We’ve spent a number of days in Madrid. Linda did an event for Michelin here in the late 1990’s and we have stayed here either getting to the Camino and/or coming from the Camino in 2014, 15, 17, 19, 22 and now 2024. We have stayed at the MAD Airport Hilton or in three different places all near the Atocha train station.
Most of our stays have been 2-4 nights, to adjust to the time zone before walking a Camino or using it to wind down after a Camino before flying back home.
Madrid is a great city to walk in. We have walked usually in a radius of a mile or two from our accommodation to just explore, exercise, eat out or shop. There are safe, beautiful parks nearby, a wide range of architecture, museums and historical monuments, bars and restaurants. The merchants and service providers as well as residents, as a rule, are welcoming and helpful.
A wide variety of modern public transportation options make it easy and inexpensive to get around beyond walking distances. It’s a great place to visit and Jim fantasizes, especially during this visit, about living here.
(2 blocks from our apartment).
Monument to the Fallen for Spain and the Heroes of the Second of May (uprising against the occupying French in 1808)
We reversed ourselves, walking on the westbound side of Paseo del Prado and go a closer look at buildings and monuments on the other side.
Plaza Cánovas del Castillo.
Another walking area for us has been Calle de Atocha. We are one block off of this major Madrid road that runs from the Atocha train station up into the Barrio de las Letras which has Art and Literary and Theatrical schools and establishments. It also had a lot of restaurants, bars and shops of every kind.
We spent time walking and exploring the area, finding a laundromat to dry the wet clothes that we washed in our apartment, find a replacement carry-on for Jim to use going home (the one he sweated on for two months on the Camino had become unbearable personally and certainly would not work on the close quarters of the 8 hour plane ride across the pond.
We also took advantage of our apartment kitchen by shopping for eat-in meals and snacks at several close-by grocery markets.
On the Plaza de Antón Martín, is this sculpture that pays tribute to the labour lawyers murdered in their office at No. 55 Calle Atocha street. On 24 January 1977, a group of far-right extremists burst into their offices and gunned down five left-wing lawyers who were associated with the Comisiones Obreras trade union and the Spanish Communist Party, wounding four others.
We revisited a favorite Italian restaurant that we discovered in 2019. We had two delicious pizzas and a glass of tasty Italian wine. It was only a half block, 3 minute walk from our apartment!
Tomorrow (Tuesday) morning we leave our apartment and taxi to the MAD Airport Hilton to spend the night and take advantage of Hilton Honors points and a free shuttle-to-the-airport service for our return flight back home on Wednesday morning.
Jimandi 