Uniquely crafted cocktails at Lovo - lovobar.com

John’s arrival day and Jen’s last day of work!! To kill time until I was done, John did a little touring close to the hotel. Highlight included a Picasso painting at the Reina Sofia Museum.

Most famous Picasso painting- Guernica 1937 at the Reina Sofia Museum

Told John to stop at the Atocha Metro Station- a huge station Ala “grand central station” because there is a beautiful garden oasis right in the center- here it is….under construction. 😂 If you zoom in you can see the greenery behind the plastic.

John stopped for a pick- me up and asked for a double espresso and this is what they brought him.

Ginger honey cocktail and not your average ice cube

Miso cocktail w seaweed and nut garnish

Another fancy cube

Drinks with Jen’s boss at the cocktail bar- and on the way there we ran in to another colleague so she joined us as well. Then we parted ways and we went to dinner- yummmmm. El Sur Tab Huerta.

Empanadas and iberico ham!

Ropa vieja and chips- Madrid loves their chips! These were soooo good. Thinly sliced and fried in oil of course! The other food Madrid loves so much.

Paella and garlic shrimp.

Everyone apparently goes goo goo gaaa gaaa over BK here- I literally ate it 4 x at the convention center because it was really the only good option sadly.

This one’s for John and the girls! Everyone’s faavveee - or oy used to be anyway. Drive me crazy 😂

John’s attempt at getting a unique vantage point of the chandelier from the floor- but somehow gets his head in it in the bottom right corner…

Royal Palace tour- incredible

So many tapestries - old well preserved tapestries. Lots of paintings. Rooms included sitting rooms, dining rooms, billiard room, chapel dressing rooms and so much more.

Dining table for 130 guests

Outdoor courtyard

Darling local place for lunch before we head to Retiro Park

Before this we each had a starter that could have been our lunch alone! John couldn’t finish his so she asked “you not like?”

Retiro Park follows

John likes the lion

Video of Retiro Park

Oddly enough restaurant was deer themed…even the bathrooms used metal cutouts of a buck and a doe to signify which bathroom

Venison with plum sauce- it’s just plum sauce he said…

Jen commented the venison was so good which made John mad- in addition to the price we paid- when he said - I can do this for nothing!

Plaza de la Villa- Oldest plaza in Madrid

Morning views

Goya section closed at Prado Museum

Guadalupe special exhibit

Paolo Veronese

Bosch garden of earthly delights

Antonio Munoz Degrain

Look up library of symbols book

We were able to see Goya’s Black Paintings which have been on display at the Prado since 1889! Painted in 1819

Prado Museum

Retiro Park also called Parque de Madrid

Hotel rooftop pool

Earliest known copy of Mona Lisa- John said take a picture- I said I CANT- he said who cares- so I did AND got yelled at - to which John said- well, you got the picture……

Research for later- WHY can’t we take photos in museums?

Driving John crazy that we can’t fine a section supposedly on the 2nd floor somewhere…. Boobs and penises - John told me to put this in the journal! Lots of them in sculptures and paintings. Jesus seems to be a popular subject and John wants to know just HOW many pictures of Jesus are in this museum!

Apparently John took art history in college and got an A- who knew! He said it was an easy A- professor reputation.

So I have my days mixed up for journaling but who cares - I’m capturing it all.

Mercado San Miguel- olives!

Mercado - puts Our public market to shame!

Little snack - shrimp and champagne

Amazing ahi tuna at the market

Bakery stop- sooo good- sooo much sugar!

Sticky sugary pastry covered in honey and a raspberry tartlet

Oldest restaurant in the world- really!

https://botin.es/

On our way back to hotel saw the view and stopped to admire it at this small bar right at the very top.

Street w a view- aptly named Calle Buena Vista

One of our faves while in Madrid- the rooftop pool with amazing views of the city in the Gran Via area.

Video- View from the rooftop

My fav building- reminded me of Wrigley Building

John is relaxed!

John made some friends at the pool - from Sacramento and Atlanta.

Dinner at Casa Toni’s - A straight up Anthony Bourdain kind of experience. Soooo much food- soooo good. Short walk from our hotel. Delightful.

Standing on our “patio” in our room at Hotel Montera Madrid- Curio Collection

https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/mademqq-hotel-montera-madrid/?SEO_id=GMB-EMEA-QQ-MADEMQQ

Breakfast at hotel- continental spread includes full cloves of garlic! Who doesn’t want that for breakfast?!

Leave Big city Madrid today. Get rental car from airport and start the almost 5 hour drive to our next destination for 4 nights.

Kept seeing these on the side of the highway- apparently a cultural icon that started as advertising for a brandy in the 50s- it even has a name- The Osborne Bull

Little glimpse of the drive

Road snax

Lunch in Fuentes de Ebro at Elena’s - truly a local place. Asked if we wanted vino and brought us the whole bottle

Water and wine

Not sure how people eat like this everyday.so much food- huge starter portions. \240This restaurant opens at 1 pm and immediately got busy with people waiting. We were forced to eat the Spansh way- pick a starter, then the main, then dessert- all for a package price. Our total meal for two of us was 29 euros- that was with the wine- the WHOLE bottle- bottle water and espressos. This was an eveyday place filled with blue collar workers and corporate types and run of the mill crowd. Buzzing, lively and a well oiled machine. Lovely lunch.

Casual cafe front in a small town of 4000 people

Tried to find a bank to exchange some money - failed. Stopped at a supermarket and hit the road again. 1 hour and 37 minutes to bliss and peace.

And we arrived to Torres Del Marques

Dad dropped his water bottle again- but luckily it was retrievable. He felt bad though because the staff (girl in her 20s) jumped over the wall to get it in the stack of bushes. 🤦‍♀️

Our room’s windows

Picture perfect

We had a couples massage today on our arrival day. They do it a bit different here- you don’t have access to the spa before or after your treatment, rather you pay per person per hour to use it at a separate time. So - we had massages at 7 pm. Sooo nice

Then the next morning we reserved an hour. The beauty of this is- you have the whole facility to yourself! It was wonderful. The usual amenities and spacious. Saona steam room shower bathroom small pool w waterfall shower and a first for us- these amazing marble heated loungers. Would love me some of that at home!

Dinner at the hotel this evening- decadent and lavish and local. Three kinds of olive oil for bread dipping. A starter which I forgot to photograph - leg of lamb for two- reeediculous - slow roasted 17 hours. It was a little much! Need to walk it off after dinner on the grounds but fantastic.

Broccoli risotto

Lamb w some version of a croquette w airy crispy outside and decadent inside- potato like.

Cocoa mousse and berry compote - airy pudding like texture.

Morning view from the room

https://strava.app.link/qPlYNtjZpWb

Free continental breakfast for being Hilton Diamond member. And it’s just fine!

Hike from the hotel through the forest/mountains to a local nearby town- Rafales- typical adorbs charming small European town. Fun that we got to hike there in the middle of nowhere and then come upon it.

https://www.google.com/search?q=rafales+spain&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari&sei=ZwK7aPKsEuCFxc8Pz-fD6A8

Same guy we saw at the Tienda on Rafales also at where we stopped for lunch. 😂 What a day to wander from one local cafe to the next.

Video- One of our first finds after arriving in to town- some Spanish (not local) people told us what to do by pointing and some broken phrases. Come to find out you can open the door and go in.

Video- After going inside- they had sound effects going on and the light is motion censored. It was an early prison/torture chamber.

\240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240 “Prisoner” in Rafels

Found an old phone booth to call Maria! There was no actual phone inside of it unfortunately but the booth still lived so we took a video and sent it.

Found this driftwood stick on our hike today..I said “look honey! My souvenir! I love driftwood and it’s cheap..lol” to which he replied- we have driftwood in the back yard- it’s so not samesies

Also in the photo above- almonds locally - huge almond producing region overall in Spain but especially where we are now and the village we visited today. John is missing out!

Found this darling little Michelin rated restaurant in this tiny village! Had dinner that evening.

Dusk in the region

Just befor dinner-evenings are so beautiful here.

Almost didn’t make it to dinner- hotel coordinating a taxi or a driver seemed so difficult. We have a car but didn’t want to drive. We get the feeling overall the hotel doesn’t want to encourage leaving the property - so that we spend all our $$$ there.

Ravioli stuffed w asparagus purée and prawn. As you can imagine this was all homemade

Creamy carrot soup - but I don’t think that’s what it was- but it was delicious! Everything was delicious.

John folded this for me and said he made me a heart….lol…

Horsies!

Today’s itinerary - Going to go with the flow and see what happens- do you believe it?!?! These towns are all within a 40 min drive- we shall see!

Town itinerary- update- made it to all of the towns and ended with dinner in La Fresnada

Beceite

Valderrobres

Cretas

Calaceite

La Fresnada

First stop Beceite

Video - small waterfall right in town - town is known for mainly hiking and outdoor recreation.

Street

Church in Beicite

Hermitage in Beceite

Stopped for a snack- first place we had to pay Euros on cash surprisingly up to this point.

Valderrobres

Church- not open

Pretty stairway

Street view in Valderrobres

Beautiful medieval bridge - Puente de Piedra

They sell Tinto in huge plastic 5L jugs!

Finally! A real winery- they claim we are in the Tuscany region of Spain- yet can’t find a winery nearby. Our hotel has a winery on site, but they are not currently doing any tastings or visits of the winery…..add it to the bizarre experiences we encounter w staff. Nonetheless, we are having a great time stumbled upon this nice winery where the woman who works here was kind enough to sell us a bottle of wine to drink on property because we didn’t feel like doing the hour and a half wine tasting after our day of medieval village hopping.

They also produce local olive oil- so good it’s for dipping purposes only- not cooking.

https://ventadaubert.com/en/vino/bodega/

Video- typical scenery on our drive today through various villages

So we have decided that every European small village consists - at a minimum- of a prison a church and the plaza of course- if not multiple of all of the above!

La Freneda

Stumbled on this place- views from above- think Griffith Observatory LA

More from the “griffith observatory”

Dinner in La Fresneda

Broad beans and squid

Tuna casserole- it had a better name and tasted better than the old school classic

Beautiful grass wheat thing- called Pampas Grass

Breakfast is always nice- it’s in the expansive dining room with many large windows of course overlooking hills valley mountain range in the distance.

Today’s plan and view

Even the dreamiest places can be annoying- fighting off flies and ground bees……

Alternate view

This place is truly lifestyles of the rich and famous- well, I don’t know about famous, but the car park is filled with maseratis Audis Porsche beamers and Mercedes- then there’s us with our Kia.

Bougie late lunch in a prime spot we’ve been waiting for on the property. Always someone here.

Three sisters wine

Reality- keeping the bees and flies away while reading and enjoying the view- sunglasses and my amazing old lady nerdy transition lens readers

Good morning sunshine!

Mountains are HUGE - as usual pics don’t do it justice.

Video

Video 2

Video 3

Drove alongside the Balaeric Sea as we approached the airport

Water bottles here are brilliant- the cap stays attached so you don’t lose it!

Our tasting menu with wine pairings at Santerra

Winery on hotel property- unfortunately no vineyard tours were an option. And opted not to do wine tasting at hotel.

We were able to enjoy the wines with meals though while onsite or grab a drink from the bar.

Apparently this was required for driving the rental