Revisita España 2014 - Day 6

Time to leave Toledo and head firstly to Aranjuez and then to Madrid.

Or rather firstly we would pack the bike and ride out of the old town via the steep streets. The streets are not simply cobbled but the surface is flint stones embedded in concrete. Not that easy on a large bike with luggage and two adults!  

We made it and then ignored TomTom telling us to take the main road, instead we headed down the south bank of the Tajo to a couple of viewing spots.

Roman Bridge

The Alcazar

View of the old town

Dora and Claire

The run to Aranjuez was on another autovia and it was only signposted just before the junction with Ocaña and Cuenca seemingly more important.

We topped up with fuel at the first station. At €1.369 per litre the cheapest so far.

The onboard temp gauge showed an air temp of 34.5℃. Who knows what it was when stopped.

We had lunch at a café right by the old Royal Palace. It was open but simply too hot to go across.  

Once on the road again we entered the burned wilderness that makes up much of central Spain. The highlight being road works in the middle of nowhere and oddly near a large prison!

Arriving in Madrid is by autovia. Through  suburbs until suddenly you are alongside Atocha station.

The hotel was easy to find. Not bad but the area is quite seedy with loads of "community drinkers" and rough sleepers. No doubt attracted by 1 litre bottles of San Miguel on sale at €1 a pop in the Carrefour Mini across the road. Not only that they make a racket all night.

Once again I was glad the hotel had private parking.  In this part of the city there is very little on-road parking anyway.

After we had checked in and changed we headed out to get a drink and something to eat. The hotel is near the Prado gallery and Plaza del Sol is a short walk. We headed up Calle des Huertas and had a beer. At least it is all downhill on the way back.

Dinner was in a Murcian restaurant called El Caldero. Mixed reviews on Tripadvisor, but we had a good meal of Murcian black pudding and then paella. Maybe a bottle of red was a bit over ambitious. Pogged we went back to the hotel to go to bed!