Madrid

(Am posting these footprints the next morning as I fell asleep before getting to them last night. I do find I get very tired on this trip!)

One-night stop in Madrid. Lovely area with loads of arty stuff on walls or decorative features on buildings and still lots of older buildings. Very vibrant and feels young (in a good way). Sorted some little work things and sponsorship payment for Eleanor's readathon.

I had a beer (and plate of olives) and then had dinner at a vegan restaurant. The dinner was nice, but quite on the heavy side and I've been doing so many days where I eat only small snacks through the day that I couldn't come close to finishing it. They served a piece of bread topped with salted pickled ribbons of cucumber (so good - I could have eaten a whole plate of that cucumber) to start and then I had croquettas and I think they had a mushroomy breast filling with a vegan mayonnaise to dip in. And then I had (can't remember what it was called) a bocadillo with seitan and roast pepper with fried potato wedges and a vegan sour cream and onion dip. I think I need to be defaulting to salads or plates of roasted vegetables an not lots and lots of bread and potatoes!

Then wandered back to the hotel room. I love walking through vibrant cities like this in the evening. Had been struggling to find somewhere to stay in Lisbon in my budget for the length of time I wanted, so needed to look at other options. I have a reservation to Badajoz, so Chris suggested looking there and saw that it looks quite nice and full of historic architecture. So I looked a bit more and saw it has a museum of contemporary art that is free entry and I found a nice looking Airbnb in my budget so booked that for a few days.

And then pretty much went straight to sleep!Read more