Madrid & Toledo in February

On the 4th we took the train to Madrid, experiencing our first near miss in connections.  The local train out of Callosa was ten minutes late, and we had only twelve minutes between scheduled times to catch the Madrid train in Murcia.  We had barely sat down when the doors closed and we were off.  

Madrid was quite a bit older, but the weather was excellent.  It rained one night, but that just cleaned the streets.  We had lunch with Cely at El Lacon, one of our favorite watering/feeding spots, then set off to find a supermarket and pick up provisions.

Tuesday, we went to the US embassy to apply for my new passport (which arrived today, much to my surprise)and were out of there five minutes before my scheduled appointment time.  A first!!!!
Since we had lots of time, we went to the Joaquin Sorolla museum which was four blocks away.  Is was enraptured; Sorolla being her favourite artist.  We made the mandatory pilgrimage to the gift shop, leaving behind many light banknotes in exchange for heavy books.  

After a cheap bus tour to the north caused by taking the right-numbered bus on the wrong side of the street, we wound up at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum to catch a temporary exhibit of expressionist plein-aire paintings, and then ran through the permanent exhibitions, trying to see all before they closed at 1900. We failed, but did get to the gift shop to pick up more heavy books, including an out-of-print catalogue from the 2012 collaboration between the French National museum and Thyssen showing an exhaustive collection of Hopper's work.  More heavy books added to our rucksacks.

Cancelled our planned trip to El Escorial the next day to rest and just chill out preperatory to our day trip to Toledo.  I figured that it had been there for hundreds of years and should stand for a couple more.

Toledo was great.  Other than the fact that there seems to be a souvenir shop every 75 feet or so, it was beautiful.  We managed to get a tour of a jewelry factory and watch the artisans working their metal skills on fine filigreed trinkets.
Next stop was a museum depicting the Sephardic life in old Toledo.

Then it was off to a mediocre lunch in an attractive restaurant-Cely's usual spot being closed.  After that there was the El Greco Museum, and then a long wander to see what there was to see.

Finally, around 1900 we dragged ourselves onto the train and returned to Madrid to pack for Friday's return.  My final souvenir was a bad cold caused by inhaling second-hand smoke and getting a sore throat.  Same thing happened in Barcelona and London.  Maybe they should sequester smokers in a glass booth similar to the one planted in the center of the Taipei airport, instead of polluting the outdoors.

February update

Lots of interesting events happening this time of year.  We had the pigeon races a couple of weeks ago.  Last week we had cold, fierce winds that blew roofing tiles off and sent them crashing into the courtyard; scattering shards like shrapnel.  The blow kept me off the bike for five days.

Then a warm spell which brought the almond blossoms out early.  The cycle group did another foray over the mountains and into the Hondon Valley in which some orchard areas appeared snow-covered.  Back over the mountains again into the Vega Baja and homeward.  When I got near home, I decided to go an extra thirty kliks to log 161 and complete my (imperial) century for the year.  That leaves the Whaleback as the only cycling "must" this year.

Is and I cycled to Formentera on the Segura River trail yesterday; marveling at the fact that it was the first of February, and we were sweating in our shirtsleeves cycling in bright sunshine.  Pardon me while I crow about the weather.

Today was cool and windy again, but we hit the Orihuela medieval market again, this time with David and Margaret.  A great time, weather notwithstanding.  We gave paella a miss and hit the "massive bread" counter.  Dave and I had foot-long slices, an inch thick, topped with Morcillo (black sausage) and chorizo Criollo, respectively.  The ladies settled for monster slices of pizza.  A bottle of Jumilla crianza washed it all down well.  I couldn't finish mine, and brought one chorizo home wrapped in a third of the bread.

Next year we might have to have half a suckling piglet, or a rack or ribs or any of the countless other temptations that assaulted our nostrils as we wandered for hours.

Monday, we jump on a train and head off for Madrid to start the passport renewal process.  We'll take in the Thyssen Museum, do a couple of day trips to Toledo and El Escorial then return Friday.  "'talogo" (the Vega Baja way of saying, "Hasta luego")