Our next stop was to visit Madrid’s main gardens The Retiro. We sat and sunbathed awhile beside the large boating lake and then wandered through the formal gardens. Next, it was time for lunch in the nearby financial district. Today’s choice was called ‘Pascalles’ and it didn’t disappoint. We shared our last bottle of Rioja of the holiday alongside good food. To walk off our large lunch we continued to Madrid’s main railway station, Atocha. It’s certainly worth a visit even if no rail journeys are planned. It is a rail station like no other as it contains a small rainforest in its central concourse. This is surrounded by a pond filled with fish and turtles. I have never seen so many turtles in one place, they were sleeping piled on top of each other.
Well, that was enough walking for one day, so we took the metro to Opera and enjoyed our final cappuccino of the holiday there whilst people watching. An hour later and it was time to return to the airport for our flight back to Manchester which departed on time.
Madrid has been an excellent choice for a springtime city break, it’s a very walkable, compact city centre with lots of squares to enjoy a coffee, a beer or a glass of wine. We took advantage of the ‘Menu del Dia’ which is served in the majority of restaurants until 4.00 pm each day.
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