Well….I was supposed to go to Avila. Lots of st Teresa stuff there, of course.
I got on the wrong train, and ended up merely taking a tour of the Spanish countryside. Short story, it’s dry but somehow lovely.
I gave up and went on a walking tour of the “new ” part of town. It was great as always to hear bits about how real people lived in the old days. The guide had a lot to say about Franco, too. Probs it’s not ok for the guides to get so politics but it was fascinating.
I spent the rest of the day wandering around random neighborhoods. So many neat little shops.
Today I actually did make it to Avila. More on that later.
Now that’s out of the way, Madrid is everything I’ve remembered. It’s great here.
This time around, I’ll see what I missed last time. Mostly museums, that also happen to be air conditioned😓
Today I went on a great walking tour of the old town, and to a modern art museum. At the museum they have a massive exhibit of Picasso’s Guernica. Picasso isn’t my favorite but that was a so well curated his stock is rising.
Tomorrow more city, then Tuesday a day trip to Avila or Seville.
My time in Bulgaria has been lovely. The groceries and coffee are cheap, the people generally friendly, and the weather sunny.
Today I spent a few hours at the National Gallery. It wasn’t enough to see everything. The collection includes a lot of Rodin. You can definitely see the influence of the end of the Ottoman occupation. Ten years after, all those artists who trained in Vienna came back to make some amazing art.
The rest of the day I repacked and culled my backpack. A lot didn’t make the cut. Sorry, every long-sleeved thing I had left!
Tomorrow I’ll move on to Madrid for the weekend. And then off to Morocco for a bus tour. It’s off-budget…..but screw it. I don’t know when the opportunity will arise again to see even a tiny part of Africa.
Travels with Froggy and Other Stuff 