Spain Day 10 - Madrid

I woke up pretty tired this morning, most likely due to the fact that my bed was on a slope and I spent most of the night dreaming I was sliding downhill...

We headed downstairs for the continental breakfast which couldn't compare to our breakfast in Porto but it wasn't that bad.

After we ate, we headed out to Plaza Mayor. It was pretty but since it was a bit early for the Madrid locals, we just saw a bunch of delivery trucks heading to the various cafes situated around the Plaza.

We spent some time searching for the Mercado San Miguel but it was being gutted so that market visit was a no-go. Instead we walked up to Puerta del Sol, where again we found ourselves S.O.L. for finding a market. We did stumble upon a nice deli where we stocked up on some meats. Then we finally found an indoor market and bought some fruit, bread, olives and cookies for our day of exploring.

With our goodies in tow, we went to the Jardins Botanico where we wandered around and I took a ridiculous amount of pictures. There were a lot of beautiful flowers, plants and trees but not everything was in bloom - so I can only imagine how gorgeous it is in the spring!

From there it was a short walk uphill to the Park Retiro. I expected the park to be a lot like Central Park but instead found it to be more lush and peaceful. We stopped there for a picnic lunch and recharged our batteries since we were all a bit weary - I think yesterday's big travel day caught up to us!

RRR and Mr. RRR headed back to the hotel for a siesta and Mitch, Sharpie and I headed off to the Reina Sofia to enjoy some modern art. One of my favorites was Dali's Girl and the Sea and I did the touristy thing and bought a postcard of the painting in the museum gift shop. We also enjoyed Picasso's Guernica, a depiction of the 1937 attack on the small town in Northern Spain that Picasso painted for the 1937 World's Fair, and the sketches that lead to this work of art.

We eventually made our way back to the Hotel Opera and took a much needed siesta. We were a bit restless, so RRR, Mr. RRR, Sharpie and I took a short walk up the street and settled in at a sidewalk cafe for some drinks and to soak up the late afternoon sun. After blowing about twelve Euro on two plates of potato chips and a dish of olives (you would think we learned our lesson in Sintra) we enjoyed some potent sangria.

Later, we headed to the area of Salamanca and had tapas at Jose Luis. We shared a delicious tortilla (one of the better ones of the trip) which was served on toasts with a creamy potato center. We also had salmon with cheese on toasts, cured jamon, a couple of ham croquettes and our requisite shrimp and garlic.

We were going to order some more but our waiter told us that we had ordered enough for the five of us and basically our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. (Little does he know!) Mr. RRR departed from his usual meat-fest and enjoyed some delightful green beans with ham.

After a detour through Puerta de Sol we finished the evening off with a trip to Chocolateria San Gines in Royal Madrid for some wine, chocolate and churros. Much better than our churros in Sevilla! By this point the sangria and wine from dinner had gotten the best of me and I couldn't even finish my last glass of wine.

We stumbled home and I had a restless booze-filled sleep...