On the road again, heading south to Madrid, arriving in mid afternoon. A quick trip to the train station for information on our train tickets to Barcelona for Friday assured us that even with the threatened rail strike we would be able to get on some train, even if ours were to be canceled – whew, good news, which was quickly overshadowed by the machinations of a steathly pickpocket who managed to reach into Joan’s purse and remove her wallet, just after she had taken cash out of a bank machine. So be it, credit cards could be canceled immediately, and no harm was done to life or limb, we just moved on.
A walk around the neighborhood of our hotel in central Madrid soon revealed that we were within blocks of the bones of Miguel Cervantes, buried in the Convent of the Barefoot Trinitarians. At one point in Cervantes’ life, he was kidnapped by pirates. His parents begged the nuns of this convent to pay the ransom, so he was forever indebted to them, and asked that he be buried in the crypt of their chapel. It was only recently that his coffin and bones were identified. We also found numerous other references to the author, and quotes from Don Quixote were inlaid in brass in the little side streets around the convent.
Another discovery in our immediate neighborhood was a music store selling a wide variety of folk and world instruments, including Spanish bagpipes (gaitas). Joan and Priscilla tried them out and were immediately captivated by the sound and their ease of playing. We promised the very friendly proprietor that we might come back the next afternoon and buy one of them. Very tempting!
The big, bustling city of Madrid, with its copious monumental buildings from the 18th century, was a contrast to the small hilltown of Lerma, and Toledo’s medieval city. The streets were crowded with locals, tourists, taxis, cars and motorscooters, and after 8:30, the number of eating establishments we could choose from were endless. We eventually settled on a restaurant specializing in food from the Basque region, and topped off the evening viewing the city from the rooftop terrace of our hotel.