2geonomads

Madrid
Sunday 4th October 2015

Wake up to reasonable weather and in keeping with our promise of the previous day we get as far away as possible from the culinary delights of Hotel Europa.

Our room top floor 2nd from left

Heading west from Puerta del Sol square we find a small cafe near to Plaza de Isabel  where we enjoy a more than passable breakfast special before continuing up to Plaza de la Encarnacion, Plaza del Oriente and the Palacio Real. This is a very attractive part of the city with many fine cafes and tapas bars but the enormous Palacio totally dominates the whole area. It occurs to me that the 30 percent youth unemployment could be wiped out in one fell swoop if the youngsters could be set to work keeping what must be hundreds of palace rooms clean.

Today has been designated to be a walking day so proceed on a fairly long walk down past the palace, the Basiilica de San Francisco El Grande and finally arrive at the southern end of the famous El Rastro Market, reputed to be the largest flea market in Europe. The teeming masses attest to its popularity and Gail is able to buy two beautiful scarves for 3 Euros each. No day would be complete without  ‘ Gail ‘ moment and as we are working our way through literally hundreds of stalls and thousands of people Gail casually comments that being here reminds her that we must visit Busselton market again soon after we get home. I am still trying to work out in what way  El Rastro, with a population probably higher than the city of Busselton, is reminiscent of our home town’s offering.

The last stop before the hotel is the impressive Plaza Major although the scaffolding curse hits the Irelands again as one end of the Plaza is covered in drapes purporting to show how the windows normally look.

By now we are both dragging our feet somewhat so after a quick takeaway snack we get to bed at civilised hour.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret