Madrid
So our final leg was out of rainy Costa Rica and on to Madrid. It wasn’t the best way to end the Central America leg of the trip, but we were there at the wrong time of year and didn’t have enough time to get off the beaten track.
It was a little odd to still be speaking Spanish at the end of an 11 hour fight. We had been viewing Madrid as the first weekend home rather than our last away, mainly because we were meeting my parents there. They were supposed to be getting there before us, so we were a little surprised to find that they weren’t there when we checked in at the hotel recommended to us by my sister. They eventually made it though – only a three hour delay from London.
How nice it was though to sit in the sun and be able to relax over a wine, rather than feel you have to be in and out of a place as fast as possible. Apart from the Gringo places, eating and drinking is mainly a functional activity in South and Central America. We had a lovely couple of days wandering around the city, and some really nice relaxed meals too. So nice to enjoy the meal rather than feel that you are only in the restaurant for fuel.
We really enjoyed the Palacio Real, which was the only real tourist place we visited…Nick went to the Prado gallery as well, but I was suffering from jet lag so decided that sleep was far more important.
After a year of feeling that we always needed to be doing something (otherwise we felt we were wasting the opportunity we had given ourselves) it was a real luxury to just relax!
Tags: Madrid, Spain, Travel
Jenni
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