An arid journey

The drive this morning from Burgos to Madrid, some 2.5 hours and 245 kms, was through countryside that in the main was very arid and rocky.

The surprise to us was that though we drove on the Autovia there were no tolls nor autostops of the type we were used to. We stop for a coffee during our trips but today on two occasions we followed signs for a cafe but drove straight back onto the autovia without finding anything suitable, however on the third occasion we found a bar/restaurant that was a bit like a truck stop and we were able to get the "pick me up" to get us through to Madrid.

These are some photos taken on the move:

The hotel we had booked, Madrid Claridge, is in the Retiro area of Madrid and about 3km off the autovia so was relatively easy to get to.

After booking in we went looking for a laundromat and after googling and walking a few kilometres in what by now was becoming debilitating heat we found the location and decided that when we needed to use it tomorrow we would take the metro.

We now were in the area of the Parque del Buen Retiro, so continued on and entered into this park which is 350 hectares.

Close to where we entered is the Estanque del Retiro ("Retiro Pond"), a large artificial pond and next to it is the monument to King Alfonso XII, featuring a semicircular colonnade and an equestrian statue of the monarch on the top of a tall central core.

The park is well laid out with numerous seats under the shade, cafes and bars - it is one of the largest parks in Madrid and is one of the nicest we have seen during our European travels - it is comparable to the Tiergarten in Berlin.

6kms after leaving the hotel we dragged ourselves back into our air-conditioned room to refresh.

We regard ourselves as being lucky to be able to travel to this part of the world and therefore accept whatever is thrown at us without complaint, but fcuk it is hot!

One thing we are struggling to get used to is the fact that restaurants generally don't open their kitchens for evening dinner until 8, 8.30 and therefore by the time you have eaten and get back to the hotel is around 10p.m.