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So my last post ended with us – along with a bunch of our fellow “Madrid 705” passengers -standing in line at the Lost Luggage counter in the Madrid airport. I should probably have mentioned that Marie’s first stop when we landed was actually to hit the washroom (thankfully right at the baggage carousels) because, for some reason, she takes a kind of perverse pride in being able to fly for many, many hours without having to pee… I think she may have some camel DNA hiding in there somewhere… Although having used the incredibly small – and not particularly clean or dry – bathroom on the TAP flight from Newark to Lisbon, I can’t say she made a poor choice… but there is no way that is good for her bladder… I think it is a skill she’s honed from all the time we spend camping where she basically dehydrates herself for days just to avoid having to use an outhouse…
We filed our lost luggage report with a very helpful clerk who dutifully recorded the particulars of Marie’s missing backpack and assured us that the vast majority of lost luggage was recovered in 24 hours and that there were multiple flights from Lisbon to Madrid each day so we’d probably see the bag later that night or the next morning (spoiler alert – it’s now been 36 hours and according to their online tracker system they haven’t even found Marie’s bag yet…)
When we booked our apartment in Madrid, it came with a free taxi from the airport (a promotion that booking.com was running for stays over a certain dollar value) so while we were waiting for Marie’s bag I contacted the driver and let him know that we were on our way. I contacted him again as soon as it became apparent Marie’s bag wasn’t showing up and that we’d need to file a report, etc. “No worries” he says, “I’ll be here waiting when you’re done” he says… He wasn’t. The information we received when we booked the taxi said that the driver would wait for 45 minutes after our plane landed… Despite his assurance that he’d be waiting when we got out, our driver straight up ghosted us after exactly 45 minutes… to their credit the company’s customer support staff did start calling us as soon as the driver ghosted us but I don’t really understand how the driver sends multiple text messages back and forth communicating that he’s on his way, that he’s waiting at the exit etc. and then it’s crickets when he decides to bail out and go home… I was not surprised… but I can’t say I was particularly amused either… In any case, the first call from their support number was an automated notice in Spanish that came in while we were talking with the lost luggage agent and I couldn’t concentrate on both so I waited and called the number back hoping to speak to someone who spoke English. Again, to their credit, I ended up connecting with someone right away (although not surprising as it turns out the whole operation is headquartered in Manchester so finding an English speaker wasn’t that unexpected…) The person on the other end said that they would cover the €30 cost of a regular taxi if we submitted the receipt to them via email… so we went ahead and found a taxi and headed into town. Madrid’s taxi system seems pretty professional and well-regulated. The prices are posted in the cab… The driver follows the price schedule and the cars (at the least one we rode in) are very clean and well maintained. I can’t say that our driver was the friendliest we’ve ever had (that is code for he didn’t say more than 2 words the whole drive in) but he drove pretty calmly… given the number of times over the years that we’ve had taxi drivers try to scam us and the number of drivers we’ve had who drove like they were wannabe Formula One racers, this was a welcome change of pace… We collected our receipt at the end of the ride and will submit it as instructed and see if they end up covering the cost or not… Given that it’s all arranged through booking.com my confidence is pretty high as they’ve been pretty consistently reliable over the years we’ve been booking hotels and apartments through them.
When we set up the apartment booking via booking.com we arranged with the host to drop our bags off at the apartment when we arrived around 11am even through regular check-in was not until 3pm… but there was no one around when we got there… not super surprising when dealing with apartment bookings instead of hotels as you don’t have dedicated front desk staff, etc. So to kill some time while we waited, we headed to the nearest open bar/coffee shop/restaurant and thankfully found a nice little coffee shop/bar not more than 30 metres from the apartment. We plopped ourselves down at one of their tables (it had a bench with pillows which in hindsight might not have been the best choice given our level of sleep-deprivation) and ordered something to eat and drink while I tried to contact the apartment host via whatsApp. Marie ordered a sort of sandwich of melted cheese sandwiched between corn that had been shaped into something resembling a thick tortilla but not made from corn flour… it was actually corn… It was strangely delicious and really quite massive. Marie kept saying “there’s no way I can finish all this” while steadily chipping away at it… She ended up eating the whole thing… I ordered patatas bravas (basically fried potatoes with a mildly spicy ketchup). It was also quite good… but maybe loading up on carbs wasn’t the best choice of foods under the circumstances… the excellent espresso I ordered along with it did provide a much needed jolt of caffeine, though, and is probably the only thing that kept me from slipping into a carb-induced coma. That and the periodic trips back to the apartment to see if anyone had happened to show up that could let us in…
We still hadn’t heard back from the apartment host after about a hour of lounging on their pillows so we arranged with one of the staff to store my bigger backpack with them for an hour or so while we headed out for a bit of a wander around the neighbourhood that will be our home for the next four nights. Our first impressions were that we (that would be me because Marie actually had absolutely zero to do with booking any of the places we’re staying and has shown a number of times already that she actually has no clue where she’s going, where’s she’s sleeping or even what towns we’re visiting… all this despite my impressive colour-coded spreadsheet… not that I’m bitter or anything…) In any case, it appears that “we” had chosen wisely. We’re only about a 10 minute walk from Puerto del Sol and Plaza Mayor (the main tourist and shopping areas) and only about a 10 minute walk in the other direction from the Prado and a couple the other major art museums in Madrid… and we’re only about 10 minutes walking away from the high-speed train station where we’ll be catching our train to Cadiz from in a few days… so it’s really quite perfectly located. There’s a wide variety of restaurants and bars around and all kinds of little shops and grocery stores, etc. so we’ll have no difficulty stocking up on breakfast essentials and snacks and beer… Despite the nearly perfect location we’re away from the crowds and it definitely feels much more like we’re staying in a real residential area… It is a wee bit grimy looking in places (quite a few buildings boarded up or under construction and a fair bit of graffiti around) but it doesn’t feel unsafe or concerning in any way… It just feels kind of lived in and I think it’s going to turn out to have been a great choice.
While we were wandering around sort of aimlessly, the apartment host got back to us and let us know that we would be able to check-in early as the apartment was ready for us and she promptly sent us very detailed instructions as to how to access the keys for the apartment. As it turned out the person we were supposed to meet at 11am was just finishing up cleaning the apartment and ended up letting us in after all. In all, it was not a completely seamless check-in but when you consider that all of this was set up from thousands of miles away and a couple of weeks in advance, technology is a pretty marvellous thing for travellers and it worked out pretty smoothly all things considered. And in the end we were able to check into our place almost three hours early which was hugely appreciated…
When we got into the apartment Marie took less than three minutes to look around before climbing into bed and falling asleep… After filling out the necessary paperwork and sending photos of our passports (required in Spain), I spent some time checking out the apartment… it’s very well appointed (even has a washing machine and a dishwasher) and is very cosy and comfortable. It’s also pretty much an advertisement for IKEA as I think almost everything in the place was purchased there… In all, it looks like it’s going to be a pretty sweet place to hang out for the next few days… I sort of puttered around and took care of a few things – and tried to figure out the heating system… Madrid is not particularly warm at this time of year and there’s a pretty brisk wind blowing so it’s downright chilly…. Mainly, though, I was just trying not to disturb Marie… but I also succumbed to the siren call of the sheets and ended up crawling into bed and falling soundly asleep for the next 2 hours… It might have been more… I wasn’t really checking the time… I do remember commenting when we woke up that it was still light out at a time when it would be dark back home so it was probably around 4:30 or 5:00… there’s absolutely nothing quite like 20+ hours of air travel with less than an hour of sleep to knock the wind right of your sails.
We woke up feeling a bit perkier after our power nap and figured we should head out to grab some groceries for our breakfasts and to find a place to eat dinner. We grabbed some fresh fruit from a little shop about a block from the apartment and stocked up on some yogurt, beer, sparkling water, etc. at a somewhat seedy little supermarket a couple blocks away. We ended up finding a much nicer (and cheaper) Dia supermarket a short while later and added a few more staples to our food stocks… Many of the shops in the area – and the nearby municipal market were closed (most likely due to it being after 5pm on a Sunday night) but there’s no shortage of places to find food…
After stocking up on the basics, we made a quick stop back at the apartment to deliver our purchases and then it was time for something to eat…. And to drink… The first place we settled on was a pretty cool looking older pub called Maripepa… They didn’t have any food to speak of and the free tapa (not all bars do the free tapa with a drink thing but many still do) was a small bowl of fairly stale potato chips… The beers were a bit expensive and the bartender appeared to be in training for a future career with US Customs… I don’t really want to say he was miserable because that sounds a bit harsh… but he was pretty miserable…. Thankfully the pub itself was pretty much perfect in terms of atmosphere and the beer… well mine at least – Marie disgraced us both by ordering a Corona (which probably explains at least some of the bartender’s crankiness) – was cold and quite delicious.
After Maripepa we wandered a bit more and tried an old (1929) taberna (tavern) that had been converted to one of a chain (Madrid Stop) of pub-restaurants we’ve seen a few of already… The staff was considerably friendlier but it turned out they were having kitchen issues so we were only able to get a bowl of olives to go with our beer… Marie also discovered they’re big on Radlers here (low alcohol beers with fruit juice… in this case lemon…) and spared the Doherty name from further disgrace by ordering one of those… Radlers are actually pretty tasty… if you’re looking for an alternative to drinking water that is…
After Madrid Stop we made our way to Plaza Angel (where we stayed the first time we were in Madrid back in 2012) and ended up eating dinner at one of the touristy places there. Marie really went all in trying local Spanish foods with her order of three cheese ravioli (yes, I’m being sarcastic) while I tried a very tasty (albeit a bit pricey) plate of various charcuterie meats (chorizo, lomo, salchicha, etc) along with a couple of slabs of delicious Manchego cheese… all served with some delicious crusty bread and some cold beer to wash it all down… Delicious! Even with Marie helping out, I wasn’t able finish all the meat and cheese and we ended up taking the rest of it back to the apartment for later. The place was really busy and we weren’t sure about the etiquette of asking to take leftovers home so we basically smuggled it all out wrapped up in a napkin… we Dohertys are nothing if not classy…
By this point we were pretty much done in – a couple of cold beers, a platter of meats and cheeses (or in Marie’s case a generous serving of ravioli) and lots of thick crusty bread had completely overwhelmed the nap we’d had earlier in the day so we headed back to the apartment and turned in. We were out cold by 10pm…
