Month: January 2024

Can’t believe I forgot to post about this, so this is slightly out of order. Our final night in London, we caught up again with my cousin Kristy her partner Mark and some of her friends who were also visiting from Oz and staying at her apartment.

Dinner was at the Lahore Kebab house for some curry. I’ve been there before and it’s one of the most famous curry houses in the city. It’s rather basic in decor, but the food is fantastic. It’s also on the very hot side of spicy, so make sure you order mild if you’re not used to extra spicy curry.

We then headed down to Wilton’s music hall to see “Potted Panto” which was 7 traditional pantomimes squashed into an 80 minute show. It was spectacular (oh no it wasn’t! Oh YES it WAS!!). Plenty of wee, poo and bum jokes to keep everyone’s inner 14 year old amused for the entire show.

The building itself was a special treat, billed as the oldest continually operating music hall in the world. Lots of exposed brick and timber floors.

First morning in Madrid, seeing bright blue sky after a week in London is a bit of a novelty, although it’s quite a bit colder in early morning, about 1c. Our apartment is in this awesome old building, our one is just above these massive kick arse doors. Sunrise here is also quite late at 8:30 am, not really surprising considering we are an hour ahead of London on European time but also further west.

According to Wikipedia, Tirso de Molina, was a Spanish Baroque dramatist, poet and Roman Catholic monk. He is primarily known for writing The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest, the play from which the popular character of Don Juan originates.

We had breakfast just around the corner at a place the apartment host recommended. Coffee was quite good. Emma and I Had a great granola and yoghurt bowl, Sharon had the most amazing and delicious cinnamon rolls.

I Wandered down into the metro which is right next to our building and purchased a couple of local transit cards.

After breakfast we cruised through the Reina Sofia museum, Sharon ticked off multiple artworks she wanted to see. Emma and I left early to walk through the near by park and up to the King Alfonso 12th Monument. Walked back down to the museum and grabbed some lunch Jamón and cheese (YUM), then took one of those hop on hop off buses around the city.

Bit of a rest in the apartment before heading out for dinner, cracked open a bottle of local red wine. Strangely the apartment only has one proper wine glass so we ended up drinking from small dessert bowls. Where there is a will there is a way…

Later in the evening we took the metro a few stations north into Madrid and had dinner at Las Tortillas de Gabino that was recommend to us (thanks Alberto!) Food was fantastic. Definitely eating our way across Europe !

We are staying on Plaza Tirso de Molina which is pretty much right in the centre of the action. Had dinner in a restaurant just metres from our front door. Had the most amazing beef cheeks, Emma had a delicious vegetarian paella 🥘. Finished off with Tia Maria shots on the house. Then cruised the closest supermarket to get a few supplies, including the New Year’s Eve grapes (seems you eat one on the hour before new years).

Seems the plaza we are on has everything, multiple supermarkets, cafes, tapas bars, flower vendors, a metro station and a few more less salubrious venues selling all sorts of video entertainment.