Spain Hiking - Day 8&9 - Oct 1&2 - Madrid and Home

After a late night of guitar, wine and cigars in the main square we loaded up the car for our drive to Madrid and our last full day. The weather was again high 20s and clear blue sky; and we laughed that the easiest job must be the Spanish weatherman. "It's sunny and hot again!" The drive to Madrid took about 1 hr and although the Gps got us lost, it did help us navigate the roundtables especially those with stop signs. My plan was to take the van into the Plaza de Castilla with it's 6 lane round about. Just to make things last we went around it twice then headed down the Castellana, Spain's Madison Avenue. This took us past some amazing architecture including the post office and numerous fountains at the centre of roundabouts. We parked close to the Parke del Retiro, Madrid's high park. There we sat in front of the man made lake, had a cafe con leche and people watched. A few of us could have spent the whole day here but Mike our history buff insisted we see the city. He became the walking guide for the day and we headed down to the old city to walk the narrow streets, view the Plaza Major and view the Royal Palace from outside. After a few hours of walking we found beautiful cafe overlooking the Palace and gardens. We drank sangria, ate ice cream and had a few cortados. As the sun went down the streets began to fill with people and as we walk the old streets we were slowed by the number of people out. The drive to the village took about an hour. Madrid surprised me, I've been here many times but the streets were clean and the Avenues and side streets were a pleasure to walk. The people everywhere were pleasant and friendly. I think Madrid is underrated it truly is one of the great cities of the world rivaling Paris and Rome. We pull out all the leftovers including an over zealous amount of beer. We order a tortilla and ensalda mixta from Rachel's Restaurant. We stay up late talking about the trip and future trips we'll take on our bucket list. We try and squeeze every last drop of sangria out of this trip. Tomorrow it's back to the real world.