Mark and John have had their say(s), and so must we.

Madrid is seriously impressive: a modern city with excellent transport (both within the city and to nearby locations also), yet with wonderful historic buildings and outstanding art galleries and museums.  Of the latter, neither of my brothers mentioned the Museum of Archaeology [Yes I did! Read the first of my three Madrid blogs again – M], yet to my mind this was a standout – very good displays and interactive pieces (the first time I have used a “Virtual Reality” headset for instance), with excellent video presentations – in English or Spanish.Yet look at the above – the sign hung on the town hall.  One of the most impressive features is the tolerance.  For what was a left-behind European country under a repressive (Franco) regime, Spain has come a long way, and puts others (e.g. England) to shame.  Gay couples are evident and open.  Catholicism may be mainstream, but Islam is commonplace, Judaism well established and accepted, and one of the buildings we visited was a synagogue constructed by islam builders during a period of Catholic monarchy.

For the two of us the major joy of the holiday was spending time with friends.

Here we are: left-to-right are David, Amaryllis, John, Mark, David, Pauline, Sue and David.

The scene is in a restaurant, with us all drinking Manzanilla sherry.  It was an excellent meal, as many were in Madrid.

I hope that this proves to be the first of many such holidays …..