I seem to be making a habit of this - Writing a blog entry a full year after a trip while headed to another destination (we’re en route to China as I write this). This makes it completely out of context and like watching one of my favorite movies, Momento. My goal is to get caught up entirely and share our China adventures before too long.
This entry fills the week after our week in Rwanda. (You may want to brush up on that Blog entry)
It also finds me one year deeply immersed in using AI to craft most of the words that land on a page. These blogs are now more than just capturing our adventures for all posterity, they are now part of my mental fitness routine. Let’s see if I can craft a coherent thought.
Madrid, Spain
June 2, 2025
Farewell Rwanda. It's funny that I feel both sad that we're leaving, Yet grateful all the same. It is an emotional place to be a Muzungu with all the wealth of the world in a homogenous foreign land. It is so unlike anything we have, or do, or see in the States. Perhaps over time, we would acclimate, but given what we heard from the visiting doctor, that seems unlikely.
We left under a clear evening, and after an efficient stop over in Entebbe, Uganda, we finally managed to get some much needed rest on a plane. Our Red-Eye was the easiest we have ever had.
Upon touchdown in Amsterdam (short layover), we noticed one thing… no people walking about - Just big equipment moving tons of soil in one scoop, cars whizzing by, and a handful of people on e-bikes. The world certainly has its Haves and Have-nots.
Three hours, and a friendly Quiddler match later, and we were off to Madrid…
We found it humorous that after we landed, the plane just sort of drove around the tarmac for 30 minutes, only to park in the middle of a sea of planes. We then disembarked and got on a bus that proceeded to drive us around the tarmac for a while in the opposite direction.
We recently read that if you can get yourself from the airport to the city center on public transit, you can do anything. That’s kind of our thing. Whenever we land in a new land, our first inclination is how we can get on their metro system. Madrid has an interesting option to buy one 10 fare card that can be shared with two people. The first person taps on, then passes back to the person behind. Totally acceptable, and very weird by BART standards.
Seeing as this three week adventure was, in part, a celebration of our 25 years of marriage, we thought it acceptable to indulge just a little on our accommodations after a week in the jungle. We checked into the honeymoon suite of a bespoke little hotel called Hotel Mate Alba in the Literary Quarter of downtown. Wow, what a difference a day makes.
First impressions, Madrid feels like a typical European city with a maze of four to five story buildings with balconies, an occasional dude on a horse statue waving some manner of weapon, and open squares encircled by quaint restaurants and shops. It’s quite lovely. And like most cities, it’s very walkable.
As usual, we packed light - one carry on each for three weeks. As usual, that means figuring out another foreign laundromat. Our clothes still carried the distinct acrid smoke smell of East Africa. As luck would have it, our hotel was around the corner from a small launderette with a nice (no English speaking) gentleman and his elderly deaf dog.
We wound down our day of travel with a delicious plate of tapas and two tall sangrias of course.
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| I swear I'm not upset by this meal |
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| Magic food delivery hole in the old stone wall. |
Day 2 Madrid, Jun 3, 2025
Fortunately this time of year the crowds were meager and the weather was exceedingly pleasant (I have heard it gets unbearable in mid summer). So it was off on foot to wander aimlessly - Down the Gran Via, through the Chueco neighborhood, and a requisite stop in a local jamon shop for some of the best prosciutto money can buy.
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| Queer friendly neighborhood. Our kind of people. |
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| So much ham. |
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| Chocolate and Churros. I mean, come on. So Yummy |
We eventually made our way to the Cathedral de Almudena with its brilliant angular stained glass windows that created images with triangles, and wildly colorful linear ceilings. We seem drawn to more modern churches (eg. Sagrada).
We are also drawn to local food markets. Our next stop was the Mercado De San Miguel, a place where you could get extremely fat and not even care. The variety of delicacies is fantastic, the quality even better. While a bit crowded (for good reason), it was surprisingly easy to navigate and grab a bite and refreshment.
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| Now that's a kabob stick. |
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| Can't go wrong with meat in a to-go cup. |
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| I'll have one of those, and that, and two of those... oh, and one of those! |
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| Oh so yummy |
Perhaps it’s Spanish phenoma, or a bit of jet lag, but just after lunch we were drawn back to our hotel for a nice siesta. We need to power up for another walk and food tour in the afternoon.
Travel hack: Book a food tour on your first day of visiting a new city. We have found it is the best way to get your bearings straight and to get intelligence on the best “local” places to visit and dine. In this case, we purposely chose a less touristy location for a more authentic experience, and it didn’t disappoint. The food and drink were great. But as usual, the people and the conversations were the best part of the experience. We have found that the people that tend to book tours like these are so interesting and curious.
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| A "real" sangria. |
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| Always such great conversations when you're with people from around the world. |
Day 3 Madrid, June 4, 2025
Today we set foot in the other direction. We haven’t quite figured out the rhythms of the city and found ourselves at a local market that hadn’t quite woken up yet.
We spent most of the morning at the Arzabal Reina Sofia Museum exploring Cubism and Surrealism art. It is famous for its collection of Pablo Picasso artwork. It is always so interesting to see how the artist’s style evolves over time. I’m reminded of the same experience at the Van Gogh museum. Guernica is utterly mesmerizing. It is crazy how a haphazard disjointed mess of shapes and disembodied parts can really tell an immersive story and leave an impression. We also left with a love of another artist, Nestor.
We are also suckers for a great central park, and Madrid’s El Retiro Park was a great place to explore. Tons of trails. Interesting vignettes. Rose gardens and forest groves. Lovely. Since the weather was cooperating, and the siesta vibes were taking over, we settled at a lakeside outdoor cafe for quite a while just soaking in the local activity (and a couple of local beers too).
We capped the day with a Mexican dinner (already growing tired of tapas…), and a rooftop dessert in the center of town.
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| I continue to be fascinated by Modern Art. This is it. Two black blocks in a giant room. Nicole's head really ties the room together. |
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| Nestor |
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| Guernica. Truly impressive piece |
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| Cool devil statue in the park rocking out. |
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| Nice bokeh honey |
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| One Beer, and One Lemonade please. And a nice lakeside table. |
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| When in Madrid, eat Mexican |
Day 4 Madrid to Vigo, June 5
Another travel hack (that isn’t for everyone, Nicole included), going on an early morning run in a foreign city is a great way to explore and experience a place in a post apocalyptic people-less way. Although I will say, Madrid had its fair share of runners, more than usual.
We’re off to Vigo today, a not often visited coastal town on the border of Spain and Portugal. We’re headed there because a workmate (Isidro) of mine lives part time there and I needed to put a face to the stories he often shared.
We whizzed along the Spanish countryside in the AVE bullet train. What a contrast from what we just experienced in Rwanda.
- 300kph vs 60kph
- Nobody working the fields vs everybody working the fields
- Flat vs hills
- Straight shot through the hills vs curving roads over the hills
After a quick check in, we headed out to the waterfront as that is where Bay Area folks expect to see cool things. Frankly, it was underwhelming as the city is more of a working town. We learned it was a key to the world communication network - the point of entry for the trans-Atlantic underwater telecom cables.
Turns out, we should have gone clockwise from the hotel, not anti-clockwise. After we moved inward from the waterfront to the old town up the hill, we began to see the charm of the city. What a difference. The center of town was a fun maze of small roads as tributaries to a magnificent main boulevard that sloped into the distance creating a kind of optical illusion.
Throughout our walk through town, Isidro was spamming my phone with all kinds of facts, culture, and recommendations of where to go and what to eat. It was like having an HI (Human Intelligence) Chatbot in my pocket.
We’re not there yet with Spanish timing. We showed up “early” to dinner at Taberna Rabuda at 7:15pm. It was empty. We left at 9pm and people were just starting to show up. Not sure how they do it. You could hear a pin drop in Lafayette at 9pm.
Not really a travel hack, but definitely a travel fact - If someone starts a conversation by saying, “My English is not that good,” you can be sure that they are fluent and would ace the AP English exam. Our waiter was no exception. What lovely service. And even lovelier food.
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| What the internet looks like before it's dropped in the water |
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| Starting to look more European |
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| Town center |
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| The way it slopes down then up, makes it look like a movie set with a painted panorama |
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| Isidro told me what this was, but now I forget. But he was super excited that the Vigo Soccer team recently won something important. Hence the scarf. I bought a RC Celta hat in honor of the big win. Whatever that was. |
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| Fantastic meal. |
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| Great cappuccino spot. Thanks Isidro for the recommendation. |
Day 5 Vigo, June 6, 2025
Today is the last full day in Vigo (and Spain for that matter). Regrettably it was cold and grey. But that made for a sweat-less hike up to the hilltop fortress overlooking town. We walked down the backside of the hill to take a cab over to Playa Samil. During a sunny day, this is where the locals go to get a full body tan (according to Isidro 😏). But as it was, the only skin we saw was a elderly gentleman that clearly gave up on his physique several decades ago.
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| Found a new feature on our Pixel... Live Stitching. Another person did not take this picture. I took one of Nicole, and she grabbed the camera and took one of me while seeing herself. What fun! |
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| Now with Pleepleus |
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| On a normal day, this beach is apparently packed... |
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| I'd say it was about 50F degrees... |
Last travel hack for now… There is nothing better than getting a scoop of local ice cream and finding a spot in the main square of a city as the sun is setting and watching the locals emerge for their evening rituals. Vigo was particularly fun for people watching.
We finally wandered back to our hotel at 11pm ready to call it a day. Of course, we passed everyone just heading out for the night. Geez, I don’t get it. The next morning I went for my usual 7am run. Of course, I ran past empty bottles strewn about, and swarms of revelers just turning in for the “night”. Two hours later as we were headed out of town, the city was miraculously spotless. They sure know how to party.
Vigo is one of those tweener cities. Not quaint, not big. It’s probably not the ultimate destination, but I’m happy we got to experience it.
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| Quaint cafe next to the hotel with a barnyard animal theme. No idea why. But that horse staring at us while drinking our Cappuccinos was both disturbing and unnecessary. |
Next Stop... Portugal!