Friday afternoon we left Barcelona and took the train to Madrid.

before we left, we did one last stroll through an area we hadn’t walked around previously, over by the Arc de Triomf.

the train ride was almost 3 hours and we got in early evening. we found our flat, went to the market and made our way to/from dinner. that seemed like enough activity for one day……

we are staying in the Lavapiés district which is pretty centrally located and convenient for what we want to see and do.

dinner was at Oven Mozzarella Preciados, about a 20 minute walk from our flat. we arrived too early for our reservation and sadly didn’t get to sit in the main dining area. we sat downstairs which felt a little like being banished, but we were hungry and the food didn’t disappoint.

we had originally wanted to visit the Royal Palace of Madrid today but couldn’t get tickets, so decided to follow one of Rick Steve’s walking tours and will see the palace tomorrow.

we did pretty well and visited places he mentioned, like La Mallorquina bakery, Plaza Mayor and Catedral de la Almudena.

but also went down a few side streets and saw things that weren’t mentioned.

we also went to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, which holds over 1600 paintings from some of the greatest masters of art. it was a nice way to end a cold & rainy afternoon.