Today I had a lazy morning before setting out at midday for my lunch date! My destination was Sobrino de Botin, in the centre of the city. It is in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest restaurant, founded in 1725. It's also very popular. I'd gone on line to book it Friday night. The first available slot had been Monday night at 23:15 - far too late for me. Fortunately there had been an additional slot for today, at 13:00. The restaurant is spread ...

Today saw the return of the sun, which decided to stay out all day. I spent the day exploring the royal side of Madrid. I made an effort to leave a little earlier today and arrived at the Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace of Madrid) just after it opened at 10am. Nevertheless,there was still a little queue. I paid my 12 euro entrance fee, plus another 4 euros for the audio tour. Both proved to be excellent value for money. The Palace was built on the orders o...

...may well be on the plain, but today was also in the city. Nevertheless I jumped on to the Metro Line 3, disembarking at Callao, where I emerged into the Plaza del Callao. This had a slightly more modern feel than the other plazas I've encountered so far, probably due to the digital advertising hoardings. I then wandered along to the Museo de Historia de Madrid. I spent a fascinating 2-3 hours in this free museum, reading about the history of Madrid, where all...

My latest adventure sees me in Spain's capital city, Madrid. The journey out yesterday went very smoothly. My first experience of budget flying with just hand luggage on an EasyJet flight from Gatwick. The little Airbus A220 was full, but there was just enough space for all the hand luggage. Once landed, I seemingly walked the full length of the airport to get to the Metro station, where I was chuffed that I worked out how to use the machine to purchase my Touri...