An epic journey

Kasha to alternate parents on Friday. Little sleep as usual the night before departure. Uber to airport on Saturday morning, amazingly left on time for Toronto. 2 hr layover there, next onto the Toronto-Madrid leg (7 1/2 hours) where sleep was slotted in, to aid in acclimatisation to jetlag according to the plan. Alas it was not to be. A young girl in the penultimate row in business class screamed at top volume for the first half of the trip; have no idea how she had the energy to keep it up but everyone’s teeth were gritted by an hour in and it went on much longer than that. Meal service was repeatedly suspended for turbulence and announcements of same in three different languages also made it hopeless to sleep. Ate the appetizer and then gave up on the rest of the meal, tried to get some sleep as the shrieker had subsided but as soon as I got comfortable, off she went again. Yeesh.

Thankfully, had an audiobook to listen to which drowned out some of the ambient shrieking and she eventually did die down somewhat, with intermittent bursts thereafter. But it was just brief dozing at that point for me for the rest of the flight.

Fortunately breakfast was edible so decanted from the plane replete from a food standpoint but definitely bleary eyed, into the promised queues from the new EU border check system. Unlike my cousin Marion’s experience recently, sadly showing a UK passport didn’t let me into the EU lineup. We were “processed” through an automatic check machine like ours at YVR which scans the passport, takes a picture and then ???? Of course, my machine decided the picture wasn’t good enough but it didn’t seem to matter as we all seemed to be sent to the same lineup which was Disney-esque in length. After 45 mins of shuffling back and forth through a very warm and stuffy holding area we were put through a similar machine, this time with fingerprinting function, but once again I didn’t get through the picture stage. Which again didn’t seem to matter, and happened also to the couple behind me, as we again were funnelled into the same queue as everyone else. Another 30 mins of snaking and shuffling around and we were sent through yet another machine which rejected my passport completely and I was ushered to a different section to be manually processed – a much shorter lineup, could I have joined that two machines and an hour ago??? Who knows. After being manually processed I was finally disgorged, 1.5 hours later, into the baggage hall where a few forlorn bags were rotating round and round…mine amongst them, happily. Gosh, travelling from A to B is so much fun.

So time to regroup and activate the vodafone plan I’d gotten online before leaving Vancouver. Didn’t go smoothly of course but eventually got it working so I could see where I was headed to my central Madrid apt. Took a bit to find the metro, quite confusing signage but did find it after a couple of elevator rides up and down. The metro station ticket machine where I got a tourist pass for the duration of my stay wouldn’t accept my Wise VISA card preloaded with Euros (but did accept that of the fellow behind me, grrr so will have to troubleshoot that). I ultimately paid with cash and got change in Euro coins, so many it was like winning the jackpot at a casino, they came tumbling out with verve onto the floor as well as into the change section and attracted a few grins from bystanders. By the time I got my ticket quite a lineup had developed 😏 – it was off next to catch a series of trains – 3 changes to be exact. Happily the Madrid Metro is mostly serviced by escalators so there were only two staircases to navigate, neither approaching the magnitude of ones traversed on the London tube with luggage. I did manage to break the shoulder strap of the bike accessory bag though on one of the manual stages uphill, will have to find a hardware store to jerryrig something else to hold it on.

The flat owner lives next door so was very helpful and I was able to stash the luggage while the apt. was being cleaned, thankfully. Surprisingly, and gratefully received, there is an elevator in the building (mignon but functioning!) so I was able to skip the four floor ascent with full luggage. First stop was the recommended cafe on the first floor of the building which has a Columbian owner and beans from Columbia. Excellent coffee and can’t beat the proximity – it is slow as they are mobbed but worth the wait. It’s a lovely neighbourhood filled with old buildings/ethnic sections – I passed through a North African section, an Indian section and a vegan area along the route to Plaza Mayor. Hordes out enjoying the Sunday shopping and eating, and all the small stores were open and seemed to be doing well with tourists of every nationality there as well as locals. A warm day, to be sure, but didn’t feel like the 31C forecast. So glad I’d taken shorts on my carryon to change into though, esp for the interminable wait in the passport lineup in the hot lobby (thank you Kandie for that suggestion!!)

Plaza Mayor

The caramels didn’t look particularly tasty in this shop but made a colourful display!

I managed to gravitate to one of the patisseries I’d hoped to visit, near the Plaza Mayor – it was mobbed with only one person serving so lots of patience needed but samples duly acquired for taste testing in the next couple of days. Checked out a few others and a chocolatier, all in the same area but they didn’t look above ordinary so I’ve crossed those off the list.

Plaza Mayor with a couple of bike groups. Didn’t see a lot of bikes on the roads though I suspect it likely locals would avoid this area on a weekend due to pedestrian congestion – did see the odd weaver and dodger and some delivery bikes.

Stopped at a Lidl on the way back to get provisions and checking out at a self-serve was fun… came home via a loop route along more very pretty streets and lots of restaurant activity.

Must be part of the pedestrian only network as everywhere else the narrow streets are jammed with cars, scooters, and bikes all competing for pavement.

Burners weren’t working so another call to Hector, the landlord – he couldn’t figure it out either (seemed to be on “lock” so couldn’t turn the elements on) and as he offered to get an oil burner it suddenly came back on line. After a tricky session following that trying to get the koodoo, vodaphone and SMS functions going without incurring international daily charges I can roundly curse technology! The verification codes from charge cards were being sent to my Canadian Koodoo number so I couldn’t retrieve them and was attempting to get a ticket for the Prado Museum tomorrow, the whole operation only took an hour! Apparently one needs to reserve tours at least 2-3 d ahead now and of course I didn’t so am relegated to an afternoon slot now which is tough when jetlagged.

And on that note I am nodding at the keyboard – have lasted until 7 p.m. which is amazing but after two nights in a row of little to no sleep I am done!