Madrid

 Thursday 12th May 2022

(Rusty blogging skills disclaimer, click on photos to enlarge, typos to be allowed due to speed blogging on the hoof :)

We left New Zealand on Tuesday the 10th of May at 3:50 p.m. Our flight route was Auckland to Brisbane, Brisbane to Dubai, Dubai to Madrid. We arrived in Madrid Wednesday the 11th at 1:25 p.m. local time and in our jet lagged state were very  happy to see our luggage arrived with us :)   

Quick travel observations in covid new normal/travel times, flights are at approximately 60% booked, wearing a face mask continuously makes your ears hurt, transit terminals are functioning with minimal staff and many shops and restaurants are not yet open. The travel really is just to be endured between point A to point B unless of course you travel business or first class which I imagine is a totally different story :)

 We collected our luggage, jumped in the hotel shuttle, jumped in the shower and then  jumped into bed. We had a bit of sleep to catch up on. It was great to be able to lie down, stretch out and get some decent sleep. We woke up at 3:30 a.m. wide awake,  it will take us a few days to adjust to Spanish time :)

 Today we head a great breakfast in the hotel and we went off to the center of Madrid for the day. We went to the Real Iglesia Parroquial de Santiago y San Juan, Church of John the Baptist, in Calle de Santiago and collected a credentiale / a pilgrim passport, where we record our progress on the Camino daily. The Camino de Madrid is approximately 322 km from Madrid to Sahagun.We will walk through small villages and fields and forests, over a high mountain pass. We will take it one day at a time. 

It is great to be back in Spain, the heat, the food, the culture,  the architecture, the history,  the people....... it's all so different from what we experience in New Zealand. 

Bring on the adventures!