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This blog is about our few days in Madrid Spain followed by our time in the Canary Islands. 

Please do read through this blog for our narrative and the related photos.  

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October 28/29 - Flight to Madrid


Our flight doesn’t leave until late so we stayed in the hotel all day working on photos.  We left for the airport around 6:00, got checked in and had dinner. 

Unfortunately our flight was two hours late leaving Newark (mechanical issues) but we eventually took off and had an uneventful flight to Madrid.  Our driver was waiting for us just in the arrivals hall and we had a half hour drive to Old Madrid.  Our hotel is the Petite Palace Opera, on Calle del Arenal, a pedestrian street…so we had a short walk to the hotel.  The room is small (mostly bed) but well-furnished and comfortable enough. 

We are right in the middle of things.  A short walk to Plaza Mayor, Puertoa del Sol, Teatro Real and the Royal Palace.  It’s an only slightly longer walk to the Prado Museum and the great Park El Retiro. 

We got a recommendation for a nearby restaurant for dinner but were never able to find it so we settled for dinner at one of the “caves”.  These are shops and restaurants in the first floor of the buildings and they have no windows other than maybe some in the front.  We had vegetable paella and hot chocolate.  Turns out the Spanish hot chocolate is very hot and very dark and VERY thick and very, very good.
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October 30 - Madrid Spain

Today we woke to light rain and dark skies.  Bummer.  Especially since we have a walking tour scheduled.  Fortunately it was off and on rain, mostly off. 

The walking tour included a couple and their young daughter from Orange County, California but currently living in London.  The English schools have a one week break every six weeks so they are seeing Europe during those breaks.  What a wonderful opportunity for the young girl to get such a well-rounded exposure to other countries.

The walking tour first took us to the Royal Palace for views of the main courtyard.
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The line to get general admission tickets was pretty long.
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The relatively new (consecrated 25 years ago) Catedral de la Almudena, faced the courtyard of the palace. 
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We also stopped by a small park near the cathedral.  Facing the park was the only remaining portion of the old city walls.  It was a pretty small section.  The guide said that as the city grew and no longer needed the walls the materials in the wall were used to build other sections of the city.
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The walking tour took us through some old streets, to the Mercado San Miguel.  The Mercado is about 110 years old and is a covered, enclosed market where you can get meats, baked items, fruits and vegetables, and tapas (small plates).  

We also wandered through Plaza Mayor.  The plaza dates from 1577 and is surrounded by buildings that house primarily apartments.  Our guide said the apartments are not too expensive because the plaza is rather noisy.  The plaza was also filled with rows of rather jarringly modern stalls which really detracted from the look of the plaza although they certainly added to the liveliness of the area.

The tour included hot chocolate and churros and ended at the Palace.  No photos were allowed in the palace except in the entry stairs area but the rooms were pretty magnificent.
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After the tour and a short rest (it was too early for lunch, the Spanish don’t eat lunch until 2:00 or 2:30) we headed out to find a restaurant.  On the way we passed by the San Ginés Chocolaterier.  The previous evening we had walked by and there were at least 15 or 20 people in a line way out the door.  Today there were only 3 or 4 people in line so we decided to get in line and get whatever it is that everyone is  willing to stand in long lines to get.

Turns out the big draw here is the very dark, spoonable hot chocolate.  So we got hot chocolate and carrot cake.  Both were every good (although Mary likes the hot chocolate from Angelina’s in Paris better).  Since cake and chocolate don’t really make a meal we also stopped at Mercado San Miguel and picked up bananas. 
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During the walking tour the guide pointed out various plaques on the ground in front of different shops. These plaques are for any establishments that have been operating in the same location for at least 100 years. This chocolateria had a plaque showing that it had been in business since 1894.  And we can understand why.


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Since the day was still pretty dreary and damp we headed back to the hotel for the afternoon. 

After dinner we managed to get a bit lost wandering the streets following the not so good directions to the show venue provided by the staff at the hotel desk.  We had very good seats at the flamenco show.  The show featured four lady dancers and one man plus singers and musicians.  It was a very good show.  
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Watch video of dancer.
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Watch video of dancer.
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We only got slightly lost on the way back to the hotel.

October 31 - Salamanca and Avila Spain

This morning we were up very early for our tour to Salamanca and Avila.  We had a three hour bus ride to Salamanca with a short stop on the way. 

Along the way we saw mountains dusted with snow
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and castles.
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We had a short walking tour of parts of the old town of Salamanca.  First stop was the Plaza Mayor.  Every town  in Spain has a Plaza Major.  It was a main meeting place and place of commerce.  And, in the past they had bull fights in the plazas, but not anymore.
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We walked by the Casa de las Conchas or the Shell Building.  Built in the late 1500's it has more than 300 shells decorating the facade...
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as well as various Gothic and Moorish architectural elements. 
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There were a number of other very interesting buildings (but we don't remember what the guide told us about them...we generally don't take notes).
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There was much discussion during the tour about the university in Salamanca.   
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La Puerta de Salamanca - Gate to the University

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There is a frog carved onto a skull on the facade above the main door to the university (the Puerta de la Salamanca).  There are several theories behind the presence of the frog.  One is that if a student can find the frog without help then he (they were always he's back then) will pass their exams and have good luck.
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It is the third oldest university in Europe after the ones in Bologna, Italy and Oxford in England. In the square before the main university entrance they have a countdown clock.  In 61 days the university will be exactly 800 years old.  A quick google confirmed that it was established in 1218 but also that teaching was confirmed to have occurred here at least as far back as 1130.  That would make it a teaching site for 888 years.  Can you imagine? 
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We also had tickets to the cathedral, which was very interesting as it consists of two separate but joined churches.  The old Romanesque church dates from the 14th century and the newer section, in late Gothic and Baroque style, was finished and consecrated in 1733.
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The facade of the cathedral was restored in the 1990's and we were told that at every restoration there is some addition made to help pinpoint the time period of the work.  In this case, they incorporated a small carving of an astronaut on a space walk and a little demon (or something) holding an ice cream cone.  Rather whimsical.


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The cathedral had some very beautiful art work as part of an exhibit.


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The main interior of the new cathedral was dominated by the large pillars... 
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and arched ceilings.


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An Altar.
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The Quire (where the choir sits).
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The organ was tucked in between some of the columns.
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After our tour of the cathedral we headed towards the center of town where we ran into a group in local costume.  Looked like maybe they were getting ready to do a performance.
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We grabbed a quick pizza for lunch, actually very good.  While there one of the musicians we had just seen on the street came into the restaurant and proceeded to give a mini- concert to some friends.
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We wandered the town a bit more and saw a number of shops featuring the local hams
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and we revisited a square that we had wandered through at the start of the tour.
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On the way out we passed an old palace with a beautiful Art Nouveau inspired glass observatory.
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After leaving Salamanca we headed off through the countryside...
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for our second stop of the day, Avila.  Avila has an intact medieval wall with 80 crenelated towers and nine gates.  Our first stop was an overlook with amazing views of the walls. 
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Then it was on to the town itself.  


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The walking tour started at the visitor's center where they had a lot of wooden models of various buildings in Avila as well as one of the entire town within the walls.
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The tour included tickets into one of the churches.  Avila has more Romanesque and Gothic churches per capita than any other town in Spain.  We didn’t have time to see more than the one.  
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Apparently the walls are lit at night and it is supposed to be a pretty awesome sight.  We really didn’t have enough time in either city but had a good taste of them. 

If we come back to Spain we will have to revisit both.  After an hour plus drive we were back in a damp Madrid.  On the way in we saw this gate.


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We dropped off some stuff at the hotel and found a restaurant for dinner (during the Spanish evening dining time of after 8:00).  Tried their vegetarian paella and we both agreed that we liked it much better than the paella we had two nights before.

Today is Halloween and we saw many out on the streets in costume.  And our hotel lobby was decorated for the holiday. 
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