.

Then it was off to do laundry in a real American washer/dryer which was very exciting. While waiting for laundry we packed up a box of things we bought over the last 2 1/2 weeks to ship home. Our two small carry-on sized suitcases are packed very tight, and we couldn’t drag these things around for the next 2 1/2 months especially since we’re flying a few times. We’ll take the box to the base post office on Monday morning before heading to Sevilla.

Our flat in Puerto de la Santa Maria is very nice but the internet is a little spotty. It’s only a few blocks from the beach and if the weather ever clears, we may take a walk on the beach. But Peter is still coughing and has been ordered by the ex-Navy Nurse not to step foot out of the house if it’s raining. Since the sky is pretty dark, we’re probably not going anywhere today.

So, as you can see it’s been a very mundane couple of days. Tomorrow we head for Sevilla which is one of Lynn’s favorite European cities. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for better weather, but we’re not holding our breaths. We’ll keep you posted.

March 14

Hello everyone. It’s been a few days since we posted but today, we’re taking a rest day so thought it would be a good idea to get caught up on our adventure.

March 12 – Toledo and Segovia

On Monday we took a day trip from Madrid to Toledo and Segovia. We thought about going on our own but since they’re on opposite sides of Madrid (Toledo is about an hour southwest and Segovia is about an hour northwest) we knew that we’d only be able to see one or the other. We found a day trip on Viator that included both of them for a reasonable price, so we were able to see both beautiful cities.

Our first stop was Toledo which was made a World UNESCO Historical Site in the 1980s. It has been ruled by the Romans, Visigoths, and the Moors. In the late 11th century, the town was recaptured by the Christians and has been a Christian city ever since. It was the capital of Spain until the mid-16th century when Philip II moved the capital to Madrid in an effort to “escape” the influence of the Catholic Church, which had its Spanish center in Toledo.

It was actually a sunny day, so we decided to walk on the wild side and leave our umbrellas in the bus. Yahoo!!! The city is absolutely beautiful but of course the old town is on a hill, so we had a lot of uphill walking which is tough on Peter’s ankles. The walking tour lasted about an hour after which we had a little over an hour on our own. We stopped into the Cathedral, which used to be the National Cathedral of Spain until the capital was moved to Madrid. It was very pretty but we’re starting to get immune to Cathedrals as we’ve seen 5-6 in the last week. They’re all starting to blur together.

Most of our free time in Toledo was spent shopping, which is unusual as neither one of us care that much for shopping. One of the things Toledo is known for is knives, swords, etc. The swords for movies such as Lord of the Rings and TV show Game of Thrones were made in Toledo. Many of the Japanese samurai swords are made there as well. We bought a set of 3 kitchen knives that, while not cheap, were much less expensive than if we’d bought them at home. They’re hand forged and are supposed to stay sharp for 10 years.

The city is also known for its gold leaf items. We found some beautiful plates, hangings, jewelry, etc. Peter found a handmade framed piece of Don Quixote and Sancho (Toledo is in the province of La Mancha) that he loved but it was $2500 so we took a pass on that and found one he liked that wasn’t quite as expensive. It’s not handmade but still very beautiful. Then we found a bracelet for Lynn that Peter loved (Lynn liked it too) so we got that as well.

All that shopping made us hungry, and since we weren’t going to have lunch until we got to Segovia, we grabbed a jamon sandwich on our way back to the bus.

Then it was off to Segovia, a 2-hour ride from Toledo. Our first stop was lunch. We found out that in this part of Spain if you’re in a Tapas Bar, you get a free tapas with any drink. So, we had a glass of wine and some delicious tapas all for the low, low price of 5 euros. Not bad. But we were still hungry. We thought about going bar hopping but figured that by the time we had enough free tapas to feel full we’d also be drunk so we found another restaurant where we could get something a little more substantial. Not a big lunch but something to hold us until we got back to Madrid. After lunch we met the group back in the city square for our walking tour.

While Toledo is in a flat area, Segovia is in the mountains, so the sky was quite cloudy and threatening. We regretfully put our umbrellas in Lynn’s bag and it’s a good thing we did as about 20 minutes into our walking tour it started to rain (14 straight days). Luckily it only rained for about 15 minutes, but it was enough to get our feet a little wet.

Segovia was settled by the Celts but was also ruled by the Romans and the Moors. It is most famous for the remarkable Roman Aqueduct which was built around 112AD. It starts in the mountains and runs for over 9 miles before ending in the city. Some of it was destroyed by the Moors so those sections were rebuilt in the middle of the 16th century. It is in remarkable condition and was used for the city’s water supply until the mid-19th century. It’s quite amazing!

Of course, there’s a Cathedral which is nice but nothing like we saw in Salamanca.

The other famous building in Segovia is the Alcazar, a royal palace built in the early 12th century. Our tour price included admission, so we wandered the palace for a while on our own. It was destroyed by a fire in 1862 and was subsequently rebuilt. It now houses a museum for the Royal School of Artillery.

After a 1 1/2-hour drive back to Madrid, we finally made it home around 7:30pm. It was a long day so after a dinner of left-over pasta, we played a couple stimulating rounds of Rummikub before heading to bed. It was a long, but very nice day.

March 13

Yesterday we were out of our Madrid flat by 8:30 for the 4-hour drive south to Granada. Even though we kept driving in and out of rain (15 straight days) the trip was uneventful until the tire pressure light went on in the car. We stopped for air, but the light is still on, even after being reset. The same thing happened to our rental car in Croatia, so we’ll just keep our eyes on it until we get back to Lisbon.

We met our host, Manuel, who gave us all the scoop on the town. Of course, the main attraction is the Alhambra. In reading about tours the other night Peter discovered that it’s sold-out months in advance, which we didn’t know anything about…. oops. Lynn got online frantically looking for tours, tickets at the box office, the Granada Card, anyway, to get in but couldn’t find a thing available until mid-May. Just when it looked like all we’d be able to do is see it from the outside (which is amazing, but still….) she found a guided tour that had a few tickets left but not until Thursday morning. So, we decided to spend an extra night in Granada and go on the tour before we head to Malaga on Thursday.

It was a beautiful, sunny, warm (mid 60s) day and since the forecast was clouds and rain, we decided to see what we could of the town in the afternoon. We toured the Cathedral which had a very nice audio guide and the Royal Chapel. That was amazing as we saw relics from the most famous Spanish Royal couple…. Ferdinand and Isabel.  Most notably we saw Isabel’s rosary, crown and scepter as well as Ferdinand’s sword. The highlight was seeing their crypts. It was pretty cool. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures. Here’s a link to a page of pictures from google. Royal Chapel of Granada.

Then we started walking to Mirador San Nicolas where Manuel told us was a beautiful view of the Alhambra. He said that virtually of the pictures you find of the Palace are taken from the spot. He marked it on the map, but it wasn’t as easy to find as he made it sound….it never is in Europe. We followed the river but then got lost as we turned to go up the hill. Not lost exactly but we couldn’t find the overlook. We thought that if we just kept heading up the hill, we’d find it eventually. During the climb 3 questions kept popping into Lynn’s mind. 1. Are we going to find this place before one of us blows out a knee or ankle? 2. It the sky going to dump on us (by this time it was quite cloudy) before we get there? and 3. Is the view going to be worth the climb? We finally stopped to ask someone for directions and just a few minutes later we found the overlook and Lynn’s questions were answered: 1. Knees and ankles sore but intact; 2. Still cloudy but no rain; and 3. It was absolutely worth the climb.

We found a restaurant that had a gorgeous view of the Palace, so we sat outside for a while recovering from the climb and treating ourselves to a drink. By this time, it was after 5pm and we wanted to get back down the hill before dark, so we started the walk down. After just a few minutes, though, we saw a shuttle bus that was heading to city center, so we got on and rode down. We still had a 15-minute walk back to the flat but there were no hills, so it was an easy walk. We still needed dinner, so we went to a Tapas Bar for our free snacks with our drink. Lynn’s calamari only had 4 pieces and Peter had one piece of bread with pork and cheese. Certainly not enough to fill us up after not having eaten since the sandwich we ate on the drive 6 hours earlier. But again, we didn’t want to get hammered on drinks to get free tapas, so after strolling for about 30 minutes, we found a nice restaurant that served raciones or half-portions. When the plates came out, though, there was a ton of food. When Lynn asked the server that if this was a half-portion, what did the full portion look like, his response was “it’s bigger”. We’re sure he was thinking “crazy tourists; what did they think a full portion would look like.”

By the time we got home, not only was it dark, but it was 9:30pm. Usually by this time we would be snuggled in our jammies and playing Rummikub or Yahtzee but last night we pretended we were grown-ups and stayed out late. Of course, the Spaniards were just going out as we were coming in but our flat overlooks a courtyard so it’s very quiet. We were in bed just a short time later and slept super late this morning…. Lynn till 7:30 (super late for her) and Peter till almost 10am. It’s 12:15pm now and we just finished breakfast. Since Peter’s ankles took a beating yesterday and we haven’t had a rest day in quite a while, we’re going to hang close to the flat today. It’s cloudy and is supposed to rain but we may go out for a walk later. If it’s raining, we’re not moving out of the flat.

Tomorrow is an early day as we have to get out of the flat and to the Alhambra no later than 7:45am for our 8:30 tour. It should last about 3 hours then it’s off to Malaga. It’s less than 2 hours away so we’re going to take the scenic route and follow the coast. We hope the warm weather stays with us but keep praying for the rain to clear.

Okay, so now you’re all caught up. Thanks for your patience and we’ll talk again soon. Love to all.

March 11

We started the day by getting back on the Hop On/Hop Off bus as our tickets were good until 2pm. It was about a 15-minute ride to the Royal Palace which was our main stop for the day. It was built in the mid-17th century and has almost 1.5 million square feet. It’s technically the official residence of the royal family, they don’t actually live there. It is, though, used for official functions.

We were only allowed to take photos in the first couple of public spaces; not at all in the individual rooms so we pulled a few from google. We did the self-guided tour using the audio guide. The rooms were beautiful, and we really enjoyed the tour. It only took about an hour but then we spent a little more time in the armory.

After the Palace we walked across the square to the Cathedral, but it was the middle of noon Mass, so we didn’t get to see too much of it.

On our way to a large park about a 1/2 mile away we stopped for lunch. This is where we had our biggest challenge of the day, at least Lynn did. She ordered a Romano pizza which was a ham/mushroom pizza. Food came out and the pizza had not only artichokes but olives, which she hates. The waiter took the pizza back shaking his head that the cook had made the wrong one. The second one came out about 15 minutes later (of course Peter is done with his lunch by now) and this one still has artichokes but instead of olives there are red peppers. Called the waiter over again. Shaking his head once more he takes the pizza back and returns just a few minutes later with the exact same pizza minus the peppers. When Lynn pointed out the artichokes, he asked if she wanted a cheese pizza instead. What she really wanted was the pizza she had ordered but it didn’t look like that was going to happen, so she gave up.

As if that wasn’t enough, by the time we left the restaurant, it was raining again. Looking at the pictures of the palace taken from the outside you might think we finally had a nice day…. not so. We stood in line for tickets in the rain and later even though the sun was out, it was crazy cold…. low 40s with a 20-mph wind. Peter even bought a knit hat he was so cold. So now add rain to that (ever try keeping an umbrella open in a 20-mph wind; not happening), Lynn being hungry, and we were ready to call it quits for the day. Luckily, we got on the bus just before our tickets expired. The plan was to ride the rest of the circuit and get off back at the stop closest to our house. It took almost an hour (during which time the sun came out again) and we headed for our flat. Except, wait…. turns out we got off on stop 6 not 7 so we walked in the wrong direction. Once we figured it out and turned around, we decided to stop for coffee/hot chocolate and since Lynn still hadn’t eaten (by this time it’s about 3pm) we had a delicious piece of cheesecake which they served with a scoop of ice cream. It was great but by the time we left the restaurant, guess what? Yep, it was raining again. Luckily, we were only about 5 minutes from home, so we didn’t get too wet. Seriously, this crazy weather is getting really old. We’ve never seen weather conditions change so fast so many times in one day, even in Chicago. But there’s nothing we can do about it, so we never leave home without our umbrellas and cold-weather gear.

Tomorrow we’re off on a day trip to Segovia and Toledo. We could have done it on our own but decided to get a tour instead. Hopefully it will be a small group like we had to Fatima. Talk with you tomorrow.

March 10

For the 12th straight day, we’ve had to deal with rain but luckily, we were indoors for several hours at the famous Prado art museum. But, because the line was long, we got pretty wet, although, not as wet as we could have. We had been standing in line for about 30 minutes when a guy starts walking down the line talking about free tickets. Apparently, a couple from LA were tired of standing in the rain (without umbrellas…. really???) to get into the museum so they were giving away their tickets. Of course, we snatched them up which got us out of the “buy a ticket” line and into the “get into the museum” line. This line was at least moving, which was not the case in the the buy a ticket line, so it was only another 10 or so minutes before we finally got in out of the rain.

No photos are allowed inside the museum so there’s nothing to show you but here’s a link to the website that shows their collection. We’re sure you’ll recognize some of the masterpieces.  Museo de Prado

We bought the audio guide tour, where you punch in a number, and it tells you about the painting. On the lower level we stopped to look and listen at many of the paintings. But the time we got to the 1st floor, we only stopped occasionally. We didn’t even make it to the 2nd floor. After about an hour Peter mentioned that it was all pretty overwhelming (wait until he sees the Louvre in Paris) and it really is. Everywhere you look there’s another amazing painting until they all start to blur together. It is just incredible how the artists were able to make these inanimate objects really come alive and have such depth. All in all, we spent about 2 1/2 hours in the museum. By that time, we were just strolling through the galleries without really looking at anything, so we decided it was time to leave.

The #1 stop for the hop on/hop off bus was at the museum, so we bought a 24-hour ticket and hopped on. We needed lunch so we decided to ride until we found an area with some restaurant options instead of wandering around in the rain on foot trying to find something. We ate at a great little cafe/bar that featured jambon (ham) sandwiches. It doesn’t sound like much, but they were delicious. Spaniards have a love affair with jambon; there are about 50 different varieties. Walking the streets, we pass stores with ham hocks hanging in the window. The restaurant had them hanging over the bar. Peter’s sandwich was listed in the menu as the best jambon sandwich in the world. While we’re not sure about that, it was quite tasty. As we were walking in the streets around Plaza Mayor after lunch, we saw this sign…. think it says it all.

After lunch we hopped back on the bus to take more of the tour. It was still raining so we thought this was a good way to see some of the city while staying out of the rain.

Peter took these pictures from the bus. You can certainly see how dreary it was today.

We got about halfway around the circuit when we got to Plaza Mayor, the main square in Madrid. As luck would have it, the rain had stopped so we hopped off to walk around the plaza. As soon as we got there it started to rain again but not very hard and it stopped fairly quickly. Here’s a video Lynn took of the Plaza. Plaza Mayor

Since it looked like the sun was going to break out, we decided to walk back to our flat which was only about 15 minutes away. By the time we got home the clouds were gone and the sun was out. It didn’t last long and about 30 minutes later it was pouring again. This is getting really old.

Tomorrow we’re going to tour the Royal Palace and Cathedral, then see whatever else we can on the bus. Our bus ticket is good until about 2pm so we should get to finish the circuit.

By the way, here’s a picture of the place Lynn was supposed to turn yesterday to get to our building.  Seriously would you have turned into a pedestrian zone? Look to the back right of the picture and you’ll see a yellow building. There’s a street there and our flat is down that street.

Anyway, it’s getting late, so we’ll close for now. Love to all and remember to spring forward! We’ll do that next weekend.