The Navigators alarm goes off at 7am, it’s still dark in Madrid, and she’s not sure if the taxi was booked for 8 or 8.30, reception can’t tell her either (even though she said she booked it). Classic case of if you say you are doing something f….g well do it – don’t mess with the Navigator.

So, we get our own taxi to Madrid main station Atocha Central. Pretty easy really. Busiest train station in Spain we hear. 100 million passengers a year we hear. €8 for the taxi is good value and another great driver. They all turn their meters on when you get in, I check.

The train in Spain, runs across a plain, to Valencia and there’s no rain. Not yet anyway.

Breakfast after passing a light security check. Get our platform 10 minutes before we leave at 9.44. Seats are found but not with a table between us like we’d hoped for.

The train tootles along at about 300 km/ hour. Spain looks dry, smaller paddocks but a lot like parts of inland Australia. Looks like poor soil mostly.

Madrid Sum Up                           I liked Madrid, if I’d felt better and had a bit more time and patience I would done the Prada, the Reiner Sophia and Thyssen Museums at my own leisure, especially the Reiner to see Picassos “Geurnica”. The city is tree lined, there’s a buzz in the streets, we felt safe, taxis are great and with more time we would have used the metro which is pretty extensive. Next time. Would I come back? Yes.

The Navigator is fighting with her phone, the eSim isn’t performing to her lofty standards. I think it’s to do with it being an iPhone as the eSim works fine on my garden variety Samsung. There is a fair chance I’m to blame for this issue. I think, no actually I don’t think, that means trouble.

Major train panic, the Navigator has returned from a loo break, thinking she might have locked herself in. She confessed she was on the verge of ringing me, but then worked it out ( ie how to open the door). Being semi trapped in a Spanish crapper at 300km/hr has softened her issues with the slow data speed which she actually manages to solve herself.

Anyway, she sees a little humour in it, but not as much as me.

We arrive in Valencia on time, €8 taxi to our check in then a drink in the old town pending actually getting into our apartment at 4pm. All is working OK

The Navigator has booked 3 segway tours of Valencia at 5 today. I’m not on the list, I’m not having her show me up on those confounded weird machines.

The old Mercator Centrale ( central market) is beautiful, the building and all sorts of foods. We buy some goodies for the next few days

The seaway tour is OK, I think. But it rained on their medieval Valencia tour, and it rained on me wandering the streets. It’s cooled down and raining, we’re eating in tonight.

Oh, and a comment for the bowel queens, the universe has aligned – I’ll now be eating and drinking normally, and just possibly, I’ll be a little more agreeable to my travelling companions.

Ciao from Valencia

Pauolo.