Sunday May 12, 2024
- Starting Point: Salamanca, Spain
- Ending Point: Madrid, Spain
- Distance: 230 km (by train) + bike tour around the city
After three days in Salamanca catching up with Sean & Angelique, it was time for me to head back to Madrid. I had a return flight to the US on Monday, and I was still 230 kilometers away from the capital city.
Today was Mother’s Day in the US, so I boarded the early train to Madrid with the expectation to treating myself to a little gift. I wanted to see some of Madrid’s sights that I hadn’t enjoyed during my previous Caminos.
I’d been to Madrid only twice before, opting to spend most of my time visiting two of Spain’s top museums (the Prado and the Reina Sofia). But my recent guided tour of Salamanca inspired me to pay for a last-minute tour around Madrid – where I could see and learn more about the city’s history.
Unfortunately, Madrid was far too large in scale to take in most of the sights on foot. So I booked a 3-hour English-speaking bike tour of the city. I’d done a similar type of tour with one of my sisters on her first visit to Paris, and I was amazed at how much of the city we were able to see in the process. Thus, I had equally high hopes for this bike tour.
Unfortunately, my bike tour in Madrid wasn’t nearly as good as our Salamanca walking tour or the Paris bike tour. A massively large event for Madrid Real fans was happening in downtown Madrid at the very same time I was supposed to be cycling around the city. Several major thoroughfares were completely shut down, and throngs of people seemed to be everywhere.
Our guide did the best he could under the circumstances, but the tour was only so-so, in my opinion. Too much cycling (on long detours around the congested sections of the city) with less time to discuss the significance at our tour stops.
Oh well. Sometimes you swing and miss… At least I got to see:
Tomorrow, I’ll head back to the US after this short 2-week Camino adventure in Portugal and Spain. It was a lovely springtime micro-adventure, but one question still lingers…
I’ve now completed four of the Camino de Santiago routes: the Camino Frances and Camino Finisterre (in 2018), the Camino del Norte (in 2022), and the Camino Portugues (in 2024). Do I plan to come back and walk another one?