Wednesday April 17, 2019

Toledo Train Station

We have breakfast, pack up, check out, and are out the door by 0925. Now that we know our way, and the fact that it is mostly downhill to the train station, we make it the 1.2 miles in 25 minutes. The only train that goes here is from Madrid and back so,there is no trying to figure out what track we are on. The train is out there but they do not open the security checkpoint until 1015. Kind of late, since our train leaves at 1025. We go through, walk a pretty long way down the platform to our train, find our seats and 3 minutes after that, we are on our way. We are now going to visit Madrid, not just its train stations. Since landing in Spain, we have been through Madrid twice, but have only seen four of its train stations It is only a thirty four minute ride to the Puerta Atocha Station in Madrid. We have to figure out which exit we should leave this large station out of. I take a guess based on it looked like the street we need is at the long end of the station. We emerge into the bustle of Madrid and walk to where there is a street sign and another sign pointing to a hospital. I locate and mentally mark the you are here spot on our map and figure we now need to walk in a circle clockwise crossing four streets until we come to ours. We find Calle Atocha and it is now a straight shot of about .9 miles to the apartment we have reserved. They have agreed to meet us at 1130 so we can leave our packs.

Nice Studio Apartment

We arrive at 1125 and Santiago is in the entrance with a couple from California that has just checked out. They tell us we will love the place and the location so that is encouraging. Santiago brings us upstairs and shows us the apartment. It looks really nice. He then gets out a map and orientates us as to our location. From there he proceeds to tell us and mark down several good places to eat, get tapas, calamari sandwiches, churros with hot chocolate, basically, all the important things. He of course shows us where all the main sights and squares are also. He is very nice and when I ask him if he is from here, we learn that he grew up in Argentina. His heritage is Spanish and Italian. He says there are many Italians in Argentina, mostly from northern Italy. His parents never wanted to come to Europe, but he says he is the only one in the family that returned here and he is enjoying it. We have a nice time talking with him. He has to clean the apartment, so we leave our packs and head out to explore.

Paella and Cerveza

We decide to try a restaurant he recommended that had a menu of the day at 1300 for only 11 Euros. It is called La Muralla and we wander off to see if we can find it. The streets here are well marked which helps a lot especially as we did not have an exact address. We walk around several blocks until we find it very close to where we started searching. It is not one o’clock yet so we check out a small fish, meat, and fruit market nearby.

Roast Pork Ribs

Then back to the place where I try to figure out the menu. The waiter does not speak English but I muddle through a question of the choices we have from each list a numero uno and a numero dos. He recommends paella from numero uno, and pork ribs from numero dos so we go with it. We order a beer each which is also included. The paella comes and is very good. It has mussel, tiny clams, calamari, chicken on the bone, and some teeny tiny crabs, which we imagine is for the flavor although I do crack one open and eat a microscopic piece of meat out of it. There are also some shrimp in it. It was a good meal in itself and then he brings roast pork ribs, a large portion of three ribs each, meaty and roasted with a savory, juicy sauce and French fried potatoes. It is incredibly good. We are full but dessert is included, Carol gets flan, I get a vanilla pudding. All this for the princely price of 12 U.S. Dollars.

Plaza Mayor

Now we have to walk it off, so we use a Rick Steves self guided walk print out and tour this part of Madrid. We start in Plaza Mayor, the main square. In darker times, a little period known as the Inquisition, suspected heretics, Protestants, Jews,and Muslims, were tried here. The guilty were paraded,around the Plaza wearing signs of their sins and then executed. Seats were built for the event, and the wealthy could rent balconies from where they could watch. Heretics were burned and criminals were slowly strangled while holding a crucifix, as a priest prayed for them, as they were slowly garroted. Today we have a big dancing Panda and a Bear entertaining for money.

Mercado de San Zmiguel

We leave the Plaza and check out the nearby upscale Mercado de San Miguel. This market is bustling with tourists overpaying for tapas, beer, wine, and fried,fish and calamari. It all looks good but can be head at a fraction of the price in the local taverns.

Almundena Cathedral

We do not linger here and continue our walk. We pass the oldest doorway in Madrid, a square with the town hall, a memorial to the assassination attempt in 1906 of King Alfonso XIII and his bride on their wedding day, and then come to the Almundena Cathedral. This has only been open for 26 years. Until then Madrid did not have a cathedral. It took a hundred years to build and mixes a lot of modern touches within an older cathedral look. One of the front doors has a relief of Pope John Paul II and King Juan Carlos I and his wife Sofia from the 1993 consecration. The front of the Cathedral is right across from the Royal Palace, so we have a seat and admire the size of the place. It is Europe’s largest palace with 1.5 million square feet and 2,800 rooms. I wonder if it has central vac. We will be visiting it on Saturday.

Cool Street Sign

From here we take a different route back toward our apartment, past several more plazas and statues, one of Queen Isabella, and one of a bear, the symbol of Spain. We notice that the street signs here are all tiles with pictures of what pertains to the name, for example Calle Arenal was sand and Calle Angeles are angels.

Guernica in Sofia Reina Museum

After relaxing a bit and showering (3 times the size of our last one), we walk down the street .8 miles to the Sofia Reina Museum. It is free from 1900-2100 and when we get there at 1910, there is a line about a block long. We get on it and it moves pretty good, maybe a half hour or so to get in. This is more of a 20th century art museum and we usually like the older art. However, there is a famous Picasso work here, that we have come to see. It is called Guernica and he painted it in 1937. A civil war was going on in Spain. The democratically elected Second Republican government against the racist general Francisco Franco. Guernica was a stronghold for the Republicans. On April 26, 1937, Franco gave permission to his confederate, Hitler, to use the town of Guernica as a test for Germany’s new Air Force. . It was the worlds first saturation bombing raid on civilians. Picasso’s painting shone a light on the brutality of Hitler and Franco. Picasso used the painting to raise funds for the Republican cause, but Franco took control of Spain. Picasso vowed to never return to Spain until Franco was no longer in power. He never went back as Franco outlived him. The painting was given to the Metropolitan Museum in New York. In 1981, six years after Franco’s death, it was brought to Spain for the first time and has remained here since.

By Salvador Dali

We also see a few Salvador Dali paintings, a brief introduction to a painter that we will learn more about after Barcelona. Satisfied with our short visit we return to our apartment for the night and enjoy a little nightcap from a bottle of wine that Santiago left us as a welcome gift. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s tour and adventure.

Expenses
Train from Toledo to Madrid 27.80E
Apartment Atocha 88.13E
Lunch at La Muralla 22E
Coke Light and milk from supermarket 1.04E
Walked 6 Miles