Madrid, Spain

This past weekend I had a quick get away to Madrid, Spain to visit my cousin Katrina. She and her husband are studying for a year in Madrid. Since we're so close I got a plane ticket and made the one hour flight to visit her. It's a bit of a production to get to the airport (without using a taxi or going by car). First there is a 25 min walk down the hill to the train station. After that a 40 minute train ride into Lisbon and then catching the Aerobus for about 40 min to arrive at the airport! It's always fun to people watch and I got to see new sights in Lisbon from the bus on the way!

It was well worth the travel time. I had a great time with my cousin and enjoyed seeing some more of Madrid. My sisters and I had spent about a day in Madrid back in 2006. It was fun to see some familiar places again. On Saturday we took a 45 min bus ride to Toledo, located southwest of Madrid. Toledo used to be the capital of Spain until one of the kings decided to make it Madrid! The city is walled and has lots of charm inside. The town was decorated with many flags, flowers, and banners. I even found a knight in shining armor!

It was a beautiful sunny day with temps in the 90s! A nice breeze helped keep us cool along with some cloth that was hung overhead down many of the main walkways that provided nice shade.

After the tour of Toledo we rode the bus back to Madrid and went through a floor of the Reina Sofia Modern Art Museum. It was fun to see work of some famous artists and feel cultured discussing different paintings.

Sunday we toured around Madrid and ended up doing quite a bit of walking. Katrina and Jorge live right in the center of Madrid. We walked to the neighborhood La Latina - one of the historic older sections. It was fun to see the narrow winding streets, artwork painted on buildings, and the colorful architecture. There was an open air street market - El Rastro -that seemed to stretch for many blocks. We enjoyed walking through. Plaza Mayor was a familiar sight from my previous trip. A highlight of Sunday was lunch...Katrina and I enjoyed Kebabs (I hadn't had one since the previous Europe trip - DELICIOUS). What better place to enjoy lunch than in Reteiro Park.

My flight left Madrid about 6pm and landed in Lisbon at 6:30 (there is a one hour time change)! I made my way back to my apartment in Cascais and was thankful that the bus and train were all ready within 10 minutes of arriving at each spot! It was fun to get away for the weekend and do something different. I'm so glad that I could go and spend the time with Katrina!