On to Madrid!

We all had a relatively good night’s sleep. And maybe we all might be adjusted to the time change by tomorrow. After sleeping in a little and enjoying a coffee, we left Lleida at about 11:30 am to make our way to Madrid. The trip is about 4 1/2 hours. About a third of the way through the journey we made a stop in Zaragoza.

In Zaragoza we visited the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Pilar. It was an impressive church. The square next to the church had Christmas shops set up and a beautiful walk-through nativity scene. Alas, we arrived just before 2pm, which means things were winding down for siesta … the nativity and shops literally closed up for a few hours. 

We were able to have coffee, churros, and ice cream before getting back on the road. 

The landscape so far has been mostly rolling plains with some low mountains as we got closer to Madrid. It appears fairly arid. We saw dormant stone fruit orchards and land that appeared to have been used to grow corn and maybe wheat. The area between Zaragoza and Madrid was very sparsely populated.  Interestingly, we did pass the Prime Meridian, which was well marked, with an arch over the highway, but no place to stop. 

We also saw quite a few White Storks (Ciconia ciconia) nesting on power poles in the Zaragoza area. They were an interesting site. 

(Pic is from internet, but exactly what we saw)

We got to Madrid, easily found our apartment, and parked. Driving has been fairly easy, and for a big city Madrid is not too difficult: thank goodness for GPS. 

We are renting an apartment in Madrid; our landlord is a fantastic host who gave us some hints for the neighborhood. We got settled and headed out to dinner at about 9:30pm.  Our schedules are going to evolve to be very Spanish: late to get moving in the morning, afternoon rest, and very late dinners. 

For dinner we shared: Jamon Iberico (quintessential Spanish cured ham), sautéed shrimp, croquettes (we forgot to ask what kind), calamari … almond cake and Catalan-style flan for desert. 

As you can see, we have been eating outdoors. It’s cool, 51 degrees tonight, but very comfortable.  We were back to the apartment for a short game of Basta (a game like Scattegories),  a family favorite introduced to us some time ago by Carlos.