Madrid

We celebrated Nathan's birthday by spending a long weekend in Madrid.  It was very chilled out (read sleep-ins) but action packed with tourist activities.  We did a 3 hour walking tour around Hapsburg Madrid with a local guide, and along the way came across the oldest restaurant in the world! We started at Plaza Mayor, the main square in Madrid, and finished outside the Royal Palace. From here Nath and I went to San Miguel markets to find some lunch before returning to do a tour through the Palace.  The Palace is magnificent and it is a shame it is not used anymore by the Royal Family.  The most impressive display was all the armoury, especially all the protective armour for the horses!  We were recommended a Mexican restaurant for dinner but it didn't open until 9 so we had some drinks in the square close to our hotel until the restaurant opened.  Weird eating so late. 

Today we were up earlier as we were going to Toledo.  Toledo is a UNESCO heritage site and they are always worth visiting.  Toledo used to be the Capital city of Spain and is known for its co-existence between Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultures.  There were many religious buildings (churches and synagogues) devoted to the three religions around the city.  We visited the very impressive Cathedral and walked up the bell tower of another church to get a view over the city.  There were very narrow alley ways that were fun to explore but it was easy to get lost and lose our position on the map.  As we visited on a Sunday many of the museums and galleries had free entry.  We visited the Army museum which gave the history of the cities battles which was interesting.  On walking back down to the train station we saw esculators that we could have taken up in the morning to save us walking up the hill to reach Toledo.  We both commented on how hot it was, when I spotted a digital sign saying 38 degrees! Time for a beer as we waited for our train back to Madrid.

Our last day was filled with another walking tour - this time we were our own guides as we had picked up a map from the tourist office and walked around the more modern areas of Madrid.  We walked past some pretty impressive architecture, including City Hall, and spent some time relaxing in the park.  We found the best tapas bar for a long lunch - €3 bucket of beers and €3 calamari sandwich big enough for the two of us. Bargain.
An excellent summer of travels has come to an end for me as I'm back at work next week.  This coming weekend will be my only weekend at home for the whole of summer so I guess that is pretty awesome.  We might walk along the Southbank or check out the Pompeii exhibition at the British Museum.