Eric’s 2022 Trip to Spain and More, Madrid

Two views from in front of the hotel are to the right. Some people were photographing the building in the left photo. It houses the ministry of agriculture, but I do not know what makes the building itself special. On the right is the train station. The hotels were my favorite part of booking this trip. I got lucky with hotels near my trains stations, all about 500 meters or less from the station, and not too expensively priced. It meant I could get from the train station to the hotel and relax without having to figure out local transit or navigation first.

I did a quick unpack and headed off to the Hard Rock Cafe for the customary shot glass for Cathleen. That put me in a shopping area, so I walked around a bit and scouted a few restaurants Lonely Planet suggested.

Technology and Travel

On this trip, the devices I carried made doing things in a foreign city much easier than in the past. This is going to sound like an ad for Apple, but it really was remarkable how helpful technology has become for this.

Apple Maps finds destinations, tells you where a bus stop or train station is, when the next bus or train is coming, and how many stops to ride. On the bus, Apple Maps alerts you when you are approaching your stop. I did not have to buy a map at the train station, look up streets in its index, hunt for them in their grid squares, locate nearby transit lines, plot routes, interpret transit schedules, and so no. It is a huge savings of time and effort to just land in a foreign city and go where you want.

Apple Maps also helps find restaurants and shops and tells you what their hours are.

The Translate app reads print or cursive and translates conversations with automatic detection between two languages. With it, I had a richer conversation with a non-English-speaking store clerk than I did with some people who spoke a little English. And it translated some museum signs more fluently than the museum’s translation, with better grammar. Safari translates web pages.

While planning this trip, I used three-dimensional views in Maps to evaluate hotels and other points of interest, and I added museums, hotels, train stations, chocolate stores, and other points of interest to Guides for the cities I was going to. Maps will sort by distance, so as I finished at one place, I could check what other point of interest to me was nearby.

Apple Pay works many places. Local transit apps provide tickets and schedule information. My boarding passes and some tickets were in my Apple Watch and iPhone. I bought museum and transit tickets online, sometimes on the fly.

The compass in my watch helped orient me when coming out of subway stations. AirTags reassured me I had not left any important items behind.

AT&T has made their international pricing sane and not outrageously priced, so I had unlimited voice and data without breaking the bank or constantly monitoring usage and turning off or throttling apps. In addition to helping me get around, that means I was in ordinary contact with people back home, instead of being somewhat isolated or off-grid in a foreign country.

And of course the iPhone camera replaced the camera I used to carry. And it is taking well-adjusted shots. In the past, I took lots of photos hoping to get at least one with good light and focus, but now I just take a few with different angles and framing. The lighting, color, and focus usually turn out great with no work on my part.

I continued on my way to visit Cacao Sampaka (enjoyable) and Bombonerias Santa (not).

I had prepared lists of restaurants from Lonely Planet, but throughout the trip, I did not find Lonely Planet’s suggestions very useful, with a few exceptions. Apple Maps and TripAdvisor (incorporated into Maps) were a better resource. For dinner, they found me Los Porfiados de Lavapiés. I got there shortly after opening and had the dish you see below, between pictures of the street the restaurant is on, taken before or after dinner.

Thursday September 29

For lunch, I went to Bodega de los Secretos, also found thanks to Apple Maps and TripAdvisor. Bodega de los Secretos is underground. From their menu:

In Bodega de los Secretos four centuries of history have left plenty of Secrets. In the 17^th century this area of Madrid was surrounded by vineyards, perfect place for a wine cellar. The maze of the galleries makes you feel like you were in a Romanesque Cloister. At that time, monks used to elaborate wine, that’s why this cellar belonged to the congregation of San Felipe de Neri. In 1808 Napoleon’s troops failed to find people from Madrid hidden in this secret cellar. Along the Spanish Civil War this was a “bomb shelter.” Last two wars in Madrid left us a secret escape tunel that still you can see in our main room.

This and Los Porfiados may have been the best meals I had this trip. Also, this meal was early for lunch in Spain, near 2 p.m. Last night’s dinner was just at the start of the restaurant’s dinner service, at 8 p.m., and when I left around 9 p.m., the restaurant was filling up. I did not get used to Spain’s meal times during this trip.

In the afternoon, I visited the archeological museum, the Apple Store, and Bomboneria La Pajarita. La Pajarita is the oldest chocolate shop in Madrid, founded in 1852. Unfortunately, that may be the only reason to go there. I discarded a little under half of the chocolates I bought there; they were not worth finishing. For dinner, I went to Aloha Poke. (I have to wonder why the Aloha Poke receipt says “Thank you for visiting our city.” Do residents not eat there? Is that a receipt just for tourists? Hmm, it is also on a receipt from an unrelated place in Barcelona except the payment processor is the same. Maybe they print it for foreign credit cards?)

Friday, September 30

I spent 3½ hours at the Prado. So I was museumed out. The museum was mostly paintings of religious scenes or wealthy people from the 1700s and 1800s. There was exactly one painting that was different from every other one on display. You can see it in the picture to the right.

Saturday, October 1

After the palace, I explored the area briefly. The walls in the Muslim Walls photographs date to the ninth century.

Mercado de San Miguel is near Plaza Mayor, a large square surrounding by buildings, including cafes. Lonely Planet suggested an arts and crafts store here, but it was gone. In its place, I found a rubber duck store. They have all kinds of ducks: celebrity ducks, fictional character ducks, occupation ducks, and more.

Setting out again, I passed through Park de El Retiro, a large park (350 acres) near the middle of the city.

Then I headed for a bistro to check off one of the must-try items in Spain, paella. Hmm, okay, it is rice with stuff, so?

Finally, to end the day, I visited Estación de Chamberí, a defunct subway station. It was in service from 1919 to 1966. Trains still pass through it, without stopping. The wait to get in was the longest wait I had to get into any museum or attraction this trip. One thing they mentioned on the tour was the early advertisements in the station were done in tile, making it hard to change for new advertisers, and it was only later they switched to paper.

Spain Plus Two Cities in 2022, Madrid

Parts

Wednesday, September 28

Technology and Travel

Thursday September 29

Friday, September 30

Saturday, October 1

Sunday, October 2

⇑ Back to introduction — On to Zaragoza ⇒