Sicily by way of Madrid and on to Rome

We are in Madrid and not gonna lie, it’s been a challenge. For a minute there, we felt like Madrid may hate us. Rain, closed streets, cold winds, long lines to the places we wanted to go. We felt as though we were foiled at every turn.

The travel portion from Nashville started off with a delay for the Chicago flight, which kept creeping into a longer delay until it reached nearly three hours. That was worrisome since we had a connection in Chicago to London and then Madrid, but it worked out. The flight across the pond on British Airways was comfortable in business class (thanks to credit card points), though neither of us slept much. That’s not unusual since we were so excited. We easily made the connection to Madrid. Everyone we encountered along the way was so kind and helpful.

Still, we were exhausted and since this is the first trip since Betsy’s accident, I did not fully anticipate the impact of such a long travel day and the different type of stress we now experience.

But a beautiful setting, tasty cocktails, delicious food – thanks to advice from Elizabeth Gobeil Dallas – made everything so much better. She has given us great tips for tomorrow as well. Thanks Elizabeth!

Having some decent food made a world of difference. On Sunday evening, after our arrival, I went out to find some takeaway because it was just too rainy to enjoy being out. I made horrible choices. The cod was super salty and I bought something that I thought was mushroom (Betsy loves mushrooms), but it was only mushy and not roomy and certainly not good.

Our hotel, the Catalonia, is great and perfectly located and staffed with wonderful people. We are in the Literary Quarter, which is lovely and fun.

On Monday morning, we tried to do a Rick Steves audio walk but the rain, cold and wind defeated us after about an hour. We did make it to the Puerto del Sol, the center of Madrid and in some ways the heartbeat of Spain.

So, we took a taxi to the royal palace. Normally I would have had the foresight to buy tickets online, but for some reason, I never thought of that, so when we arrived the line was a very long and the rain, cold and wind defeated us again. We walked across the street to a touristy restaurant and ordered the best we could from the limited menu. We visited the Almudena cathedral for a bit, which we didn’t love, and then took a cab to the Basilica de San Francisco el Grande, which was closed. A simple look at the website and I would have known that. So, back to the hotel.

After a short nap. We ventured out again. Elizabeth read our Facebook post about going to Madrid and sent us some tips from her trip with her husband over New Years. It was a game changer for us. Just being comfortable and pampered for a bit and relaxed enough to recharge and reassess our goals for this trip was so helpful.

We walked back to our neighborhood and stopped at a fun bar with a cat theme, perfect for us. (We miss Mavis, but know she is well cared for thanks to the fabulous Sydney). The server was fun and that set a nice tone. We turned in early and had a good night’s sleep. I hadn’t slept more than five hours in the last 48, so this morning I feel like myself again.

We didn’t do well with photos yesterday. The rain and cold kept our phones in our pockets and our hands in gloves. But, we are energized today and plan to do much better.

Today, I am making reservations online to visit the palace and we are going back to the Basilica and perhaps make another stop. Then we are going to a place Elizabeth recommended for its good food and fun vibe. Maybe a visit to a museum or a tour of the theater and later a nice dinner. Tomorrow we leave for Palermo.

This is such a different trip for us. Our usual overseas holidays involved a lot of walking. We’ve done self-guided walking holidays, about nine of them, in Italy, Portugal, British Columbia, Ireland and Austria. We loved them all, though from this blog, it may seem that I complained a lot. I did. Shame on me. What a gift it was to have the physical strength to walk 8 to 15 miles a day, up hills, down rocky paths, across creeks. When Betsy was struck by a car, so much changed and those walking holidays that she loved and I endured are among the changes.

But, this is not a lament. We have just begun a three-week trip to places we’ve never been and one that we know we love (Rome). We are off on an adventure — and we knew there would be unexpected challenges and likely some reality checks. We’ve been through a lot in the last few years — Betsy’s cancer, Covid costing us more than we care to think about in rental income, the bomb that ended our rental income and took our home and many of our things and then Betsy being struck by a car. When I write all that, it seems so insurmountable and hopeless. But that’s not how we view our lives. We are so blessed. We have been shown so much love and support from friends, family, acquaintances and even strangers.

We believe that all things, even the worst things, come with gifts.