Day 112: Madrid, Spain

We had to set an alarm this morning to get us out of Zaragoza in time to drive the 3.5 hours to Madrid in time to return the rental car by 12 noon.

Here is a photo of the landscape as we drove through Castilla y Leon en route to Madrid. The landscape is very arid and relatively rocky. Although we loved the Costa Brava and Costa Dorada, we were both thrilled to leave the humidity of the coast and go inland to the dry heat of the center of the country.




When we got to Madrid, we dropped our bags at the hotel before dropping off the rental car. We had booked ourselves a "duplex suite" at the very chic Hotel Urban, which has a rooftop pool, to give ourselves two relaxing days after 42 days of driving and a crazy whirlwind few months of being on the move.

Here is a photo of the hotel room with its small living room area upstairs:




Here is a view of the central atrium in the hotel:




We were a little sad to say goodbye to our tiny Citroen C2, which served us well over the past 42 days. Here is one last shot of Frank's "land bullet", as he called it, before we left it for good in the parking lot of the Atocha train station.




We began the important task of having two whole days of total relaxation to end the trip in such a way that we would not require a vacation to recover from our adventure. Here is a shot of me where I spent most of the afternoon - the rooftop pool deck. (I'm all the way in the far corner.)




In the evening, we took a long, leisurely stroll through the city and stopped in some of my favorite spots, including the Plaza Mayor (pictured here).




We ended the night with dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Madrid - Casa Lucas - which is in an area called La Latina. They have very creative "pinchos" (canape-style tapas) and we couldn't resist one last trip there before we go. Here is Frank wielding some very cold Mahou beers (not to worry - one is mine).




It really does feel like coming home to be back in Madrid, and it's nice to be somewhere we've already explored fully so we can enjoy it in a relaxed way and focus on our favorite spots. It's hard not to be sad, though, that we are so close to the end of our trip! I'm glad we built in this time to unwind after such an amazing tour of most of this beautiful country. If I haven't convinced everyone that this is a fantastic place, let me know and I'll step up the effort!

ILM