Spain and Portugal

September 16 - October 4, 2014

Madrid, cont'd.

From the Cathedral I walked to the Museo Cerralbo. The 37-room museum is the former palace of Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa, 17th Marquis of Cerralbo, and contains works of art from paintings, armors and weaponry, ornate glass chandeliers and furniture, to just about anything else you can think of. These works of art were collected by the Marquis and his family. Photography is permitted inside without flash. I thought I was being offered a reduced senior admission but she kept pushing my coins back to me. I kept hearing her say "three" when she was saying "free" as I'm a senior. en.museocerralbo.mcu.es

From the museum I found the city's very large supermarket underground at one of the major department stores. Alberto mentioned that for the best saffron we should shop where the locals shop, so that's what I did.

In late afternoon Alberto took those interested on another walking tour. He surprised us with a stop at Valor Chocolatiers and bought us all churros and wonderfully thick, hot chocolate. It was a special treat that we all enjoyed.

We then visited Restaurant Botin, founded in 1725 and, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, is the oldest restaurant in the world. As the restaurant was not yet open we were able to wander within including into the old, dusty wine cellar. The place oozed charm, especially the downstairs dining room; reservations highly recommended. www.botin.es/?q=en

Botin's Restaurant

Me at Valor

Our walking tour ended at the Mercado San Miguel and I again had a bite to eat there.  I spent the rest of the evening in my room catching up on emails and playing Candy Crush on my Nook. (Did I really just admit to that?)