May 6, 2024

OK, technically not part of our 37 day cruise, but as I mentioned, I had an ICF leadership meeting starting a few days after the cruise, so Norm flew home and I flew on to Madrid which made more sense than flying home then back to Madrid. This meant I had the weekend free to explore. I had never been here before. So I decided to create a post from Madrid.

I arrived on Friday after going by coach from Southampton UK to London Heathrow. I flew on Iberia and was very surprised to find out how close the seats are and that you pay for everything on board, including water! Luckily it was only a 2 1/2 hour flight.

I checked into the Hyatt Regency Hesperia which is a beautifully located hotel.

I got unpacked and went for a short walk to pick up some dinner. There is a handy grocery right around the corner and I didn’t feel like going out.

On Saturday, I set out for a long walk and it got longer than I expected because I got lost! Just go straight, they said – straight apparently means crossing streets to the side of the one you are on! Lots of steps today but also lots of beautiful sights. The city is very clean and the buildings are lovely.

I did have my phone to get directions but it lost battery power before I got back to the hotel! By then I pretty much knew where I was going so I got back in time for a quick bite of lunch before going to the Madrid Open tennis center for the two matches I had tickets for – the men’s doubles final started at 3:30 so I was cutting it pretty close. In addition I guess because my phone battery went down to zero, the phone became frozen and I couldn’t open it at all. This had me in kind of a dilemma because my Uber app and my tennis tickets were on the phone. Eventually it worked – phew!

The Caja Magica is the place where the Madrid Open takes place. It is about half the size of Arthur Ashe Stadium where the US Open takes place. I didn’t know (and should have checked) that you cannot bring food of any kind into the stadium, so my small bag of nuts was taken away.

The doubles match featured Korda (an American) and Thompson vs Behar and Pavlasek. Korda and Thompson won in two sets!

I was in shade the whole time and my seats were very good. It wasn’t very crowded for the doubles.

Since the first match only went 2 sets, I had about an hour between matches and had a chance to get something to eat before the 6:30 start. Very crowded and not much choice but I had pizza and gave the remainder to two women who didn’t want to wait in the line!

The exciting event of the day was the women’s singles finals between Swiatek and Sabalenka, #1 and #2 in the world.

The robot dog came out first!

Somehow I missed where they were giving out the hats. But this guy clearly didn’t!

The match was fabulous – either woman could have won – and it was the longest in the history of the Madrid Open, 3 hours 11 minutes. In the end Iga Swiatek prevailed.

I had a wonderful time – but could not get tickets for the men’s finals so I found out that they will broadcast it on the HUGE tv in the hotel lobby tomorrow at 6:30.

On Sunday, I took the long walk to the Prado Museum and spent many hours there, including having lunch in the restaurant. The place is huge, having more than 100 rooms and galleries holding 1800 works being displayed at any one time. It is really impossible to see it all in one visit, but the brochure lists the most important works and their location. The museum was opened in the late 18th century and today the entire campus includes 5 different buildings. The Villanueva building houses the main museum.

You couldn’t take pictures of most of the art, just 3 rooms with sculpture were OK to photograph.

The wait to buy tickets and to enter the museum was long and I guess it was because it was a Sunday. It was well worth it.

After the museum visit I took the hop on hop off bus around Madrid and rested my tired feet while seeing more of the city.

And I got back to the hotel in time to greet many ICF friends who were just arriving. Inez and I caught up in the bar while watching the men’s final.

On Monday, I had a Hyatt experience to visit the oldest candy shop in Madrid, La Pajarita. I walked to the shop and was greeted by Maria who gave me a tour and then took me to a private room where I got to sample 5 different kinds of chocolate and one of the violet hard candy that they are famous for. The company has been family owned since the beginning in 1852. They still use the same raw materials and manual techniques that they used in the beginning, Their candies are served at the most prestigious events in Spain. It was a great visit.

After the visit, I walked to the Botanical Gardens behind the Prado museum. I guess one advantage of being older is the senior rates – just 1 Euro to enter. The tour bus and museum entrance were more than half off too.

That is just a sample of the many flowers, statues and fountains in this garden.

Here are a few more city sights on my walks before my days of meetings start. It was nice to have a few days to explore. We do have a built in experience during the meeting. On Wednesday afternoon, there were four choices of activity. I chose paella cooking. Can’t wait!