One Last Stop in Spain - Madrid

Although we haven’t actually come close, we feel as if we’ve traveled every square inch of the Iberian peninsula without ever setting foot in the capital. Since the cheapest flights to London we could find were out of Madrid, why not visit this major city? I had visited Madrid before, but never really spent enough time to get a good feel for it. After a half sleepless night on the overnight bus from Porto, we arrived bright and early desperately needing coffee and a siesta.

After hitting up the first coffee shop we found and catching up on a few minutes of sleep in our hotel, we tried to go on a walking tour that wasn’t full at first, then suddenly was after waiting 10 minutes. We then had trouble getting into a couple of museums, that were supposed to be free that day, because they were closed. In case you didn't know, this is just how things in Spain work. You usually can’t trust hours that are posted or information that is advertised. So instead we decided to go to Museo del Jamon. If you are visiting Madrid, this stop is a must. For us, it was a stop at least once per day. If you’re willing to eat at the bar, you can score some amazing deals on drinks and food. The catch is there are no seats, so be ready to stand. After sitting on a bus for 9 hours, this was no problem for us! For a more traditional dining experience, we had the option of going upstairs where there are tables with chairs and full service, but the prices are a bit higher.

In case you haven’t figured it out, this is not a museum, it’s just a bar/restaurant and it’s good, really good. We did a few other pretty lazy things while we were in Madrid including walking around the Royal Palace, finally getting into those free museums, and people watching in the Puerta del Sol on Halloween. Instead of dressing up for the occasion, we bought Huesos de Santo (Saints Bones), a traditional Spanish pastry available only this time of year. They are made to represent bones filled with marrow, but don't worry, they just taste like instant diabetes.

From Madrid, we took our final Ryanair flight for this year and headed north toward the last English speaking country we expect to see until the end of this trip. We sure missed tea time!