Our Camino de Santiago walk (6 days, 115km from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela) was a great experience(see previous post)! Now for the rest of our trip - recuperate and play! We weren't sure how much rest we would need, but it turned out we were energized. In fact, since we had planned for a two week trip, I wish now that we had walked further, about 10 of those days. But we had a plan and went with it. We spent 2 nights and 2 1/2 days in Santiago, then went on a train back to Madrid where we spent several more nights and also had a day trip on a local bus to Segovia. Here's the highlights:
SANTIAGO: After walking into the city, we got our compostela certificates, ate at Meson de Cotolay on their patio (since we were in hiking gear) and went through the Pilgrim Museum. The museum is free on Sundays for pilgrims. We got checked in to our stay, Hostal San Clemente, just a block away. It was charming and quiet. On to get massages which we had pre-booked at Spazio. It was a nice reward!
Our room at Hostal San Clemente
Pretty courtyard
Pilgrim museum
We had booked a rooftop cathedral tour, which was all in Spanish, but still cool to be able to see the architecture up close. The cathedral construction began in 1075! Our ticket included the cathedral museum, so we also spent the morning there, looking at sculptures and art. Our lunch was at a charming spot at the Garden Cafe in the Costa Vella hotel - a lovely oasis in the middle of the city! The afternoon was spent roaming, shopping and snacking! We also visited inside the cathedral. For dinner we had empanadas and ate them in Alameda Park near our stay.
Roof of the cathedral tour
on the rooftop tour
churros with chocolate
Garden cafe
The last day we visited the cathedral again to see the Portico of Glory by Mateo (paid admission). It was the entrance at one time, but is now enclosed to protect it from the elements. It is a magnificent piece of sculpture from 1100 of Jesus, James, Queen of Sheba, angels, prophets and apostles with arches to walk underneath. A funny story I heard after we got home about this piece was that the Queen of Sheba's breasts were very large on the sculpture and at the time some thought it was sinful to have this on the church entrance. Some time later they were amended, which other groups thought was bad to have done! So the people of Arzua began shaping their cheese into a breast to honor her. So maybe that is the origin of the Tetilla cheese? A funny culture story, none the less! After this we ate at Secreto where I had the best mocha latte so far, then we headed for our train to Madrid. 
One last victory pic!
Me with my Camino shell scarf and a Mocha latte!
MADRID: After a 4 hour train trip, we arrived in Madrid and then had to get on the Metro to Atocha station. It was nuts - so many people - but we managed. Atocha station was in the heart of the city, right by the Bear and fruit tree statue. We got checked in to Hostal Gonzalo (very basic but a nice host) and then got dinner nearby at Los Rotos, recommended by our host.
Bear statue - symbol of Madrid
Our first full day in Madrid we walked a lot - saw Plaza Mayor, ate at the 100 year old Chocolateria San Gines churro place, shopped Casa Hernanz (espadrilles) and Taller Puntera (leather goods). We headed for the Royal Palace but it was closed for an event, so went to the Royal Art Collection next door instead. We enjoyed the art more than I thought we would - there were carriages and all kinds of collections of the royal family there. We learned more about the Hapsburgs and Bourbon families of Spain.
Plaza Mayor
Chocolateria San Gines
Some interesting stores
Our next day was a bus trip (about 75 min) to Segovia. We planned on spending about 4 hours there, and I wish we had spent more! We walked about 45 min. to the bus station and got cheap tickets for a round trip - this is a tip I learned from APOC or other bloggers - don't pay 45 Euro to go with a private company when you can catch the local bus for 12 Euro! We enjoyed the smaller atmosphere of Segovia and it wasn't hard at all to find the Roman aqueduct, 167 arches long with no mortar holding it together! The cathedral there was magnificent and we did the cathedral bell tower guided tour which was awesome! We climbed 197 steps and also got to see the Bell Ringer's house halfway up the tower. Very interesting! Lastly, we walked to what looked like the end of town to the Alcazar palace. Supposedly this palace is what inspired Walt Disney to make Cinderella castle. Sadly we didn't have time to go inside but we enjoyed the outside of it. Caught the 2:15 p.m. bus back and we napped on the bus then walked around Retiro Park nearby. The Hubs found a pizza place he wanted to try, Pizzatecha, which turned out to be wonderful. It was a fun day!
Bell tower tour
Beautiful cathedral where we did the bell tower tour
Pizzatecha - Carbonara pizza :)
Our last day in Madrid we had booked a special tour with "Devour" tours. It was a 4 1/2 hour tour of the Prado art museum and Botin lunch. The Prado is similar to the Louvre, and it was wonderful to not have to wait in lines and have someone explain the significant pieces and history to us. We then walked to the oldest restaurant in the world (according to Guiness) which is 300 years old. Their specialty is suckling pig. Our table of 10 split one pig and I got the "lucky" tail! It was a fun experience. We had gotten smart and booked tickets for the Royal Palace last night so we could be assured to get in and so we headed there after lunch. It was beautiful and interesting with so many gorgeous rooms. Probably the closest thing to Palace of Versailles that I've ever seen. We were beat so we got hamburgers at Taberna Font for dinner, then had some gelato sitting on a bench in the middle of the city, just people watching. It was a nice end to our trip.
Goya, Spain's famous artist
Inside the Royal Palace
Our lunch at Botin - suckling pig!
So my review after being in Spain for the first time was a big thumbs up! So much of the towns and cities we were in were very ancient feeling, some almost rustic. Hundreds of years of history and very hospitable people. Madrid was out least favorite; it reminded us of other big cities. We loved Santiago and Segovia, though. We are already planning our next Camino journey!!!
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