Portugal Day 6 aka Spain Day 9 - Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Woke up this morning and (finally) had a nice long workout with RRR and Sharpie. We made one final trip to the Sheraton's concierge lounge for breakfast. After we ate, we watched a few episodes of Queer Eye (which seems to be on an endless marathon in Portugal!) and headed out a bit early for the train station. This turned out to be a good thing since my timetable from Rail Europe was outdated and our train to Lisbon was 25 minutes earlier than we anticipated! We got on the correct express train (versus yesterday's 3 hour local train) and were on our way to Lisbon where we will be catching an evening flight to Madrid.

We got off the train and hopped in two cabs to the airport. I was a bit worried about security and customs in a country where I do not speak the language and was bringing farm products across borders but all was for naught. My bro-in-law, Mr. RRR, didn't fare so well, being cited for some water bottles that were in remote pockets of his knapsack. Nothing like being yelled at in a language you don't understand!

We had some time to kill so we ate at the self-service cafeteria. It actually wasn't that bad. I had a cured ham sandwich with some veggie soup with a carrot base and a few green beans, finished with a touch of cream. After lunch, we checked in and waited some more...eventually deciding to have some wine and chocolate - just to pass time of course!

It was finally time to board our plane which was very Jet Blue sans televisions. We all squeezed in a row and Sharpie and I mapped out a loose itinerary for our two days in Madrid.

We got to our hotel which was a bit dumpy but at least it was clean. We went to bed and got ready for an early day of exploring in Madrid.