Madrid’s train station is huge. Good thing Sue had communicated with the hostel and got directions on how to take the tube as we were baffled enough even armed with information. We figured out how to buy tickets, which train to take, now many stops and ended up in the right place the first time. Amazing!

After finding our hostel and doing a quick settle in we took off right away to see what we could of Madrid. Since we had mere hours to do so we decided to appease our hunger with McDonald’s. Even that was somewhat complicated. Madrid manages to class up McD’s with real plates and cutlery

Armed with a map we set out to see as much of the city in the few hours we had. I think we did pretty well. We ended up in the Mayor’s square where we were entertained by a funny mime and a few human statues. A protest was going on and there were riot police everywhere. Although noisy, there was no violence and people were asking the police for directions.

Our last dinner in Spain had to be red wine and tapas. and we found that close to our hostel. Madrid is beautiful but expensive. If you visit, get out of the city. There’s LOTS to see in the countryside!