Group Orientation Walk - Madrid

This morning after breakfast we headed out to walk around Madrid with the tour group. First, we headed down towards the Cathedral and Royal Palace, passing La Latina and the Madrid Opera building. We also caught the tail end of a fun run with the final two runners shuffling past. We walked through a relatively new Urban Park (created during COVID to replace a road) where we had fabulous views back towards the Royal Palace and the surrounds. We passed an Egyptian temple that was brought over from Egypt and reconstructed brick by brick. It is called Temple of Debod, it usually has water running but it is currently turned off.

We then walked to Plaza de España where we saw the monument to Cervantes, Spanish’s most revered writer, best known for his work, Don Quixote. We then walked through Plaza Mayor which was full of people. As we walked through Madrid we came across a bagpipe band from Galicia (Northern Spain) marching up one street. We then made our way to the very crowded Mercado de Sam Miguel, where we had a few tapas (all very delicious) and a glass of wine.

Next we headed across to Puerto del Sol and down Calle de Alcala to near Paseo del Prado where the group went in several directions. Ian and I headed back across Madrid with Gabriele to find the Sunday markets, reputably one of the largest in Madrid. Most of the stalls we saw were selling clothes and accessories so Ian and I decided to go in search of a quiet spot for lunch.

We found a lovely restaurant, Citynizer, full of locals. We had some tapas to share and drank a few wines, before heading back to our hotel.

In the evening we had another group dinner, this time at a restaurant in the Latina area in which our hotel is located. Tomorrow we head out of Madrid and do a big walk.Read more