It was time to get out of the big city so we headed about an hour south of Madrid to the small village of Chinchon. Chinchon is designated as one of the beautiful villages of Spain.
They are having their annual bull fight in 10 days so the Plaza Mayor has been converted into a bull ring.
It just happened that we passed one of the two Costco’s in Madrid so we swung in to fill up François. Today we got the cheapest diesel so far on this trip at €1.68 per liter. All the money we saved on fuel we spent inside Costco on food and stuff, which of course validated their business model.
One of the streets leading into the Plaza Mayor/bull ring.
We are sharing a small but very well equipped aire in Chinchon with a Swiss family and their dog. You enter send a text to the owner and he gives you a number of Codes you use to access electricity, the showers, and the WIFI. Once I figured out the system it was easy. When we leave in the morning we will leave our payment in a mail box. It is not all honor system as he has our license number and there is a camera so he can confirm you were here if you abscond.
Chinchon is famous for a type of Anis, but we didn’t sample any.
We headed into town about 2 and the town was in Siesta mode. But a few of the bars on the Plaza Mayor were still open and there were a few people in each of them, so it was not entirely dead. During our travels we have come across a few towns that are not large enough to have a dedicated bull ring, but instead designed their main squares so that they can be turned into a bull ring. Chinchon had just finished converting their square into a bull ring and it was interesting to see how they did it.
The upper floor apartments surrounding the Plaza Mayor are rented by the local restaurants for the Bull Fights and they become the expensive seats.
After exploring the bull ring we headed up the hill to the old palace for the local lord of the region. It was another good climb, but fortunately last nights rains had brought in cooler air and knocked back some of the humidity. From the palace we had an excellent view of the city and the surrounding countryside.
Looking down on the roofs of the town from the palace.
The last sight for Chinchon was an old Carmelite Nunnery that had been converted into a very posh and judging by the prices in their coffee shop expensive hotel. Feeling out of place we headed back to the Plaza Mayor and enjoyed an afternoon beverage looking out at the bull ring and up at the palace. After our rest we headed back to François for the rest of the day.
I’m looking down on my imaginary fiefdom from the stairs of the old palace.
Every time we come to Madrid the power goes out. I wanted to return to Madrid to make up for the day we lost last time we were here when the power went out in all of Spain. We had hit all the big tourist spots on the last trip but we didn’t get a good feel for the city as the day we planned to visit neighborhoods was wiped out by the power outage.
Art deco buildings in Madrid.
Ton provided me with a list of markets, chocolate shops, restaurants and bars in a couple of interesting neighborhoods near the center and our day was planned around visiting these places and sampling their offerings. We were also operating under a bit of pressure as the weather called for thunderstorms starting at 4 pm.
Caricatures of famous people who had visited the Chocloteria before us.
Our first stop was Chocloteria San Gines which is a must stop for all tourists in Madrid for their famous Churros. Even on a relatively quiet day there was a long line to get in. As we were waiting a guy in a chefs outfit with the company logo on it came to us and said there was another place to get in with no line. Taking him at his word we followed him across the street to a branch shop and walked right in. The Churros dipped in chocolate were worth the trouble. In the back room was a large wall of caricatures of famous people who had visited in the past. They told us ours would be up next time we came.
The tent city protesting housing affordability on one of the main squares in Madrid.
On our way to our next stop we came across a giant tent city on one of the main squares. The tent city was set up to protest the lack of affordable housing in Spain. The protest was started when a 87 year old women was evicted from her apartment she had lived in since 1956 after her rent was increased by 250% following the purchase of her building by a corporation. This story has been on going while we were in Spain and has even led to the Prime Minister calling a snap election after legislature he proposed to address housing costs failed in parliament. It was a big protest but very quiet, it had turned into a bit of a tourist attraction itself which is a little ironic as the protestors cite over tourism as one of the causes of the rise in rents in cities like Madrid, and Barcelona.
This statue of a bear and a tree is one of he symbols of Madrid that is now part of the protest tent city.
Our next stop was a place famous for their vermouth. Spanish vermouth is one of my favorite things about visiting Spain. The bar we visited had invented a vermouth cocktail called the Manuela. It was vermouth with a splash of Aperol. The vermouth was excellent and the atmosphere in the bar was cool.
Our bartender putting the finishing touches on our Manuela’s.
After our vermouth we needed some food. Most of the tapas places were offering Torrenzos de Soria so we decided to see if the Madrid ones matched up to the originals. They were excellent but not up to the standard of Soria which is what we expected.
As we walked from place to place we enjoyed views like this.
I like the atmosphere of the streets of Madrid. Paris is romantic, Vienna is elegant, Prague feels like a party, Madrid feels like a place with blue collar roots. There are cool buildings, but there are a lot more dive bars designed for 15 to 20 people to enjoy a beer snack and a chat, than big fancy 5 star restaurants. I think I like that in a city more than the fancy places with Michelin stars.
Our last stop for the day.
Our last stop for the day was one of those small bars. It was in a gentrified neighborhood that was once blue collar. But the gentrification didn’t mean the bars were replaced by fancy restaurants, it meant the beer went from San Miguel to Lagunitas IPA. The bar we went in had two rooms. To get to a seat in the back room you literally crawled through a hole in the bar to get back there. Luckily for us there was a table in the front.
The Plaza Mayor in Madrid.
It was time to head back to the campground as the skies were darkening up. We had about 1 kilometer to walk from the metro to the campground. We almost made it, but for the last 400 meters (yards) we got caught in a downpour and were pretty wet when we reached François.
Madrid was hopping. Ton worked hard to get this shot of a pretty empty street.
There were a series of thunderstorm for the rest of the afternoon, and at the end of the third one the power went out in François. We were laughing that we were going to be banned from Madrid. This time we were lucky, it was only a section of the campground that lost power, and it was restored after about 45 minutes.
I thought we owed Madrid another day after our last trip here was disrupted by a nation wide power outage. We had an easy drive to the only campground in Madrid. After we set up Ton suggested a day of rest and I agreed. The only thing we accomplished in the afternoon was a load of clothes.
We had a team meeting in the morning. There were two questions, should we extend our stay a day to make up for yesterday, and what should we do today. The answer to the first question was No, and the vote was 4-0 to visit the Prado.
Queen Isabella.
We started out at the Royal Palace again, and while Kit and Stephen had toured the grounds we had not, so before heading down the hill to the Prado we did a quick tour of the grounds of the palace and the adjoining Cathedral.
Part of the Palace Grounds.
The Palace is immense with over 3000 rooms. It shares a large square on one side with a Cathedral. We feel bad that Kit and Stephen missed their tour as it was on their bucket list for the trip.
Part of the Cathedral complex next to the Royal Palace.
It was a bit of a long walk to the Prado, and the third time Ton and I had made it. The Prado is one of the great museums of the world, and an incredible collection of art. It is also huge. The original building was built in 1819 to display the royal collection of art.
The church overlooking the entrance to the Prado.
We spent 5 hours touring the galleries and probably did not see half of the displays. They have an incredible collection of paintings by Reubens and other Dutch and Flemish masters due to the Netherlands being ruled by the Spanish during one of the great periods of Dutch and Flemish art.
A frame from Bosch’s tetrarch called “The Garden of Earthy Delights.”
As you would expect there is a huge collection of Spanish paintings including Goya and El Greco (technically born in Greece hence the name). We walked ourselves into the ground because around every corner there was another fantastic gallery with new art to take in.
Another Bosch “The Seven Deadly Sins”.
Ton took a couple of pictures early on, but we were then informed there were no photographs allowed. Afterwards we all decided that there is far too much to see in one day. Museums like this are best absorbed in 2 or 3 hour increments before both your feet and your brain get tired. All of us were tired after about 3 hours, but no one wanted to be the first to admit it. As soon as Ton asked if it was time to leave all three of us said yes immediately.
Walking to the Metro we came across this very nice modern statue in a traffic circle.
Fortunately, the Metro was running and the trip home was uneventful. The evening was spent doing some chores and sharing a nice dinner prepared by Kit.
Madrid does have some modern office towers. This one was pretty interesting.
Well . . . an interesting day. We had a plan for the day in Madrid. Ton and I were going to explore the city on foot, while Kit and Stephen were going to take a tour of the Palace. But sometimes the best plans don’t happen.
The Plaza Mayor in Madrid.
We walked to the Metro station and rode into the center of the city, the trip was smooth. We emerged at the Opera and around the corner was the palace with a giant statue. We agreed to meet at 4pm at the giant statue.
Not the giant statue, but a giant statue.
Since we had some time until Kit and Stephens tour we decided to go together to the market. On the way to the market we found the meeting point for Kit and Stephens tour.
One of the symbols of Madrid.
We spent about 30 minutes in the market. It was a nice market but a bit expensive for our tastes. In truth it is no longer a market, but a restaurant hall. The food looked good but it was clearly intended primarily for consumption by tourists, so Ton and I decided to eat later.
Stephen and Kit stayed with us while we walked to the Plaza Mayor, and another plaza where the Madrid government building was located. Both squares were nice and there were plenty of tourists like us enjoying the beautiful unseasonably warm day.
The Plaza Mayor.
At this point Kit and Stephen headed off to find some lunch before their tour, and Ton and I continued on our walk of the city. Ton wanted to go to the writers quarter. In the writers quarter we found a block on a square with a row of old restaurants offering different kinds of regional Spanish foods. The only down side was the square was undergoing a major rebuild, but we were intrigued with the food. We walked the row of restaurants two times and settled on one that offered a nice 3 course Menu of the Day.
The writers block with a quote from Cervantes in the road.
We were seated and had picked our courses when the waitress told us they didn’t serve the Menu of the Day until 1pm at the time it was 12:25. Ton and I talked it over and we told the waitress that we would return at 1pm. On our way out we used the restroom, and as we were about to walk out of the restaurant the power went out with a pop that startled everyone.
Once everyone got over the shock there was some giggling and we told the staff we would be back at 1pm. When we stepped onto the street we could see the power was out everywhere on the block and I told Ton someone must have cut a power line in the construction area.
We walked around the neighborhood for a while and watched as the wait staff and cooks from restaurants, clerks from stores, and the construction workers all stood around and tried to figure out was going on. I noticed that our access to wifi had stopped so one of our key tools for getting around was not working. By 1pm the power was still out in the writers quarter so we decided to expand our search for food.
The park near the Prado Museum.
I noticed that we were only a quarter mile or so from the Prado Museum which is one of the biggest attractions in Spain so I suggested we go there to look for food. I also figured that it would be far enough away from the construction to be out of the black out zone.
As we walked I noticed that all of the traffic lights were out. When we got to the Prado we saw that they were closing the museum so the black out was more widespread than we thought. At this point we figured that it was more than a local problem. We saw a cafe serving drinks and sandwiches, but when we sat down the waiter told us the food they had left was chips and we would have to pay with cash. So we had a very light lunch. The whole time we were not able to access our phones and I was a little frustrated, but suddenly I received a text from Stephen saying their tour was cancelled. But I was unable to reply.
We decided after our “lunch” to head towards the palace figuring that Kit and Stephen would be there. As we walked we noticed that more and more police were appearing on the streets. Some in plain clothes with just their high visibility jackets. Several of the main intersections were having traffic directed by a mix of different police forces in Spain. We also saw people standing on the streets holding old fashioned portable radios to get news. It was a good day for analog.
The beginning of the walk home.
As we walked towards meet up point we received two more texts from Kit and Stephen but were not able to respond. But just as we saw the big statue we saw Kit and Stephen sitting at a cafe next to it so we were back together. This cafe had some cold Tapas available so we had a quick meal while we figured next steps.
The problem was we could not access the internet to see the news. We heard conversations that the power was out in Spain, Portugal, and parts of France, but no one was sure why.
While we were eating I began to play with the phone, I could still get the map of Madrid on it, and was even able to scroll in and out to get closer views. After a while I was able to locate the campground, and by scrolling in and out discovered that one of the main avenues leaving downtown went straight to the campground. Since the Metro was closed walking might be our option.
I told everyone that I thought we could walk back to the campground as a last resort. I also thought once we got down the avenue we might be able to figure out what bus line to get on to get to the campground. That became the plan.
We passed the bull ring on Calle Alicante.
So we set off looking for Calle Alicante which fortunately for me started at a big monument. It turns out we were about 8 miles from the campground on foot. As we walked we saw the metro stops we had passed in the morning taped off to prevent entry.
Mostly I was impressed with the attitude of the people. On the entire walk I didn’t see anyone behaving badly. The police were calm and professional, those that weren’t busy directing traffic were helping people with directions or information. Twice on the trip when I was checking my bearings people asked me if I needed any help.
Closed Metro Station.
Our idea of taking a bus was quickly forgotten when we saw the first bus stops on the road. There were hundreds of people waiting for busses, and the busses that went by were packed like sardine cans. We kept walking down the Calle Alicante for 2 hours until I noticed that the last couple of busses were only crowded, not packed, and the crowds at the bus stop were much smaller.
We headed over to the next bus stop and a nice young lady told us we wanted bus 77 and even told me which stop to get off at. She was very helpful. We squeezed on to the bus and covered the next mile and a half in 10 minutes. The young lady even went out of her way to make sure we got off at the right station.
We arrived at the campground around 7pm after a big adventure. When I checked my fitbit I saw that we had covered over 10.4 miles today, some of it as tourists and most of it as foot mobile commuters. Everyone was tired but we enjoyed sitting around until dark, and just before sunset the street lights around the campground came on.
We found a well reviewed campground in Madrid, so about 10am we were off for the big city. We love driving the freeways in Europe on Sundays because there are almost no commercial trucks on the road. It is very relaxing being the slowest vehicle, just set the cruise control and head on down the road.
We arrived at the campground a little after 1pm and the place was hoping. They had a little market going and a live band performing in the afternoon. We were setup and ready to go just as the band opened up their set. Ton saw some nice commercial washers and dryers so our afternoon was settled. Just as we finished our laundry the band finished up.
Later Stephen and I decided to do a reconnaissance to the metro station we will use tomorrow. I went into the metro to buy a multi trip ticket, and Stephen went into a store to buy some water for their RV. I got to the machine only to find it surrounded by about 25 middle-aged German tourists trying to figure out how to get a ticket. I watched for a few minutes and then decided it was not worth the wait while the Germans figured out the machine.
As Stephen and I were walking back towards the campground we saw another entrance to the metro so I told him I was going to run in and see if I could get the card. This time the machine was unoccupied, and within a minute I had my fare card and loaded ten trips on the metro on to it. When I came out of the metro I saw Stephen sitting at a cafe with two beers and a plate of potato chips. We decided this was our reward for the reconnaissance.
Later Kit again prepared an excellent dinner. While we were chatting a nice Laotian lady came by and had a chat with Ton and Kit. She lives in Germany now and is fluent in 5 languages.
