Cruising area for 2014
Interactive map of entire 2014 cruise.
April 15th - May 31st (Spain)
June 1st – 17th June (Portugal)
June 18th – 26th June (Portugal)
June 27th – 7th July (Portugal)
July 8th – 20th July (Portugal)
July 21st – 26th August (Portugal)
27th August – 10th September (Portugal/Spain)
11th September – 3rd October (Spain, Gibraltar)
4th October– 1st November (Spain)
2nd November – 16th November (Spain)
Work continued right up until we left the boat, although we did fit in another cycle trip to Roquetas de Mar to meet up with Steve & Lynne (Aztec Dream) for lunch at Fosters Hollywood. It was really good to meet again and catch up with all their news, as they'd been such a big part of a fantastic sailing season. Hopefully we'll meet again in 2015 before they set off across the Atlantic.
It’s always a last minute rush to get everything finished and this year was no different, but eventually we boarded the train bound for Madrid. Although it’s only 350 miles, the journey takes nearly seven hours as the train winds its way through the mountains with spectacular scenery and then through vast areas of farmland.
Although the weather was wet and windy, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Royal Palace. Just walking around the outside is impressive. There’s a vast courtyard behind elegant iron fencing and to the side of the courtyard there’s an unexpected and stunning view across the countryside beyond. It's as if Madrid just stops and the fields and trees start. Only about 50 of the 2,800 rooms are open to the public and some of them are decidedly over the top, but others are beautiful. The palace also contains the world’s only complete Stradivarius string quintet. Unfortunately photography is not allowed inside the rooms.
Next we visited the Sabatini Gardens which are part of the Royal Palace and home to lots of statues of previous kings, followed by a walk around Casa de Campo Park, which was formerly a royal hunting estate.
The weather was much improved the following day, although colder and we hopped on to the Metro to go to see the Debod Temple. This is a genuine Egyptian temple dating from the 2nd century BC, which was gifted to Spain in the 1960’s, as it was in danger of being flooded due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam. The temple was dismantled stone by stone and shipped to Valencia where a fleet of 50 lorries took a week to transport it all to Madrid, where it was reconstructed.
Returning to the apartment, we walked along the Gran Via, through the Puerta Del Sol and Plaza Mayor, which are the top tourist landmarks for the area in which we are staying.
Our final day was supposed to be sunny but very windy, with a real feel temperature of 6°C, so the thought of spending the whole day wandering around outside wasn’t particularly appealing. However, when we ventured out, we were delighted to discover that there was little wind and it felt very pleasant. We had decided to leave the luggage at the main railway station, while we were sightseeing. The original part of this beautiful old building was rebuilt after it was destroyed by fire and used for 100 years before being converted in 1992 into a shopping area complete with botanical garden, which houses around 7,000 exotic plants. There is also a large pond which seems to be home to far too many terrapins and a few goldfish.
After we had a look around the Plaza de Cibeles we walked through the amazing Retiro Park, which belonged to the Spanish Monarchy until the late 19th century when it became a public park. It’s beautifully landscaped in 350 acres with countless statues, monuments and fountains, as well as a large boating lake and a crystal palace. It’s a wonderful place to visit.
So that’s the end of our adventures for this year, we’ve had a fantastic time. We’ll be back on Mistroma in April, when we will continue further into the Med.
