Madrid Day 1

 Our last train journey on this trip was also to be our shortest - but not as short as it could be; for some reason the fast trains from Salamanca to Madrid (taking just over and hour and a half) only go in the afternoon evening, so we were left to take the 9.41, which takes just under three hours. We wanted to have breakfast at what was probably the nicest train station we’d seen so we set off not long after 8.30 - as I mentioned in the previous post it was only a 12-minute walk from our hotel, with the only downside being the noise generated by our suitcase wheels on the pavers.

After breakfast and the usual scrabble to get ourselves and our luggage on the train and then find our seats before someone we’d have to argue with about it got to them first - it helped that Salamanca was the starting point for this particular route, meaning that the train hadn’t come from somewhere else with people on it - we were off.

No internet on this train meant I focused on writing rather than uploading pics and editing actual blog posts, but it helped pass the time as the scenery we were passing by wasn’t hugely interesting, though I did not that it’s a lot greener closer to Madrid (at least at the moment) than it was in Salamanca.

We got to our station - Principe Pio - which is on the outskirts of the Madrid metro area and, after some fun with some Metro staff who were testing the self-service machines that you have to use to buy tickets, we had our Multi Cards with 10 trips on them (we knew we’d be travelling a lot on public transport here) and were on the line that would take us to our hotel in the suburb of Retiro.

The metro stop was quite close to where we thought reception for the hotel was, but it turned out that the one hotel actually has multiple sections - and of course we were at the wrong one. And instead of telling us to go outside and wheel our bags along the street and around the corner to where the other building's reception was, they told us to go the way that involved way more stairs - and this after we had hauled our luggage up and down multiple sets of stairs already.

You can probably guess that this didn't impress us a great deal. But we got there eventually (the lifts were also awful) and took our stuff upstairs and then dashed out again because we had to go to the Australian embassy to vote in the Indigenous Voice referendum; this had been announced just before we left - i.e. before they had printed up the documentation for people to vote early or by mail. At least it coincided with our being in Madrid, where the embassy was. Not sure what we would have done if we'd been in another city.

We got there and went through an astonishing amount of security to get there - scanners at the building entrance, ID check at the desk where we were given access cards to electronic gates and to swipe on the lifts, being asked questions over an intercom as to why we were there, turning our phones off and locking them in a box (along with our power banks) - and when inside we filled out some forms with our details and then got the ballot to complete. There was a big perspex box with all the envelopes in it; there must have been quite a few Australians in Madrid over the previous few days.

We couldn't take photos of any of it, sadly, since we'd had our phones locked in a box. The views were amazing as well; the embassy is on the 24th (or maybe 25th) floor. Once we'd voted we left the building - though as soon as we got outside Rochelle promptly dropped her lip balm stick thing down the drain, and we had to lift part of it up to get it back - given the security inside I was surprised no-one came out to see what the bloody hell we were doing, since it must have looked suspicious.

From there we headed to the Reina Sofía, where we spent a few hours looking around. As we were leaving we saw a huge lineup; it was only then we realised it had free entry after 7.00 pm - we'd paid, but it was worth it, since I doubt we'd have gotten all the way through if we had tried to get in for free; it's quite large.

We wandered around for a bit looking for somewhere to have dinner, and settled on a place that did a set menu kind of deal where you chose from several options for three courses. It also included a bottle of cheap but tolerable wine.

So, wandering around. I was surprised to learn they have Cash Converters in Spain.

The very tall building the embassy was in.

Now we're at the Reina Sofía. I'd seen very little art on this trip compared to my previous ones, but I planned to make up for that in Madrid. This was the first of three museums we'd be going to.

Salvador Dalí's cubist self-portrait.

Fruit Bowl by Picasso.

Procession of Death by José Gutiérrez Solana.

A Magritte.

One by Francis Picabia.

And an André Masson.

Man with Pipe, by Joan Miró.

The House with the Palm Tree, also by Miró.

This one's by Pancho Cossio, who I'd never heard of and who doesn't appear to be notable enough to have a Wikipedia page.

The Hunger, by Remedios Varo.

Moonbird, another Miró.

While I think of it: Miró is responsible for the logo for a Spanish bank Caixa, which looks like this:

I dubbed it 'the pooping starfish'.

The entrance to the musuem (as we left).

Dinner - first course. A lentil stew with what I think was beef. The bread had a kind of mince spread over it with cheese on top. And our bottle of wine.

Chicken with potato and albondigas (meatballs), also with potato.

Dessert was, despite the description on the menu, slices of some kind of ice-cream cake. I swear one of them was the Spanish equivalent of a Vienetta. But it was still good.

After dinner we caught the bus - apparently that was the best option based on where we were - back to the hotel.