It was so early, but our day began by getting up to go to El Estació del Nord.  We arrived going a different route than what we knew, fortunately we didn’t get lost.  The train from Valencia to Madrid took about three hours.  Upon arriving in Madrid, it felt…well, like home.  You know, when you go to a place, you kind of make a mental map of a place.  Well, I made sure to take good mental notes of the train/metro stations when we were in Madrid, since I knew that we’d be returning later.  Now back, it was easy to get back to La Gran Via from Atocha Renfe station.  The only difference this time was that we would not be staying the same hotel.  We choose to stay at a Vincci Hotel in Madrid; it was a little bit more expensive, but if you remember the photos from of the Vincci Hotel in Barcelona, this hotel was much nicer than the one we stayed at during our stay in Madrid the first time.  I didn’t take photos of this hotel since it was similarly furnished, but I took a few photos from our room.  We had a great view of La Gran Via.

La Gran Via

Looking down the other way

Since we’d been traveling in train earlier, we hadn’t had lunch.  So we went to our favorite small restaurant, Lena.  This time, the special of the day was Pollo frito con patatas.  It was a great meal.  We had some wine to drink and some coffee and desert to finish the day.

The chicken was very tender and the sauce on top added a lot flavor

The food was so good, it hit the spot

Now, this was our last day in Madrid, before having to head back home the next day.  So we needed to make some last minute purchases, hahaha.  We walked over to La Puerta del Sol and began buying up a few things that we’d decided to buy ahead of time.  Think about it, instead of buying things early on, which would require carrying the items for the rest of the trip, we made sure to remember what we wanted and where (jotting it in the iPhone) and then returned to buy it this time around.  This way, we only had to carry the extra items for one trip, the trip back home.

On the way to La Puerta del Sol

Teatro Häagen-Dazs Calderón de Madrid

Same Plaza but different view

This was a good day for shopping, a lot of people were out and about.  Then again, I may have gotten used to the amount of people who voyage out into the streets in Valencia; since it is a smaller city, you see fewer people out shopping and what not in Valencia.  I bought a few scarves that I liked and a Real Madrid long sleeve jersey for my friend.  Of course, we bought a lot of food to bring back to the United States, hahaha.

It was getting late.  A wonderful thing about Spain is that even though it may be 10:00PM, it is not dark.  I think we were surprised to find out it was so late when I looked at my phone to see what time it was.  We had made our way back to La Plaza Mayor, so we decided to eat some Tapas.  We went into a small Tapas bar and ordered two cups of tintos (red wine) or more specifically, tempranillo (black grape) wines, a tortilla Española, torreznos (fried pork skin and pieces), olives, and bread.  My dad tried Rioja, “Glorioso”, Crianza while I tried Ribera del Duero, “Montecastrillo”.  Oh, when it comes to wines, tempranillo is a black grape that is used in many Rioja wines – named after La Rioja, in Spain.  The region of Rioja supports many grape varieties, so wines coming from this region are not limited to tempranillo, but it is the most widely known and used of the variety of grapes grown in La Rioja.

Arriving in La Plaza Mayor...again

Statue of King Philips III

Cervecería Plaza Mayor Bar/Restaurant

Just look at the cuts of jamón

Wow, too many choices to choose from!!

Una tortilla española

Torreznos (fried pork skin and pieces)

If you enjoy olives, you would have loved these!!

Cheers Everyone!!

Anyone up for ice cream after a wonderful meal?

Unfortunately, that was our last meal in Spain.  We headed back to the hotel and went to bed so that we could get up and early for our plane ride back home. Oh, I’ll be back…one day!

Filed under: Travel by Giancarlo Deleon