OVERVIEW TO BLOG & OUR TRIP

 

Day 2 FRIDAY May 6^th Madrid/Alcala de Henares

Parador breakfast is scheduled for our party of 2, 930-1000 as they control the numbers to combat Covid concerns. Veronica is still working. Our friend Lourdes, the Manager is now fully retired actually at the beginning of the pandemic. Lourdes had a right hip replaced and then retired when released to return to work. After breakfast Paul asked one of the front desk guys to help pair his phone with the Ford Puma model a nice automatic vs a manual to shift all the time. Its GPS and onscreen controls were in Spanish. Andres (from the Ukraine), pushed the General settings and up popped change the language so I then chose English and suddenly the navigation and phone pairing all were done without problems. Issues solved. There were a couple of antique cars out in the courtyard , very beautiful but no one could tell us why they were there or where they were going!

Mejorada del Campo

We decided to go down memory lane! We weren’t up for a lot of walking, to say the least! We drove to Torrejon where we used to live and damn near got lost! Everything has changed so much and not necessarily for the better. There must have been a population explosion and an increase in the job market. Apartments and factories everywhere. It really was quite pretty when we lived there but now it is quite the city and not very pretty. Paul decided to head out to San Fernando de Henares and then Mejorada del Campo where we saw the Cathedral de Justo Gallego. Which was built by hand from scrap and donated materials by a former monk Justo Gallego Martinez. He had to give up the priesthood as the very stringent requirements made him very ill from TB. He then spent the next 50 years building his cathedral! He had no permits or inspections or zoning. Now his supporters are trying to make things right. He was the architect too! He only died last year , a truly remarkable story!

Cathedral de Justo Gallego

The goal was to revisit Royal Oaks which was the old base housing, we opted to not live there. What’s the point of being in Madrid and living in Base Housing? We wanted the full experience, living like Spanish people as we had done before. Out there are a lot of golf courses and in fact, Bing Crosby died there in 1977 at Las Moraleja! We almost did not go in when we saw the guard at the gate but proceeded anyway. Very lovely area. We parked, wrestled with the parking ticket machine with the aid of an older gentleman. Actually after getting our ticket I went back to the car to get a cardigan and that same old gentleman was still wrestling with the machine and 10 people behind him waiting patiently! We had a little refreshment and decided to see if our favorite restaurant was still open for lunch.

Cathedral de Justo Gallego

It should have taken about 15/20 minutes but…we got caught in a traffic jam of mammoth proportions! I have never seen anything like it, makes A1A look like a breeze. There was a traffic accident under a bridge which filtered tragic down to 2 lanes from 4!  An hour and a half later we finally made it to Las Moreras. It was Friday and the Spanish love their lunches I was convinced we wouldn’t get in but we did! This restaurant dates back to 1922 and we have been going therefor 50 years. Paul read the history on the menu back which said that annually the consume over 34,000 sheep for the milk lamb chops on the grill. In fact we dined there the day before Alison was born! Planes fly over on their way to the airport. Inside and outside dining, fabulous food and wonderful service. Very happy! We got back to the Parador without much trouble.

Back in Alcala we rested a little and then went out for a stroll. Paul needed sleep aids so we went to his favorite Farmacia. That’s the one he went to on our last trip after being bitten by a …spider we think. There was a Doctor in there shopping, he diagnosed the bite and wrote a prescription for him! Truly one stop shopping! LOL!  I got his sleep Aids and we continued on. Now there is a very nice restaurant facing the Cervantes Plaza called the “Casino”. We have never gone in before but it was calling to us. I am still stuffed from a very late lunch but Paul was most insistent, so in we went. Fabulous service and food..I think ..Paul had Puntos de Solomillo and I grudglying went with Setas, an appetizer, I couldn’t eat much but Paul perseveres! Always up for a challenge! I know we will go back on our return to Alcala in June.

Favorite Place for Lunch Baby Lamb Chops Las Moereras

Back to the Parador and we crashed again. We really are lightweights compared to years past. Need to slow down. We are off to Logrono tomorrow!