Day 21 in Spain - more Avila and on to Madrid

Tuesday 6-04

We REALLY like Avila. If you would like to know more, here is a great link.

Wake up, pack up, get ready for the day. First we bring the suitcases to the car we parked two days ago. We check out of the hotel.
Every day before 10 am we have to put money into the parking machine to get a ticket to put visibly on the dashboard. James is doing that (next to the white van).

Then we head for breakfast. You guessed it. Cafe con leche and tostadas. We always wondered about the pictures on top but today we saw how it was done. Clever and easy.

There are two places where you can go up onto the city wall. Two sections can be walked on. As you know, we wanted to do that yesterday, but it was closed on Monday. Now we have to wait till 10 am. But the weather is lovely. And there are benches.

Finally. Unbeknown we chose the smaller section first which was good. This one had a very steep, long and narrow staircase with uneven raises. Some very high. Ute decided that her knees will not let her do it. James and I have a quick look. 

We discovered more stork nests. Incredible. If you look ... they are everywhere.

Waving to Ute.

Waving to James.

Then the three of us go to the other, longer walkable part. Thankfully there was a lift to take Ute up.

We walk past out hotel. Actually, we can see our windows. Well, we did check out by now.

It was so much fun walking along. We looked down into cafe and restaurant yards, narrow streets and backyards. We loved that Avila seemed so vibrant, really lived in.

Finally we went back to the car. There was still some parking left so we could have a refreshment  before leaving. GPS was told to take us to Madrid. It took us post Cuatro Postes. I stopped so Ute could have a look too. This time an artist had found a good spot to paint.

The drive to Madrid was easy through lovely countryside until we reached the big city and driving right through the middle at rush-hour made me sweat a little. But, we made it to the hotel which James had booked the day before. He had found an apartment with two bedrooms in one of four huge blocks in a business district close to the airport. It was an experience by itself. So was the parking.

It was warm in Madrid and we could sit outside and have a late lunch in the cafeteria downstairs. A lovely warm breeze was blowing.

James and I felt we needed to have a walk so we looked for a supermarket. James had looked it up in his iphone. When we reached it we found that it was a membership place like our Costco. So we walked a little further and found that it was not the lonely area we thought it was in the beginning. Just a couple of blocks over a park and some nice looking restaurants.
And before we went to bed we enjoyed a glass of vino on the hotel cafeteria patio.


* * * * *
If you want to go to "Summarizing Spain" click here.