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<\/a>MADRID<\/p><\/div>\n
One typically doesn\u2019t look forward to 13 hours in the air plus another three or four sitting around an airport waiting, and I certainly wasn\u2019t looking forward to the \u2018getting there\u2019 part of this journey to Madrid, but I have to say, this trip was pretty painless.\u00a0 Two reasons: 1) our group of ten travelers was always entertaining, typically grabbing the attention of those around us with our laughter, either in the airport or on the plane, and 2) British Airways<\/strong>, which has now become my favorite airline.\u00a0 From Los Angeles<\/strong> to London<\/strong>, we were in \u2018Economy Plus\u2019<\/strong>, which had the benefits of a little more legroom and unlimited free alcohol.\u00a0 And it seemed that the more unlimited alcohol we had the more unlimited fun we had.\u00a0 Since our seats were not together, but rather spread throughout the Economy Plus area, our conversations with each other were spread across the entire section and seemed to get the rest of the passengers involved in our good time.\u00a0 Making it even better was that the flight attendants handling our section were good, fun and funny.\u00a0\u00a0 Love British Airways!<\/p>\n Rooftop bar at Puerta de Alcala<\/p><\/div>\n Once landing in Madrid and met by our bus driver, we walked what seemed several miles to get to the bus as buses are not allowed to pick up outside of where the luggage is picked up.\u00a0 Not sure why.\u00a0 We get to our beautiful hotel, Puerta de Alcala<\/strong> in Madrid, around 6:00 pm local time, which is 9 hours ahead of California.\u00a0 We all had varying amounts of sleep on our redeye flight, so we decided to catch a quick nap, change the clothes that we\u2019d been wearing for the last 24 hours, and were now a bit ‘gamey’, and meet at the hotel\u2019s rooftop bar at 7:30 for dinner.<\/p>\n The rooftop bar at sunset was spectacular as was our server.\u00a0 We had our first introduction to tapas<\/strong> as we ordered 10-12 different dishes ranging from Peruvian chicken<\/strong> to octopus<\/strong> \u2013 complemented by various drinks including some very nice Spanish Rioja wine, all very delicious.\u00a0 A night cap in the downstairs bar and our body\u2019s said, \u201cI don\u2019t know what time you think it is, but I need some rest!\u201d<\/p>\n Madrid’s finest<\/p><\/div>\n After a good night\u2019s sleep and a great buffet breakfast at the hotel, we met our tour guide, Eva, who would be taking us on a walking tour of Madrid<\/strong>.\u00a0 We walked through all parts of the city (six hours worth), seeing the palace, the world-famous museum, the park, the opera house, all the major sites in Madrid, with Eva giving us great detail on the history of this magnificent city. \u00a0It\u2019s really hard to imagine the amazing architecture and relate it to America, where something in the US is an antique if it\u2019s one to two hundred years old; here, there are things that are thousands of years old.<\/p>\n Before we head out to dinner at a restaurant just a few blocks away, we meet at the hotel bar and have each person tell the group what their favorite part of the day was.\u00a0 While the guys listed things like the palace, the museum, a great deli, the girls were most interested in the young, studly, local police officers who were guarding the congressional building.\u00a0 OK, maybe it wasn’t their favorite, but it was close!<\/p>\n Dinner in Madrid<\/p><\/div>\n We walked to our restaurant for our 7:30 reservation; the place was empty except for one other couple.\u00a0 Again, another great dinner of salmon, veal, Ox tail, along with some great olives and bread.\u00a0 By the time we left at 9:30, the place was packed and people were still coming in for dinner.\u00a0 After dinner we wandered the streets for a bit, stopped to have a drink and discovered a Michelin three-star restaurant and made a reservation for tomorrow night.<\/p>\n Our last day in Madrid is \u2018on our own\u2019, so the group scatters to all part of the city; with everyone hitting the Prada Museum<\/strong>, as it holds one the world\u2019s greatest collection of art; works from Raphael, Ruben, Velazquez, El Greco, Goya, Rembrandt<\/strong>, just to name a few. \u00a0I was amazed at the size of the paintings; many of them were 8-10 feet wide and 12-14 feet high, some bigger.\u00a0 After the museum we walked another couple of miles through the city to eat lunch at the \u2018World\u2019s Oldest Restaurant\u2019 \u2013 it\u2019s been open since 1725, but we needed to make a reservation as it was Saturday and the city was buzzing with activity, so we never got in, but the Warrens and the Webbs made it, as we saw them dining there when we arrived.\u00a0 Then back to the hotel for a little rest before we topped off the evening with dinner at a Michelin 3-star restaurant<\/strong> within walking distance from our hotel.\u00a0 After tapas for two days, a nice steak tasted mighty good!<\/p>\n Malaga without the rain<\/p><\/div>\n Sunday is ‘moving day, so it\u2019s up early for breakfast then a bus to the train station and a two-and-a-half-hour train ride to Malaga,<\/strong> where our \u2018official Collette \u2018Spain coast\/Portuguese Riviera Tour\u2019 starts.\u00a0\u00a0 We arrived around 1:00 pm in a fairly heavy rainstorm, check into our hotel and meet up with the other travelers at the \u2018Welcome Meeting\u2019.<\/p>\n Next report is on Thursday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow One typically doesn\u2019t look forward to 13 hours in the air plus another three or four sitting around an airport waiting, and I certainly wasn\u2019t looking forward to the \u2018getting there\u2019 part of this journey to Madrid, … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/rooftop2-300x220.jpg\")
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