On Monday, we took the train down to Madrid. It was a pretty easy ride, and we arrived several hours later. Ryan has visited Madrid a couple of times before, but this was my first visit. I was so glad to get to see what he loved so much! We dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed downtown. It was a great day to get out and walk around!
It didn't take too long for us to find our way to the Chocolateria San Gines to enjoy churros and chocolate. Ryan has told me about this for quite awhile, and I couldn't wait to try them. Yeah, these were so good!
After walking around a bit more, we found our way to Botin. This the world's oldest restaurant as it was opened in 1725. It still uses the original wood burning fire oven for some of its dishes which is pretty cool. He had tried to make a reservation a few weeks prior online but they didn't have anything available, so we were just going to look at it and the window display which shows the restaurant layout. We realized there were a few outside seats available, so we decided to ask if we could dine. Turns out they had a table upstairs that was empty so we were able to sit there and enjoy a lovely lunch.
This is the original fire oven which is still in use. It's used to cook the suckling pig which is what's on the shelf around it and what Ryan ordered for lunch.
I enjoyed the chicken fricassee with almond sauce. Both meals were delicious!
We needed to walk off this big meal, so we started wandering around and found our way to the palace. It was beautiful! We walked up to the backside of it first.
We made our way around to the front which was illuminated by the setting sun. It was so pretty.
Across from the entrance to the palace is a beautiful church where we assume the royal family used to worship. We couldn't go inside, but it had a lovely facade.
We did some more shopping and just enjoyed being outside in the city. It's an easy city to walk around and enjoy. Eventually, we were starting to get tired. We weren't hungry but knew we would be later, so we went ahead and purchased two jamon bocadilla (ham on baguette). We enjoyed them back at the hotel; they really were fantastic!
We also stopped at La Morquina and purchased two Napolitana de Chocolate which was established in 1894. Honestly, this should be the national dessert of Spain. It was this fantastic pastry filled with chocolate and topped with powdered sugar. It was amazing! Okay, if I'm being honest, we had actually bought these earlier in the day, before lunch, and tried them then. We loved them so much that I insisted we buy more to have for dessert later. So, did I have two of these today? Yes I did! Worth it!
This was a great introduction to Madrid!
Ryan started teaching on Tuesday morning, and it went well. In the afternoon, his interpreter Carlos, who is originally from Colorado, drove us to the awesome little city of Toledo. It was a little overcast and chilly, but it was still such a fun day trip. We went to this overlook which gives a fabulous view of the city; it's so cool to see how the river wraps around it.
We enjoyed a wonderful lunch (still getting used to lunch starting around 2 and dinner starting around 8!), and then had a great time walking around the town. It's such a quaint little town; I could spend a lot more time here. Toledo is known for their steel; they used to produce a lot of the weapons for Spain. We were on a quest to find some great knives for us and a sword for Mia. We were successful!
We took some time to visit the lovely cathedral in town too. It was one of the more ornate ones I've seen, but it was still enjoyable to see. It also has some beautiful stained glass in it.
On Wednesday after class, we spent some more time in downtown Madrid. We enjoyed more delicious food, and we went to a rooftop area of a shopping mall to get some great views of the city.
On Thursday, we were glad to have Ron arrive; Ron's been a great friend and mentor for many years, so it's always good to be with him. With him was Randy Hester who was a long time friend of Ron's; he pastors a church in North Carolina. We enjoyed getting to know him better over the next few days. Manny Fernandez also arrived. Manny runs World Link ministries out of Dallas. One of their ministries is the seminary where Ryan, Ron, and Randy were teaching. After Ryan taught, we all gathered and Manny drove us to the town of Segovia. We headed straight to the Restaurant of Jose Maria. Jose Maria is a world renowned chef, and Manny was able to get us a seat at the restaurant. We appreciated Chef coming over to greet us!
This restaurant is known for its suckling pig which is what a couple of the gentlemen ordered. They bring out the whole pig and then cut into portions with a plate to show just how tender it is. All said it was absolutely delicious. I thoroughly enjoyed the steak that I ordered; it was one of the better ones I've had. I also tried their regional speciality dessert which was tasty. It was similar to a sponge cake with a vanilla sauce and had hazelnut ice cream on the side.
We then took a little walk around the town. It was a beautiful town and the outside of the cathedral was gorgeous.
We decided not to go inside the cathedral because we wanted to get to the incredible aqueduct and see it before the sun went down. It is one of the most well preserved ones in the world having been built around the time of Christ by the Romans. It was huge and gorgeous!
After marveling at that structure for a bit, we drove over to view the castle where Ferdinand and Isabella lived; it's believed this may be where they met with Columbus before sending him on his expedition westward. The castle is actually shaped like a ship which is pretty neat. I'd love to come back and explore this town and castle more!
The time in Madrid and these small cities was so much fun. I would love to come back!
