Maggie and I spent Christmas ’24 in Connecticut with her family. Over dinner, her cousin, Kristen, and husband, Jake, shared with us they would be moving to Malaga, Spain for 6 months. They would be renting an ocean side apartment which had an extra room. They extended an invite for us to come visit! After our travels in 2022-23, the idea of an international trip was more enticing than it was daunting. When it looked like we could definitely take the time to visit Kristen, Jake and their kids, Maggie and I booked a flight and some lodging between Madrid and Malaga.
Our itinerary was:
- Fly into Madrid, stay two nights
- Take a train to El Chorro, stay two nights
- Take a train to Malaga, stay four nights
25-26 February 2025
Our travel started off well, flying out of Santa Fe. We tried out an airport lounge for the first time in Dallas. A free drink and snack in the lounge made us feel like we were dipping our toes into high society.
It all fell apart on the red eye flight to Madrid. The flight was fine, but I think I dozed off for less than an hour, and Maggie slept for 2 or 3 hours. We were feeling pretty foggy when we landed in Madrid around 10 am.
Maggie and I took the metro to our hostel in the Atocha neighborhood. We each had a backpack and a suitcase, as well as a 35 lb duffel bag full of gear. The metro got quite cozy with everyone out for their morning commute and our bulky luggage.
Thankfully, our room at the hostel was ready for check in. We easily could have gone to sleep, but hunger was grumbling within. A nap only would have thrown off our sleep schedule even more. After brunch at quaint cafe, we took ourselves on a walking tour around Madrid.
Plaza Mayor was our first stop. It was oddly crowded and calm at the same time. Naturally we took a picture with the statue of some famous guy on a horse.
The architecture was something I was vaguely looking forward to. I find American architecture is generally bland, cheap, and utilitarian, mainly on account of being built more recently. The buildings of the old world are just that – old. Brick and stone were the primary building materials. A little bit of artistry is put into the facade of every building, making them unique, but not gaudy. I’m probably painting broad strokes. There definitely were some unattractive mid-20th century buildings around the city, but I loved walking down a narrow cobblestone street lined with four story apartments. The street level units were mostly commercial, little shops and convenience stores. With a smattering of castles and cathedrals, I thought walking around the city was enjoyable just for the esthetic.
After the plaza, we walked by the Royal Palace and took few pics. There was a good view to the west side of Madrid at the palace. We stood for a moment to take in the view and decide where to go.
We really didn’t have a plan for the day. Just below the palace was the royal garden. It looked inviting, so we wandered down. Tall Atlas cedars lined the path as we entered.
As a conifer enthusiast, I would like to take a moment to clear the air on something that bothers me about “cedars”. There are a lot of different trees in North America we call cedar, but it’s all a lie. There are no cedars native to north America. Pretty much everything with the name cedar in the US is in the juniper-cypress family. True cedars are in the pine family, and they look nothing like false cedars. That’s why you’ll see things like “red-cedar” or “yellow-cedar” to denote that they aren’t true cedars. I have no idea how this mix up happened, but it grinds my gears. Anyways…
Being late winter, most everything was dormant. The rows of sycamore trees stood like an army of bony white skeletons. Nonetheless the garden was quiet and pleasant. We had been hearing boisterous squawking from speedy little birds all day. At last we got a view up close as they picked through the grass – parakeets! These handsome birds are native to central Africa, but they were brought to Spain a long time ago. They seem happy enough in the Mediterranean climate.
Maggie and I picked another park to walk to. It had some sort of monument on top of a hill. We agreed that the monument did not look European. After further research, we learned that it was in fact an Egyptian temple. In the 1960s, Egypt requested international help to save the temple from being damaged by floods following the construction of the Aswan Dam. To thank Spain for the country’s generous donation, the Egyptian government gifted the Temple of Debod to the city of Madrid. The 2nd century temple was packed into crates and rebuilt in Madrid. Wild!
Having gotten our fill of parks and walking, we returned to our hostel. My pedometer logged about 8 miles for the day. After dinner, we slept like the dead for 10 hours.
27 February 2025
Maggie studied art in a previous life. While art isn’t as much a part of her current life these days, she immediately knew we should visit Museo del Prado in Madrid. This is a world class art museum with works from artists that just about anyone would recognize. Goya, Bosch, Velazquez, Titian, El Greco, etc. Maggie was thrilled when she realized so many of the art works she had studied in Art History classes would be present! Photography of the art is prohibited. I only got one picture in the lofty entrance rotunda.
Our favorite works were by Hieronymus Bosch. A man ahead of his time, it’s a wonder that his work was accepted, let alone revered. While he did plenty of “normal” paintings, Bosch is mostly known for his surreal scenes with small figures captured in exquisite detail- dancing people, demons, and other worldly creatures. A crowd was gathered around “The Garden of Earthly Delights” and we excitedly joined them. Having missed the memo, Maggie got out her phone to take a picture and was quickly informed (scolded) by a museum staffer that no photography is allowed.
Our brains overwhelmed with art, we got lunch at a little ramen restaurant, then went to the botanical garden next to the museum. Still not much in bloom, but it was cool to see so many plants we weren’t familiar with. A highlight of the gardens was a bonsai display. A few dozen trees lined a terrace, all in different styles. Small plaques listed the species, style, and age of the bonsai. Most of them were 50 to 100 years old! Incredible to think the care for these trees has spanned generations. We finished the botanical tour in the green houses, overflowing with tropical plants.
Maggie and I made sure to get paella for dinner. It was quite good, although I didn’t particularly care for shelling mussels and shrimp. We were the only people in the restaurant at 7 pm, which always feels a bit awkward, but at least the service is great. I would like to take a moment to talk about how everything is later in Spain. The country decided it was best to be on central European time, the eastern end of which is in East Germany. Spain is on the far west end of the time zone, making sunrise and sunset a few hours later on the clock than most people are used to. Having dinner at 8, 9, or even 10pm doesn’t seems so absurd when you consider this.
Maggie and I finished the night with an extra glass of tinto. The next morning we took our first high speed train. Other than waiting until the last minute to find out which platform to board the train, everything went smoothy.
We booked our tickets in advance, not paying attention to seat assignments. I assumed it was seat yourself. It’s a train, it’s all going to the same place right? I was very wrong. There were some cross Spaniards looking for their seats which we had taken. Our seats were in different cars! Maggie and I begrudgingly split up, and once the train got moving, we looked for seats closer together. Lesson learned. It was otherwise a pleasant ride across the Spanish countryside.
Overall, Madrid was a wonderful experience! Even though our stay in Madrid was brief, we felt like we made the most of it. For being such a large city, it had a relaxed vibe, and we embraced it. The good food, great wine, walkable streets, art, and historic landmarks all made the visit to Madrid worthwhile! Next stop: El Chorro…
Distance Over Time 