Day 4 – We have returned!

Sleeping later than planned, we headed to the rooftop of the hotel for breakfast. Just a wonderful place to greet the day. A panoramic view of the city which has coffee and breakfast waiting for you!

After breakfast, with no sense of urgency, we walked back to the train station to buy tickets to Salamanca. Our plan was to catch a local commuter train to the other station near the airport where we would transfer to the Salamanca train at Chamartin station. Atocha station was a zoo! The lines were very long and the daily hustle of a work day was underway. We got in the wrong line twice, time was slipping by, and we were starting to get panicked. At a very quick pace we returned to the hotel where the front desk helped us buy our tickets online. (Big thank you to Sleep’n Atocha Staff – more on them in trip report).

A taxi would be our mode of transportation to Chamartin. Lots of lessons learned this morning! Buy tickets ahead of time would be lesson # uno! Tickets from Salamanca back to Madrid already in hand.

The train to Salamanca was sleek, fast, and offered some great sites of the country side.

The sky was so blue and the white fluffy clouds made the scenes surrealistic.

With just a couple stops, we arrived in Salamanca in less than two hours. Our excitement was peeking as we rode down the Gran Via in a cab.

Arriving at our apartment we had a short wait for the owner to come unlock and give us the tour. The place is beautiful and has everything one would want in a transit lodging – a great location, clean, and a well-equipped kitchen!

After quickly unpacking and settling in to our home base, we hit the streets. Walking down the Gran Via we found the girls dorm and the boys boarding house for 1972. We walked to the Plaza Mayor with no map like dogs who find their way home after being lost. It just felt natural. Today we just wandered snapping pictures, not really sightseeing. Tomorrow we start in earnest relearning the history of this beautiful city.

Here are a few pictures of the places we will be exploring as the week goes on.

Dinner is no earlier than 7:30, most places 8 o’clock, but hunger was settling in with a meal still 3 hours away. Tapa time ends around 4, so we would have to settle on a glass of wine. The barkeeper took pity and brought us a big bowl of olives which we destroyed.

Now re-energized, we went back to the apartment and did some grocery shopping next door. Did I say this was a great location? Three doors down is a very nice grocery store. Sweet!

During the walk we scoped out different dinner possibilities. This one did not make the cut.

We just could not imagine eating “spider crap sauce” on any piece of fish. It did leave us with the question of how many spiders would it take to create a sauce that would cover a piece of fish.

We did find a restaurant that had Tom’s name all over it. His two favorite things in the culinary world - Bread and Wine!

Being the gringos, we are, we were the first threw the door at eight o’clock. A nice table in the corner and once again we were on a food and wine journey experience. Starting with an artisan cheese platter, we shared an Iberian pork dish with potatoes followed by a tenderloin with apples. Both were some kind of good.  We also enjoyed a new grape we have never had – Rufete from the Salamanca region.

Tom had never seen Janet is meat so rare… And she loved it!

We walked back to the apartment under a full moon.

The streets were still a happening place...

but we were ready to call it a night.