All the way to Madrid . . .

Leaving San Antonio on a Greyhound Bus seemed a fairly inauspicious way to start this journey, but it was fabulous.  A short ride to Houston, a fabulous dinner, over night at the Crowne Plaza, and we shuttled off to the Houston International Airport.  Painless?  Oh, yeah!
The next thing we knew, we had landed in Madrid, taken the bus to downtown and found ourselves at the Madrid train station investigating transportation to Malaga.

Off to our hotel ... and . . .   .    and          .   and    . even with the best of trips across the ocean, the dredded jet lag sets in.  We weren't good for much that first day except finding food. 

We were able to locate the Plaza Major, a great feeding station/watering hole/people watching venue. We stayed as long as we could keep our eyes open.

The next day we were off for an injection of culture.  The Prado.  We spent over three hours there and didn't even begin to stay long enough to appreciate all the great art.  It was fabulous!
Just outside the museum we found a great city tour bus:  I couldn't snap pictures fast enough . . .

The fountains . . .

The gates . . .

Fantastic architecture . . .

More sculpture 

 than you

can count . . .

And most wonderful of all . . . the gates to the city.

The most surprising thing about the city of Madrid were the trees.  Neither one of us was prepared for the immense green spaces of Madrid.  The city is completely immersed in the idea of living green.  Who knew?

We were exhausted when we returned to the hotel.  Just time for a good nights rest and off to Malaga.