There's much to enjoy in Madrid, a beautiful city much more relaxed than Paris and far less chaotic than Rome! We parked ourselves in a modernized apartment in an old building in the middle of the La Latina district of central Madrid – the heart of the old city. Everything is in easy walking distance and for what isn’t, there’s the extensive and easy to use metro system. Just as well as the narrow streets are clogged with traffic much of the time and parking is, to put it mildly, a challenge! We did drive to the apartment fairly easily, but located in a very narrow street it was with great relief that we found a parking garage and rapidly decided that that would be where the car would stay until we move on to our next stop.

Madrid’s largest historic square is the Plaza Mayor – a major tourist magnet (and tourist trap) is just around the corner as are literally hundreds of bars and small restaurants selling mostly tapas . Tapas "ground zero" though is just behind the Plaza Mayor, the recently renovated and rejuvenated Mercado de San Miguel. Until 18 months or so ago, this was just a run-down old market area, with few operating stalls and even fewer customers. Then somebody had the bright idea of turning the place into a tapas “market” and now the place is jammed solid until late into the night. Brilliant selection of great food, but doesn’t quite have the atmosphere of some of the bars in the neighbouring maze of narrow streets. Atmosphere aside though, after tapas for lunch and dinner several days in a row, we were literally all tapas’ed out and hankering for a good square meal!

When we weren’t eating (and drinking) in the old city, we explored many of the other attractions that Madrid and surroundings has to offer. Ramon took us on a four hour drive around the city which gave us the chance to get well-oriented and to see much of the city that we probably wouldn’t otherwise have seen . The grandly ornate bull ring is the largest in Spain and just getting ready for the start of a new season. Interesting to see that most of the people standing in line for tickets to the opening event were elderly. I wonder how much support there is among the next generations for this “sport”. In stark contrast was the Bernabeu Stadium, the home of Real Madrid. Impossible to buy tickets (80,000 of the 85,000 seats are pre-sold to season ticket holders) and even the daily “behind the scenes” tours are sold out for days in advance. The stadium sits rather incongruously right in the middle of Madrid’s financial district and the club succumbed to great pressure from its fans not to move from the “hallowed” stadium to a more accessible location. Aside from the Bernebeu, the financial district is home to several ultra-modern skyscrapers, impressive, but oddly out of place in this city of decidedly low-rise buildings. There was time for a bit of culture of course and no visit to Madrid is complete without a stop at the Prado, one of the “great” art galleries of the world . It is the right place to view works by the Spanish masters, particularly Goya, but a couple of hours or so and did us and besides which, the tapas in the museum café wasn’t up to much! We spent more time at the very grand royal palace, now only used for the occasional state function but otherwise open to the public. Because it has this “dual” function, the very ornate state rooms are in immaculate condition. Also impressive is the collection of royal armour mostly from the 16th and 17th centuries – armour for horses, dogs and small boys in addition to the usual stuff. They evidently started them young in those days!

Our final stop on this leg was in the pre-Madrid capital of Spain, Toledo, about 50 miles south of the city. A walled city perched on top of a hill with many of its peak period buildings intact, it looks just as it should. It is one of the most visited places in Spain though and the narrow, complex maze of cobblestone lanes and alleyways are mobbed with tour groups and we certainly weren’t there in the height of the season . The old city is not just a museum though – many people still live and work there as a consequence of which, the wider lanes (just a car’s width plus a narrow strip for pedestrians to take refuge in) are also clogged with traffic. So not the easiest place to get around (hence many visitors join tour groups and are led around by guides) but definitely worth a visit. The massive cathedral in the middle of the city itself justifies a visit – grossly over ornate, every wall, nook and cranny is filled with intricate carvings and art work as if any artist or artisan who wanted to during the period of its construction, could show off their skills there. During the 12th and 13th centuries, Toledo also had a vibrant Jewish community evidenced by two ancient synagogues that are now museums. One of them seems to have had a dual function over the years and we offer a challenge to our readers – check out the picture and see if you can “spot the nun in the synagogue”. There may even be a prize for the lucky winner!!