A better day. .....and a goal achieved!

Finally I have achieved the impossible! I have had fabulous churros con chocolat.... rated the 5th best attraction in the whole of Madrid!!

And following a private consultation via phone with my own personal physician Dr Lauren, have got the pain killers under better control...or they have got me under better control. ...which ever way you want to look at it.

But I get ahead of myself.....

We started the day by visiting the Alcazar castle in Segovia - it's main claim to fame is that it is the castle that the Disney logo is modelled on. Perched very high on a hill it has a very impressive moat and sheer drop on most sides which makes it the perfect Castle fortress.  It's been remodeled a few times over many centuries and it's stone walls have many stories to tell.  The ceilings were particularly beautiful - carved wood, painted and golden. Much to every young (and old) persons delight there was lots of armour, cannons, swords and a particularly nasty looking cross bow.

After a reviving coffee we managed to temporarily lose the car: all of the tiny narrow winding roads look the same. Then it was off to a small octagonal and very ancient church which - this could only happen to us!  - closed permanently from the 6th September.  We both looked at our phones to discover that today was the 6th!! Missed it by that much, as Maxwell Smart would say!

The view over the old town of Segovia was lovely so we took a few photos before embarking on the picturesque route to Madrid through the mountains.

In contrast to the dry plains of Spain the mountains were green and cool and we reached 1880 metres very rapidly. We came across what would be a Mt Hotham in the winter. The trunks of the pines and cypresses along the way were covered with a light brown lichen which shines like gold in the sunlight so it was very pretty.

Eventually we found our way to the salubrious Airport hotel on the outskirts of Madrid.  I fly to Poland at 6.45AM in a couple of days so proximity to the Airport seemed a good idea.

It does mean that a working knowledge of the Madrid Metro is essential, so after much reading of the Metro map, the Lonely Planet and Tripadvisor all at the same time, we managed to only get on the wrong Metro train once on the way to Central Madrid.

We wandered around getting our bearings and had a drink (vastly overpriced of course! ) overlooking Plaza Mayor and watched the hustle and bustle. We resisted the temptation to stand behind some dressed models to look like a matador or a flamenco dancer for a photo, you will be pleased to hear.

It was then that I discovered that the No. 5 attraction in Madrid - Chocolateria de St Gines - was located only a few lanes away!  Truly an amazing coincidence......not that Ewan believes me!

We found it easily because every single person inside and outside the cafe was eating exactly the same thing: churros con chocolat! As far as the eye could see there was a sea of white coffee cups filled with thick liquid chocolate and people dipping long crisp golden churros into it and smiling.  The only variation was that some had churros the width of a finger, whilst others had churros the width of a large cucumber.

I showed some restraint and ordered the smaller ones and they were fabulous.  A serve was 6 churros and, having dipped and eaten them, the good news was that you could drink the rest of the chocolate.  No wonder I felt slightly ill on the way home!

A much more satisfying day all round!

Your chocolate filled correspondent

Dianne

PS I have added a photo at the end for someone I know who is addicted to a particular musical!