Our Trip Starts With a Few Days in Madrid

September 23 & 24

The travel from Santa Fe to Madrid went off without a hitch. We headed down to Albuquerque Monday afternoon because we had an early flight on Tuesday. On the drive down we noticed that some of the trees on the Sandias had already started turning colors. You can see the patches of color in this photo.

The planes were on time and our luggage got here the same time we did, so that counts as success. A lot of the flight from Atlanta to Madrid was pretty bumpy and the seat belt light was on most of the time.

We got to the hotel and into our room by mid-morning. Patricia took a little rest while I set out to do a little exploring. We are almost exactly 1.5 miles from the Prado. I walked down there and back and checked out some side streets.

It has been quite a few years since we have been here, but at least the Prado is still a good reference point. One of the things I did not remember from previous visits was the Neptune fountain. [Editorial check it is the Cybele Fountain.]

We are located on the Paseo de Castellana and there is plenty to see on this street alone.

There were rain showers on and off throughout the afternoon. We got sprinkled on when we were exploring the area around the hotel. But we did find a nice little bakery and a mercado. We also found a church—La Virgen Milagrosa—that dominates the other buildings in the neighborhood. If we get a chance, we will go back to look at the inside.

Tomorrow’s big stop is the Prado, but we called it a day pretty early this evening.