Camino Mozárabe 2024

In the morning we walked a couple of kilometers to see the Templo de Debod , which apparently dates back to about 200 B.C. Along the way we went to the Iglesia de Santa Teresa y San José and the gardens of the Palacio Rea l. In the afternoon, after a jetlag-mitigating siesta, we wandered some more, to the Fundación Isaac Albéniz (Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía), the Iglesia de Santiago , and the Mercado de la Cebada . In the evening we found a true tapas row, on the Calle de la Cava Baja . But we ended up eating a more serious dinner,  sharing a quarter roasted lamb at the Posada de la Villa .

The temperature in Madrid dropped just as we arrived, so the weather has been perfect. In the morning we just walked and explored our neighborhood some more, then strolled on the Paseo del Prado , and had a good lunch in an oddly decorated taberna called El Diario , where Yung Wha sat with Sr. Cervantes . We spent the entire afternoon in the Museo del Prado , after which it was, natch, time for sangría and tapas. Dobrian family sidebar: In the evening we were walking on the Calle de Alcalá toward the Plaza de las Cibeles , so naturally I had to turn down the street where my family lived during my dad's sabbatical in 1971. What was the Hotel Suecia is now a branch of a chain of 5- star hotels called NH Collection (don't ask me), and what was the Restaurante Belman is now a completely redesigned restaurant/bar called Casa Suecia . I chatted with the bellhop (in the picture), and he actually had some photos of the old hotel and the downstairs bar pre-renovation on his phone(!),...

We flew into Barajas airport in Madrid,  got settled into our AirBnB apartment near the Plaza Mayor by 16:00, had a siesta to supplement our not-so-satisfying airplane sleep, then went out to get groceries. By then, it was time for tapas at Fatigas del Querer , an unpretentious old-school bar with wood columns,  tiled walls, and murals . That segued into dinner: Niçoise salad, sausages, and stewed tripe. Then we walked around the neighborhood–the Calle Victoria , Calle de Alcalá , Puerta del Sol , and the Plaza Mayor , passing by the well-remembered Museo del Jamón , which hasn't changed much since we were last in Madrid twenty years ago. 

Camino Mozárabe 2024 Tomorrow Yung Wha and I will fly to Madrid, where we'll stay for a few days before taking a bus to Granada. After a couple of days there, we intend to walk a portion of the Camino Mozárabe . The Mozárabe is one of the many pilgrimage paths to Santiago de Compostela, starting on the southern coast of Spain in Almería or Málaga. In our case, we'll be walking the 170 km portion from Granada to Córdoba , which we hope to accomplish in eight days. We've done this sort of walk a few times before: • Caminho Português, 2015 , Porto to Santiago de Compostela — Chris and Yung • Caminho Português, 2016 , Porto to Santiago de Compostela —  Chris and Oliver • Via di Francesco, 2017 , Firenze to Assisi — Chris and Yung • Via di Francesco, 2019 , Firenze to Assisi — Chris and Oliver • Caminho Português, 2022 , Porto to Santiago de Compostela —  Chris, Yung, Amy, & Mary We'll be traveling without computer or tablet, only our cell phones, so—since typing isn...