• Support
  • Advertise
  • Locations
  • Contact
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTERS
Dana Point Times
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye On DP
    • Soapbox
      • Submit A Letter
    • Getting Out
    • DP Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • DP Surf
    • San Clemente Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of DP
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classified
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
    • Legal Notices
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well
    • Best of Dana Point
    • Crib to College
    • Dana Point Trolley Information & Route Map
    • Dolphin Football Preview
    • Festival of Whales Event Guide
    • Go See Do
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Home Improvement Guide
    • Money Matters
    • Ocean Institute Jazz Festival Fundraiser
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Turkey Trot Event Guide
  • DP Guide
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye On DP
    • Soapbox
      • Submit A Letter
    • Getting Out
    • DP Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • DP Surf
    • San Clemente Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of DP
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classified
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
    • Legal Notices
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well
    • Best of Dana Point
    • Crib to College
    • Dana Point Trolley Information & Route Map
    • Dolphin Football Preview
    • Festival of Whales Event Guide
    • Go See Do
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Home Improvement Guide
    • Money Matters
    • Ocean Institute Jazz Festival Fundraiser
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Turkey Trot Event Guide
  • DP Guide
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who
No Result
View All Result
Dana Point Times
No Result
View All Result

On Life and Love after 50: Madrid, Spain: One of the Great Cities of the World

by Dana Point Times
May 1, 2017 10:00AM
in DP LIVING, DP Living Headlines
On Life and Love after 50: Madrid, Spain: One of the Great Cities of the World
0
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Tom Blake. On Life and Love After 50

By Tom Blake

Occasionally, when people see my partner, Greta, and I around the tri-city area, they say, “We read about your last trip. Where are you traveling to next?”

Recently, we’ve answered, “This April and May, Spain and Portugal.”

Greta and I believe it’s important to travel at this stage in our lives, while we are still physically able to do so, and we feel it’s important to keep our bodies moving and minds active on each trip.

We both wear Fitbits on our wrists, which record the number of steps we take, and in Madrid we knew we’d be taking lots of steps.

We put those Fitbits to the test before reaching our first hotel in Spain. Madrid’s Barajas International Airport is enormous. It took us 2,500 steps and a seven-minute shuttle train ride to get from the airplane to the luggage pickup area.

The taxi driver, who drove us from the airport to downtown Madrid, delivered us to the wrong hotel, even though we had shown him our reservation print-out, which included the address.

“It’s a 12-minute walk to your hotel,” a desk clerk at the wrong hotel told us. “It happens all of the time.” Twelve minutes of walking turned into 30 minutes. Along the way, we saw another couple walking in the same direction—looking like us—rolling suitcases and holding an identical hotel reservation print out.

“Looking for Hotel H10?” we asked.

Yup, their taxi driver also dropped them at the same wrong hotel. They were from Wales in the UK. We had a small laugh together. Lots of Fitbit miles that day.

Our correct hotel was located adjacent to Retiro Park, the largest park in Madrid. A mile and a half walk from the hotel through the park took us to the Prado Museum, considered to be one of the great art museums in the world. A visit to the Prado was our top to-do item in Madrid.

In the park, there is a small lake where rowboats are rented. There had to be 200 boats on the lake with people rowing when we walked past. Also in the park, we visited an all-glass historical structure called the Crystal Palace on the way to the Prado.

My favorite painter is El Greco. There is an entire room devoted to him at the Prado, an El Greco-lover’s paradise. Goya, Velazquez, Rubens and other renowned world painters are featured at the museum as well.

Our second to-do item was to eat delicious paella. Twice, we ate paella at sidewalk restaurants in the Plaza Mayor, a well-known square in Madrid.

Greta and I love riding trains in Spain. One day, we rode the Madrid Metro to the Chamartin train station and took the high-speed train to the ancient city of Segovia, a 30-minute ride.

The Roman-built aqueduct in the heart of Segovia is very impressive. Not far from there is the massive cathedral of Segovia, which by itself is worth the day-trip from Madrid. The cathedral has 27 chapels. We marveled at how difficult building a structure that large and beautiful must have been in the 1500s.

On two of our Madrid days, we didn’t plan anything specific—no museums, cathedrals, castles, flea markets or art galleries. We just set out walking in different parts of this fascinating city.

We always came upon fun things to see and do. We walked down a busy street called the Gran Via, which has magnificent building architecture and all kinds of shops, stores and restaurants.

On that day, we bought a Real Madrid football club jersey for me and a bota bag wine skin for us to take to the Dana Point outdoor summer concerts—filled with vino, of course. We didn’t even buy any ice cream that day, which is hard not to do in Europe, as ice cream is a local favorite.

In the streets of Madrid, you see lots of mimes posing motionless, dressed in some exoteric costume. Some are very original. But, these two, pictured below, in the crowded Plaza del Sol on a Saturday afternoon, took the cake—suspended in the air on a motorcycle.  How in the heck did they pull that off?

Tom Blake is a Dana Point resident and a former Dana Point businessman who has authored several books on middle-aged dating. See his websites at www.findingloveafter50.com; www.vicsta.com and www.travelafter55.com. To receive Tom’s weekly online newsletter, sign up at www.findingloveafter50.com or email at tompblake@gmail.com.

Share this:

  • Share
  • Print
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
Tags: AdvicelifeMadridMadrid SpainOn Life and Love After 50RelationshipsSpainTom Blaketraveling
ShareTweetPin

Dana Point Times

Related Posts

On Life and Love after 50: Widow Puzzled by a Friend’s Warning

On Life and Love After 50: ‘My Money Is on The Chair’—Six Words Bring Love to a Senior Couple

March 24, 2023
On Life and Love after 50: Widow Puzzled by a Friend’s Warning

On Life and Love After 50: ‘My Dad Was from the Bronx’

March 10, 2023
On Life and Love After 50: An ‘All Access’ Backstage Meeting with a Special Friend

On Life and Love After 50: An ‘All Access’ Backstage Meeting with a Special Friend

February 24, 2023
On Life and Love After 50: Around Dana Point Island

On Life and Love After 50: Around Dana Point Island

February 10, 2023
Next Post
Contentious Council Shakeup

City Council Preview: Tuesday, May 2

Discussion about this post

No Result
View All Result

DP Times Daily
Get important news and updates delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here.

Subscriptions
Don’t get the DP Times delivered to your home? Subscribe today.

Advertising
Get new customers and drive traffic to your business. Advertise with us.

Support Local Journalism
For less than the cost of a couple of cups of coffee a month, become an “Insider” member and continue to get “Local News You Can Use” from the only independently owned, dedicated local news organization in South Orange County.

Contribute today.

Picket Fence Media is a proud member of the SoCal Media Network.

  • Contact Us
  • Terms of Use
  • Dana Point Times
  • San Clemente Times
  • The Capistrano Dispatch
  • DP Chamber Directory

© 2023 Picket Fence Media

No Result
View All Result
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye On DP
    • Soapbox
      • Submit A Letter
    • Getting Out
    • DP Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • DP Surf
    • San Clemente Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of DP
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classified
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
    • Legal Notices
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well
    • Best of Dana Point
    • Crib to College
    • Dana Point Trolley Information & Route Map
    • Dolphin Football Preview
    • Festival of Whales Event Guide
    • Go See Do
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Home Improvement Guide
    • Money Matters
    • Ocean Institute Jazz Festival Fundraiser
    • Summer Camp Guide
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Turkey Trot Event Guide
  • DP Guide
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who

© 2023 Picket Fence Media

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.