We spent the day tidying up the van and doing laundry so that we were all set and ready to go once Keith arrived. It was quite a relaxing morning and we were glad to have a bit of a break before the busy touring started up again. We set off for the airport after making sure that Keith's flight was on time. We had looked up parking at the airport and decided that it was horrendously expensive (15 €/hour)! Instead of parking we decided to try the Vancouver method of picking people up which is to circle through arrivals until you see the person. We drove to the arrivals area and there was no pick-up spot - You had to park to meet someone! So we set off on another loop to check out the departures area instead. Sure enough there was a drop-off area which was filled with people picking up. Clearly this was what the locals did and we decided that would work for us too. I dropped Anoop off to go meet Keith and by the time I got back from my first loop, there they were! The timing couldn’t have worked out better and we set off back for camp.

The next morning we set off for Madrid. It took us a while to get in to town that morning since it was a Sunday and buses weren’t running regularly and were not following the schedule. We arrived in town just before 11 and decided it would be a good time for a coffee stop since Keith had been awake since 5 am. We went to a place recommended for their churros and had café con leche with churros on the side. The place was packed – you could tell it was a fave with locals and tourists alike. We headed over to the main square which was set up for the Sunday stamp and coin market. We decided this was a must-see and before we had even made it to the square, I had already popped in to a shop to pick up a few packs of stamps. The square was huge and there were tons of vendors set up the entire way around. It was packed with people, lists in hand, searching for the elusive stamp to complete a set and add to their collection. I picked up 100 Spain stamps for 1€ and decided I should see if there are more stamp markets in other countries since it is a good way to add to my collection. It was fun seeing everyone searching the books and chatting away. We then continued on to the Sunday flea market which we thought we should check out. Our guidebook had warned us that pickpocketing is huge in the area and not to carry money around with you. Forewarned, we had left my purse and passports back in camp and Anoop & Keith kept their hands in their pockets. When we arrived, we could see why it would draw pickpockets – the market was extremely crowded! We shuffled by in a flow of people for a bit and then decided that was enough for us since there wasn’t much interesting for sale.

We wandered over to the Prado and had a quick lunch on the benches outside. We headed in, checked our bags and got ourselves oriented. We saw some amazing works by Raphael, Velazquez (pronounced Velathqueth over here), El Greco, Goya, Titian and many other artists. The Prado was huge and we spent a good four hours wandering around and looking at all the paintings. Most of the art is from around the Renaissance period which meant that there were lots of biblical scenes. There were also lots of paintings of royal families. One of the highlights was "Las Meninas" by Velazquez which we admired for some time. Little did we know we would see some very different versions of the painting in Barcelona. After the Prado we headed back to camp for a very late dinner.

On our second day in Madrid we started off at the palace. It had a pharmacy with lots of neat ceramic jars and an armoury with a large collection of weapons and armour. The highlight was the palace itself. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures to help show the rooms, but they were just amazing. The amount of detail that went in to each room was incredible. One room had ceramic flowers all over the walls. There were tons of clocks (still working) throughout the palace as well as the most incredible chandeliers. Each room had a different one and each one was amazing. The biggest room was the dining room where the king still hosts dinners five times a year. The table can go the entire length of the room and seat 140 people! We quite enjoyed our visit and picked up a few postcards of our favourite rooms.

We then decided it was time for some tapas since we were feeling peckish. We found a recommendation nearby and popped in. We decided to get the potatoes with ham and crème fraîche and a melted emmenthal and chorizo dish to go with bread. They were both very tasty and satisfied our stomachs for a bit longer. We continued on and did part of the walking tour in our book until we ended up at the market. It was quite a fancy market where you could order tapas, wine or buy food to take home. As we wandered, we saw lots of people walking around with their wine, checking out all the stalls. We stopped at one that had a beautiful display of olives. They had done up toothpicks with olives and various meats, cheeses or pickled onions. They really did look delicious and I don’t even like olives! Keith and Anoop picked up a scoop of olives with orange and another mildly spicy batch to take home. We then continued our snacking tour by stopping off at a bar known for its calamari (deep fried this time!). We ordered a plate to share and Keith & Anoop got a small beer to go with it. They were really fresh and made right in front of us! We continued on our walking tour and ended up back in the square where we had been the previous morning. There was no stamp or coin market going on, but there were people doing interviews for something or other. One group approached Keith and he said I don’t speak Spanish. The lady switched to English but didn’t know how to ask the questions so just said “How do I say this… Have a nice day!” They later approached me too, but this group spoke English. Despite them asking the question in English, I’m still not sure what they wanted to know. It was something about politics which is definitely not my forte.

We finished up in Plaza del Sol which was another big square. We got to stand at the marker for the centre of Spain. Also, there was another recommended treat place so we popped in to pick up the local specialty, the Madrid version of a doughnut. We also picked up a napolitana which is like a pain au chocolat, but not as light and fluffy; we opted for one chocolate and one cream filled to enjoy with tea later. We then decided that we should try the churros with chocolate since our book recommended another place where they make their own churros. We shared two between the three of us and left feeling stuffed. The chocolate is like a warm pudding that you dip your churros in. We were glad we had gone and enjoyed them, but decided that was enough churros for two days.

We headed to the park for a quick wander and to look at the pond with the monument behind it. It was quite cool and started hailing lightly at one point. We were glad that it wasn’t raining at least. We then walked up to the nearby Mapfre foundation gallery which was showing a collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Since this is my favourite period of art, we decided we should go see it. The line was huge and it took us about an hour to get in which seems to be typical of any free sight. We really felt like we were standing with the locals since everyone was speaking Spanish around us and there were no tourists (at least non-Spanish tourists) in sight. We were so glad that we had waited since the collection was amazing. We saw Renoir’s “Two girls at a piano” which was amazing to see as an original. We also saw some incredible works by Monet, Degas, Van Gogh, Seurat and others who we hadn’t heard of before. We all really enjoyed the exhibit and it was definitely one of the highlights for me.