Spain Summer 2018
Madrid
Day 1
Arrival at Madrid airport was smooth and easy. The luggage was already on the conveyor, when we came there, so we didn´t have to wait. after getting our luggage. We went towards the rental car counter (Interrent, located at the departure hall), discovering, that there are shops to buy SIM cards (Vodafone and Orange seem to be very common in Spain).
So we got a prepaid data SIM card including 10 GB of data, free google maps use for 14 days, for 40€. At the rental car counter we had to wait for a while, but eventually we got exactly the car, we ordered online, including the child seat we preordered. After finding the car at the parking, and packing everything in the very big trunk, we drove to our hotel (Hotel Sterling), located in Gran Via, not far from Plaza Mayor.
Parking with the big minibus turned out to be a bit tricky, because of the height and width of the car, which makes it difficult to find a covered parking. The narrow roads of Spanish cities made it even more difficult too. So one came to the other, and driving alone, to park the car, I hit a post, which was not visible to me. From that moment on, whenever we had to park the car, I asked Niki to guide me.
After we refreshed and changed clothes, we decided to go for a walk. So we went to Plaza Mayor, which was one of the spots we wanted to see. Near Plaza Mayor, we found a very nice and also famous place (Chocolaterie San Gines) for Churros with hot chocolate.
With the nice food in our stomachs and new energy we walked all the way to the Hard Rock Café Madrid, to buy our first “souvenir”. And further on, to get really tired, we walked back to our hotel. But before we reached the hotel, we had a very rich dinner. Actually we were misled by the restaurants sign (TAPAS), and thought all the dishes on the menu would be served as Tapas, so we ordered to much food.
We ended our day falling asleep very tired, but looking forward to our journey around Spain.
Lisbon
Day 2 and 3
We left Madrid to drive to Lisbon. The distance of approx. 630 km was covered in about 7,5 hours. No toll road on the Spanish side, but therefore on the Portuguese side the road toll was higher. Restareas on Spanish highways are on a quite low standard, but everything is clean. The rest areas along Portuguese highways were excellent.
After arrival in Lisbon, we found, that since it was weekend, it was possible to park at the roadside without any parking ticket. We stayed in a hostel (Marques Soul) near the city center, everything was easy to reach. Hard Rock Café was around 25 minutes walk, so we had our location for dinner and some souvenirs for the HRC collection. Anyway, it became late, until everybody was sleeping, but next morning, we woke up early, because we had our 2 little “alarm clocks”.
After a nice breakfast in a café nearby, we strolled along a flea market towards city center. It was almost 11 am, when we at a central place, where many tour guides with colorful umbrellas waited for customers. So we decided to join a free guided walking tour. Basically those tours are free of charge, but at the end of the tour you may decide on how much tip you want to give to the tour guide.
Following the tour was pretty difficult, because especially the old quarter of Lisbon has a lot of stairs, but with the help of others following the tour, we were able to carry the baby stroller up and down the hills of Lisbon. So in the end it was a very good experience with lots of information about Lisbon. We paid 20,- € tip for the tour.
After the tour finished, we walked to the seaside from where we took the tram to Belem. We had two reasons to come to this area. First, the very first bakery to sell the famous egg tart is located here. And second, there is a very nice monastery at Belem.
We found that the bakery had a very long queue, so we decided to get the eggtart somewhere else, which turned out to be as good as we expected.
The monastery was interesting, since it contains the tomb of Vasco Da Gama, a famous Portuguese sailor. Furthermore, we found that Belem has a monument to commemorate the Portuguese sailors who conquered many parts of the world.
Later we went back to city center by tram and took a bus to go back to the hostel. We followed the recommendation of the host at the hostel and had our dinner in a local restaurant nearby. We planned to go to bed early, but it seemed to become normal to have a late dinner and sleep late as well.
Seville
Day 4
After we had a breakfast in a Café just neighboring the hostel in Lisbon, we filled our water stock at a supermarket. Water is quite cheap in Spain and Portugal.
We decided to drive south from Lisbon, to pass the beautiful area of the Algarve, along the coast line towards Spain. Since we didn´t plan for any stops on the way from Lisbon to Seville, we covered the 465 km in about 8 hours. With several stops whenever it was necessary, we reached Seville around 7:30 pm.
Back in Spain, we were able to use Google maps again, so it was easy to find the Hotel in Seville (Un Patio Al Sur). But finding the hotel already gave us an idea, of what we experienced later that evening. We checked in to the hotel. The Staff was very friendly, but they didn´t know a suitable parking for the big car. So after dropping our luggage, and a quick refreshing wash, we had to leave the hotel for some evening entertainment.
We had prebooked tickets for a flamenco show at the Museo del Baile Flamenco, including the entrance to the museum. As the museum wasn´t very far from the hotel, we decided to find a parking near the museum, so we drove there. This turned out to be a bad decision. The closer we got to the museum, the narrower the road became. When we were in Madrid, I already goggled the measures of the Renault Traffic (h=197cm, w=228cm with mirrors). Now we faced alleys of 190cm width, and very sharp curves. I was sweating blood and water maneuvering the big van through those “streets”, and in some places we had to fold in both mirrors. Eventually I had to go through a one way road, against traffic, to get out of the trap. And lucky as we were, we found a covered parking with sufficient height and width at the next corner. Only approx. 200 m from the museum, and 900 m from our hotel, it cost us 17 € to park the car overnight.
So we went to the museum, and explored the exhibition, before the flamenco show took place at 7 pm. The show was really entertaining, and even the kids enjoyed it. Benjamin became a bit bored after a while, but when I gave him the freedom to get up and walk, he started dancing too. The show took one hour and it left us amazed with the rhythm and the passion of the musicians and dancers.
All of us were hungry after a long day, so we strolled to Seville city center. But after a while, we couldn´t decide for a restaurant, so we ended up at BK for an unhealthy burger. On our way we passed the cathedral of Seville, which has a long history. It´s bell tower was the minaret of the mosque which was located in the same place, before. The base of the building complex is over 1000 years old. Once the cathedral was the biggest church in the world, surpassing the previously biggest one (Hagia Sofia) in Istanbul.
Of course, we went to the local Hard Rock Café, we won´t miss any of the branches, if we can. After the souvenir shopping and the dinner we went a bit around the city, to see a least a little of Seville, before we had to leave to Cordoba the next morning.
Cordoba
Day 5 and 6
We got up early, because we had a lot of program for this day. The plan was to drive from Seville to Gibraltar, than passing Marbella and Malaga to get to Cordoba. So we were at the covered parking shortly after 9 am, when it opened. We packed our things and kids into the van, and off we went to Gibraltar.
Including a stop for fuel and another to rest for a few minutes, we made it to Gibraltar in 3 hours. Actually crossing to boarder felt like taking longer, than driving there. However, we had found information about a cable car taking people up to the very top of Gibraltar, so we went straight to the parking beside that. Unfortunately the queue for the cable car was pretty long, so we adjusted for an hour or more waiting, when we heard a loud female voice. The woman that belonged to that voice was offering a minibus trip to the top of the rock. After checking the length of the queue and comparing the prices (30 €/person for the cable car vs. 35 €/person for the mini bus), we decided to accept the offer and join the minibus tour.
It turned out to be a very good decision. The mini bus companies have special permission to drive up the rock, and they are much quicker than the cable car. Even though the view from the cable car might be nicer, we would choose the mini bus again.
It was an amazing feeling, when the lady drove up the hill along the narrow roads, and the view is jaw dropping. The first stop was a cave system which during a few occasions throughout the year is used as a concert “hall”. We had about 20 minutes to walk through the cave and meet the mini bus (queuing with others) at the entrance/exit again. The entrance fee to the cave was included in the tour. The next stop was a glass view platform about 400m above ground, named Skywalk inaugurated by Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker). The view from here was very good. Not far across the Mediterranean Sea, the northern coastline of Morocco was visible.
The minibus moved on, and met us at another point, a bit further down the road to take us to another lower viewpoint right above the airfield of Gibraltar Airport. The runway of the airport was built between the former island of Gibraltar and the Spanish mainland, Gibraltar a peninsular.
The complete tour took about 1,5 hours and was very enjoyable, not only because of the wonderful view, but also because our guide/driver knew a lot about her home, Gibraltar.
Before we went back to the Spanish mainland, we went to the walking street of Gibraltar, where we had some Moroccan style food for lunch, and also got a souvenir from the lovely “island” between Europe and Africa.
It took us only 15minutes to cross the border again, and another 1 hour 15 minutes to get to Marbella. Our reason to come here is another Hard Rock Café, to get a PIN and a Charm for our collection. As usual we had to get a fridge magnet for a friend in Malaysia as well. We found a supermarket to buy some child meals and had a coffee at Starbucks. Because of the unplanned length of the Gibraltar visit, we had to skip the city of Malaga, in order to be able to reach Cordoba around 8 pm. It was another 2,5 hours/ 215km drive from Marbella to Cordoba, making it a total of 490 km from Seville to Cordoba. We had to arrive in Cordoba at this time, because the representative of the accommodation (Apartamentos Céspedescinco) was waiting for us. He guided us to a covered parking (12 € per day), and helped us to bring our luggage to the apartment. The apartment was located on the second floor, with narrow stairs, but it was worth the climb. We had a whole one bedroom apartment with a kitchenette (including washing machine) for ourselves. Even a dining table was available. At the same floor the restaurant of the hotel had a terrace for their guests, from which the mesquita of Cordoba was visible.
After the usual refresh (quick face wash, diapers change, etc.) we went out, to stroll around the area. It was a nice warm evening, the temperature during daytime usually exceeds 40°C in summer. Because it was late already, we decided to have a BK takeaway again. We ate at the apartment and went to bed soon, because the next morning we had a pre booked guided tour.
After preparing all of ourselves for a long and hot day, we went out to find a place to have breakfast. We sat down at a little square, not far from the meeting point for the guided tour, and had a delicious breakfast. To find the meeting point at Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos was easy, we were the first to meet our tour guide. The group wasn´t too big, so it was easy to follow the explanations. We started at a garden with wonderful flowers and enough shade to escape the rising sun (the tour began at 10:00 am). We learned about the history Cordoba and about the current use of the garden, which is also a place for wedding celebrations, free of charge for the locals. Once we finished at the garden, we went into the city, where we visited the backyard of a townhouse, actually an open terrace, usually accompanied by a stair, and some nice decorations. The tour guide explained, that there is a yearly competition for the nicest backyard, with high prices to be won.
The final attraction, the tour took us to, was the mesquita. The foundations of this very impressive building date back more than a thousand years. A glass floor right after the entrance showcase the remains of the first chapel, build in this location. During the Islamic empire the place was bought by muslim and converted into a mosque. Due to increasing population, the mosque was extended several times, and in the last step, the space was doubled, providing enough space for over 20000 people to pray at the same time. After the fall of the Islamic empire, the mosque was converted into a church, but most of the place was unchanged. The architecture is very impressive and beautiful. Interesting is the mix of religious elements. You can find elements of three major religions here. The mesquita is a very beautiful building, and one coming to Cordoba, should not miss visiting the place.
The tour ended at the church inside the mesquita, where we learned, that German technology is much better than the Spanish equivalent. The church has to organs, one of which was built by a German company, whereas the other one was built by a Spanish company. The Spanish one was out of order a few years after it was finished, and never repaired, whereas the German organ is still functioning. Also very impressive, is the seating for the choir, which is made from wood. It took over 30 years to finish the carving of it.
After the tour ended, we spend another 30 minutes in the mesquita to take pictures and see as much of this place, as possible. Before leaving, we filled our water bottle at the fountain in the yard of the mesquita.
In the afternoon we explored the city. There´s an old roman bridge across the river. Cordoba has many small alleys, not wide enough for cars, but there are also a lot of tourists. The temperature rise above 40°C, so we flee the heat into a Starbucks Coffee Shop and enjoyed the air condition for a while.
In the evening we had our first paella for dinner.
The next morning, we left the hotel around 10 am, but we didn´t leave Cordoba yet. A bit outside of the city, the ruins of Medina Al-Zahra, an old palace building, recently added to the list of world heritage sides, is worth a visit. The side is free of charge for European visitors, whilst non Europeans have to pay an entrance fee of 1,50 €. Additional each visitor has to buy a bus ticket for 2,50 €, because the parking is quite far from the park. For children below 8 years, the entrance is free and the bus is also.
The place is interesting, but a bit difficult to visit with a baby stroller. Anyway, as usual we managed this as well.
Granada
Day 7
After visiting the Medina Al-Zahra, we left Cordoba to go to Granada. The distance of 210 km was covered in little more than 2,5 hours, reaching there in the early afternoon. We found a parking, hmmm, no better, we though we found a suitable parking. But when we entered the underground parking on the ground level, a very friendly, but strict guard tried to tell us in Spanish, that is is impossible to go to the lower floors with this size of car. Unfortunately there where only reserved parking lots on the ground level, so he made a phone call, after which he directed us to one of the parking spots. We packed our things and went to the hotel(Hotel Costa Azul) to check in. The room had two bedrooms, so we had enough space again. We checked in google maps, how far it was to the Alhambra, which was our major reason to come to Granada, we had tickets for the general admission at 6:00 pm, and even though it was quite tough to stroll up the hill with the baby stroller, we reached there on time. The first thing we found out was, that baby strollers are not allowed inside the Alhambra, so we had to surrender it at a storage near the entrance. Even though we were about 10 minutes earlier than the time on our entry tickets, we still had to wait for more than 30 minutes. Finally we entered the Alhambra around 6:30 pm. Many people were still queuing, and I heard someone walking along the queue to ask guests with 6:00 pm entry tickets to come to the front.
The Alhambra is a very beautiful palace, which was preserved after the fall of the Islamic empire. It was the last stronghold of the empire, and later became the royal court of Ferdinand and Isabella, where Christopher Columbus the royal endorsement for his expedition. Nowadays it is showcase of the Islamic architecture and one of the major touristic spots in Spain at all.
The Alhambra has wonderful samples of architecture as well as beautifully setup gardens such as the “Palacio de Generalife”. We spent almost 3 hours here, before we took a bus back to city center.
Again we had a late dinner in an alley near our hotel, before we went to bed with all the beautiful pictures in mind!
Valencia + Barcelona
Day 8 + 9 + 10
With a tear in one eye, we left the marvelous city of Granada at the at the foot of the Sierra Nevada. We turned west to pass Spains highest mountain range with impressive views and despite the summer heat, still some snow covered summits. Because of the long journey to Valencia, we decided to give it a break at Cartagena, even though that meant to drive a bit longer. Due to this decision, we passed an area called “Desierto de Tabernas”. Suddenly the surrounding looked like taken from a “Wild West” movie. A quick online search reveled, that we crossed the only European desert, actually a semi desert, but to us it looked pretty much like a desert we knew from old movies.
The distance, from Granada to Cartagena, of 300 km was driven in a bit more than three hours. Unfortunately Cartagena didn´t fulfill our expectations, which is why we just stopped for some refreshments and soon went further on to Valencia.
We reached the Hotel (Aparthotel Valencia) around 7 pm after another 265 km, covered in 2,5 hours. Again we had a small apartment with two bedrooms, so we decided to have a dinner at the dining table. Meanwhile the washing machine was running to get some of our laundry clean again. Later we had clothes hanging on every piece of furniture to dry everything until the morning. And so it became late again, before we got to sleep.
We had bought some things for breakfast the day before, so we sat at the dining table again in the morning, to have a fortifying morning meal, before we left to Valencia city center. Valencia hosts one of the latest additions to the Hard Rock Café chain in Europe, so no doubt for us, we had to go there to get some more merchandise. Our next destination, Barcelona, was only 350 km away from Valencia, hence we strolled around the city for some minor shopping. Around lunchtime we left city center, and drove to a beach outside of town, to stick our feet in the Mediterranean sea. It was very hot, especially the sand, which hurt my feet, so it was really relaxing to chill them in the fairly warm water.
The ride to Barcelona took approx. 4 hours, we arrived there around 7pm. After finding a parking near the hotel (this time it cost us 35€/night), we checked in to the hotel (Hotel Curious) in a side road of La Rambla, a quite popular street for evening strolls.
The hotel was very pricey, which I related to a higher standard, but it turned up, that this hotel was at best on par with the Formula One hotels in France. The room hat a very minimalistic interior, not even a kettle was available. We refreshed ourselves, and then went out for dinner at the local branch of our favorite Café, the Hard Rock Café, combining that with the purchase of PIN, T-Shirt and things for friends. Because we were tired from the journey, we went to bed earlier. We also wanted to be prepared for the coming day of sightseeing.
The breakfast served at the hotel was quite good, so we could leave the hotel full of energy for a day of walking. We had tickets for a tour at the Sagrada Familia, so we walked slowly towards the unfinished church. We arrived there about an hour before our tour, so we sat down in a park and watched people walking by. Unbelievable, there are Chinese couples coming to Europe for wedding pictures in front of a church that still has cranes standing around it. Either the photographer does a lot of Photoshop/ processing afterwards, or they really don´t care much.
The Sagrada Familia has only one visitor entrance. Only pre booked tickets are possible, there is no way to buy a ticket on the spot. But you can buy tickets for the next day. Since we had our pre booked tickets, we only had to find the right tour company guiding us through the beautiful church. We had some issues, because the booking didn´t consider our two babies, but eventually we got to enter the church. The security control is even better than on many Asian airports, but we had no explosives or weapons packed today, so we were granted access. The outer design of this church is much different from any church I had seen before. Modern and old fashioned at the same time. Gaudi, the architect, wanted to create a building for everybody. His church was meant for poor and rich people equally. He had to follow some religious standards, such as featuring the usual religious relics and designs, but at the same time he integrated a lot of nature into the design/architecture. We were told, that at the time they began building the church, some modern construction methods were not yet developed, so it was quite unsure, if the church would ever be finished the way Mr. Gaudi planned it. Still about 50% of the building are unfinished, but the ambitious schedule, show during the tour, promises the eventual inauguration in 2026, which is only 144 years after the groundbreaking. So there is still hope for the new airport in Berlin. The tour took 1,5 hours, after which we had some time to explore the building on our own. The light and color play inside is absolutely amazing, I had never seen such before.
Beside the basilica Sagrada Familia, the area also showcases a replica of a school, which was built for the children of the workers during the early days of the construction. It was very interesting to see, that Gaudi didn´t make it a simple building, instead he applied his very unique architecture to this simple building as well. Our last stop inside the basilica was the museum in the basement, showing some of the models Gaudi built for his work on the project. A replica of his studio can also be seen here.
After our visit to the wonderful church, we decided to see more of Gaudis work, and walked towards the Casa Milá, less than 2 km away. When we arrived there, we found, that the entrance ticket was quit expensive (25,-€), so we decided not to go inside, but only see it from the street. We had seen pictures of the rooftop of the building at sunset. But it was still a few hours until sunset, so it seemed not promising to enter the building for some nice photos.
From Casa Milá, it was another 2 km back to our hotel, so we pushed ourselves to keep walking. We were hungry, and a bit tired, so it became quite a long stroll. Surprising to see, that at the Place de Catalunya, our kids still found enough energy to case after thousands of pigeons gathering there. Still hungry, or even more hungry after the pigeon case, we found a nice restaurant, offering something for everybodies taste. It became late again, when we eventually fell into the beds at the hotel.
Andorra
Day 11
After a good breakfast in the hotel (the breakfast was, from my point of view, the only positive thing about this hotel), we didn´t leave Barcelona without a quick stop at the famous FC Barcelona stadium. Especially Sena was very interested to see were her favorite football players are at home.
The route from Barcelona to Ordino in Andorra was quite unspectacular. But still we learned something new on the way. Had we noticed a yellow ribbon at some buildings in Barcelona already, we came across a very big one on a mountain slope and a few painted on the road. So we goggled to satisfy our curiosity. The yellow ribbon is a symbol for the imprisoned leaders of the movement for an independent Catalunya.
The distance to Ordino amounted to 215km, which took us a bit more than 3 hours to drive. Already impressed by the mountains along the way, we were really amazed with the view from our hotel room. As usual we refresh ourselves before leaving the hotel to Andorra La Vella, the capital of this nice little country. We strolled along the walking street/sopping street. The city has a huge amount of shops, compared to the size of the country. We found a little souvenir for our collection, and discovered the location of the local Hard Rock Café. But before going there for the mandatory HRC purchase, we sat down at a nice restaurant for dinner.
The interior of the restaurant was interesting. It hosted a huge collection of wine in a secluded cabinet with glass doors, surrounding half of the dining area in the back of the restaurant. Even though we aren’t interested in wine, it was a nice picture I kept in mind. Another unique feature of the restaurant was a big amount of ham hanging under the ceiling near the entrance. Again the menu of the restaurant fulfilled the taste of all of us. I had a pizza with goat cheese and honey. At first the idea to have honey on a pizza seemed strange to me, but it was really good.
Subsequently we performed our purchase at the last HRC on our journey around the Iberian peninsula, followed by some more walking in Andorra La Vella. We saw street artists performing for a big crowed of audience, and we got some things for breakfast (next morning). So the next morning, after breakfast, our route would bring us from Andorra to Zaragoza. But on the way there, before leaving Andorra, we wanted to visit a place called Mirador Roc Del Quer. A viewpoint with a platform, expanding above the valley, 1931 m over ground. The view from there was really amazing. A wide valley spanning to both sides, with a lot of green and the tall grey mountain summits. It was breathtaking and amazing and inspired us to take a family picture.
After this wonderful experience, we began our trip to Zaragoza, but not without stopping for cheap fuel and a short visit to a supermarket near the border to Spain.
Zaragoza
Day 12
Driving from Andorra to Zaragoza was again unspectacular. We drove the 310 km in approx. 4 hours, including stops for toilet and changing diapers. Our hotel in Zaragoza was outside of the city. Actually a business hotel in an industrial area (Hotel Diagonal Plaza), but also the most modern and nicest room we had on our journey around Spain. Since it was an industrial area, the options for dinner were limited, but there was a mall nearby, so we decided to go there. The mall looked promising from the outside, but it was disappointing once we got inside. It was pretty abandoned, not many shops were open. At least a supermarket and some restaurant (all you can eat style). So we bought a few things for breakfast and decided for one of the all you can eat restaurants which also had a playground.
It was almost 10 pm when we got back to the hotel, so as usual it became late until everybody was sleeping.
The next morning, we left the hotel around 10 am, to go to Zaragoza city center for some sightseeing. I had read, that the central market hall of Zaragoza supposed to be one of the nicest in all Spain. And the basilica was also recommended worth visiting. We found a free parking near the basilica, on the other side of the river Ebro. Once we crossed the river, we walked straight towards the market hall, which was unfortunately under renovation, so most of its beauty was not visible. They had a temporary market hall, made out of containers, nearby, so we walked through that, just to get an idea, what type of food is sold on Spanish markets.
The basilica was just around the corner, a few hundred meter away from the market. Unfortunately it is not allowed to take pictures inside. Interesting fact, this was the first church I saw, with an elevator in one of the bell towers, the basilica has 4 towers.
After we finished at the basilica, we strolled around city center of Zaragoza, but it was siesta, so many shops were closed. We found a Starbucks and sat down for a coffee before we went back to the carpark. We drove a bit around the city, to see other places of interest, before we began our journey onwards to our last destination, Toledo!
Toledo
Day 13
Our last long trip took us from Zaragoza to Toledo, only an hour south of Madrid. Both cities are 385 km apart. It took us almost 5 hours to get there. An interesting spot we passed on the way was the Zero meridian (Greenwich meridian) near Zaragoza.
We read about Toledo, but actually we didn´t have it on our list of places to visit. It was more like a last minute addition to our tour. Arriving there, we found, that it was definitely worth it.
We found a relatively inexpensive parking (20,- €) compared to other cities, only 250 m from our hotel. After checking in to the hotel, and the usual refresh and diaper change, we went out to explore the city center and have some dinner. We walked around the small city. Toledo has a lot of small alleys, not even wide enough for a car. As usual, the shops opened in the evening, after the siesta. So Niki had a chance to buy new clothes from Zara, which she was waiting for, since we arrived in Spain, including a very nice baby dress for a friend. We chose a restaurant at the central plaza (later we learned that it´s called McDonalds plaza) of Toledo, because they had a few different kind of Paella on the menu. Again it was late when we came to sleep, but we got used to that.
The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel. Beside Barcelona, the only hotel we booked including breakfast. While driving from Zaragoza to Toledo, we had booked a “free” – tip based – walking tour. Because these tours are free of charge, it is always recommendable to make a reservation in advance. In some cities, these tours are very popular, so it could be that due to the amount of people, the tour is not nice anymore. We had to be at the McDonalds plaza at 11:00 am, which was not a problem. The tour guide was well informed about the history of his town, we had a good time following him to a very old mosque, converted into a church, but nowadays used as a museum. Passing a little windows in a wall, where people used to pray/ask for help to find a lover (a superstitious believe). Crossing the city in narrow alleys, where one car had issues to pass, we ended at the Jewish quarter of Toledo. The tour guide knew about history as well as buildings. We gave a tip of 15,- € for the tour, and left satisfied.
Before the tour started, we had already checked out from the hotel and brought our belongings to the car, so we didn´t have to care about that anymore. The tour had ended at the Jewish quarter of Toledo, so we had to walk all the way back across the city. We decided to go back to the old mosque, to have a look inside. Compared to the mesquita in Cordoba, this is a very small building, but still it had some very similar architectural elements. Despite being converted into a church, which was clearly visible from many Christian objects, the mix of the religions is really nice. The museum displays both, the Muslim and Christian use of the building in a very good way.
The museum also features a terrace with a nice view over the city. We had to carry the stroller up and down stairs again, but over the last two weeks we got used to that. I always used to call it a free of charge training. With the right technic, it wasn´t a really big deal. Than we walk further back through the city, towards the parking. The tour guide recommended having a coffee at the bistro of the library in the biggest building in city center. The bistro is located at the top of one of four clock towers cornering the building, with a wonderful view overlooking Toledo. Funny fact, the waitress at the Café, as far as we understood, from Laos, mistakenly thought that Niki is from Thailand. So she spoke thai with us. We managed to communicate with her, but on a very low level.
Finally it was time for us to leave Toledo, to get to our last stop. Madrid for one night, before we left on a morning flight to Zurich.
Madrid
Day 14
So our last journey from Toledo took us back to Madrid, where we began our grand tour around the Iberian Peninsula. It was just a 75 km ride which took us a bit more than one hour, because we had to face our first traffic jam on our “expedition”. Knowing the location in Madrid already, since we booked the same hotel (Hotel Sterling) again, we decided for a different parking, which was closer to the hotel, and suitable for the big van. Somewhere on our trip, I had bought superglue, and fixed the small damage, that had happened on the first day. So the car was clear for return the next morning. Getting out of the underground parking with our luggage was a bit tricky, because we didn´t find an exit with an elevator. So I had to walk up and down the stairs, it felt like a 100 steps or more, for 4 times.
After checking in to the hotel, we went out for dinner, which we wanted to have at the San Miguel Market, just a few hundred meter from Plaza Mayor. We found the place, and were literally stunned by two things. Number one, the beautiful architecture of the permanent market hall building. Number two, the amazing amount of delicious delicacies, which mouthwatering seduce the visitor to try here and there, ending up with a very full tummy. We managed to withstand those seductions, but didn´t hesitate to try a few bites of the food on offer.
Not yet fully satisfied, since a dinner is not complete without a dessert, we went to the Chocolaterie San Gines for Churros with hot chocolate again. We found it delicious on our first day, and we were confirmed, when we tried it for the second time. If traveling to Madrid, don´t miss this place.
A last visit to Plaza Mayor, and then back to the hotel.
We had to get up very early in order to reach the airport on time. Because it was early morning, we went into the underground parking through the cars entrance, which was much easier than taking the narrow staircase with more than 200 steps. We went to the airport, not forgetting to fill up the fuel, before we returned the car. To my surprise they didn´t have any issue with the condition of the car, even though I would have considered it quite dirty. I was happy that my effort, covering the little accident I had the first day, was successful.
Happy with the experience in Spain and with a lot of beautiful pictures in mind, we left to Berlin via Zurich.
