Madrid – May 2016

We woke up to a beautiful day in comparison to yesterday’s rain and it was straight down to the metro to visit, guess what, A TOWER THAT YOU CAN GO UP!!

Whilst we we were travelling on the metro changing lines at interchanges, I was able to get a feel for how accessible it is. One of the lines that is closest to the hotel (line 1) seems to have one of the oldest rolling stock on the network, I put it similar to the old style Paris metro train (not many people will care about this, it’s just me being sad!). Naturally there was quite a big gap between the train and the platform edge, however, I have noticed that the driver comes out of the train cab to offer assistance (if only the London Underground did this!!). Anyway for the remainder of our journey, the trains seemed to be that of a modern style and reminded me of the Circle and Hammersmith and City line trains…

When we reached our destination, i.e the tower, it looked majestic against the backdrop of the mountains, it was quite cheap too…there was a reason for this. Although you had a nice view as you went up in the lift as you reached the top it was basically a big podium that you could look out 180 degrees over the city, it still satisfied me anyway…

We exited the park that the tower was situated in and began our quest to find somewhere for lunch which took a shorter time than anticipated and it was marvellous food (I can’t actually remember the name of it to save my life!). Heading back onto the metro, we travelled to the main station to discover that the elevator was out of service bringing back memories of the London Underground. As a result, we had to get back onto the train and go down to the next accessible station doubling back on ourselves. When I think about accessible metro stations I think of elevators but it seems that the Spanish term it differently as there was no elevator but rather an upward and doward travelator which super bunny loved…

We finally reached the train station only to realise that the Spanish have implemented an airport style security process before you can go on the platform so we went on another little quest to find a spot to watch the trains as they arrived and departed which was entertaining for a while!

Later, we plan to walk down to the Cuatro Torres financial district which basically consists of four very tall towers, in fact some of the tallest in Europe when they are all lit up and looking majestic. Before we head back to the airport tomorrow night we plan to go into the centre on our continuing quest to find a Real Madrid shop.

See you at the airport 😀

As predicted, we woke up to a dreary day here in Madrid but that did not deter our excitement for the day ahead. After breakfast, we headed out on our quest to find the Santiago Bernabeu football stadium which is apparently one of the biggest in the world (I only really went to marvel at the architecture). It was pretty easy to navigate from our hotel as it was one straight road all the way there and we passed some marvellous modern architecture…

We reached the stadium in the knowledge that me and one of my PAs got in for free, however the nice lady at the ticket office let us all in for free, what a nice woman she was! We were told to walk around the stadium to a particular gate where we were greeted by security when we were taken up a glass elevator beginning our tour. The tour included some high tech gadgetry for which filled me with excitement before continuing into the actual stadium.

Normally you are allowed to go onto the pitch, however, this isn’t wheelchair accessible so as an alternative you are allowed to visit the wheelchair seating area where we noticed that the V.I.P area was a stones throw away! As I have discussed over the past few years writing this blog I have a phobia of pigeons, or as I like to call them the devil. As a result I was particularly drawn to the fact that pigeons seem to gather on the actual football pitch for which I found fascinating, and the architecture was too…

Upon our exit, we went on the hunt for a Real Madrid shop which was to no avail, however what we did find was a quiet old shopping centre for which made a perfect stop for lunch. It is usually common sense for shopping centres to sign post the location of the lift, however the lift in this shopping centre appeared to be by the toilets with no sign postage. I say lift, it was actually a cargo lift which I swear dated back to the 1980’s, it even had no sensors on the doors so was attempting to shut on my PA. After a magical adventure in the cargo lift, we found a place to eat although the price was extortionate due to its close proximity to the stadium.

After lunch, the sun decided to appear as we wandered off around the other financial district that Madrid possesses. As usual, my artistic style of photography showed as we wandered around and soon began to get lost amidst the excitement. I thought that the hotel would be easy to find due to the straight road going back and the sky scrapers surrounding it but neither of these two were evident. To add to this, all of our phones had no internet access or had run out of battery. We headed down some back streets and eventually found out that we were following the metro line albeit the wrong way! As there was an accessible metro station nearby, I couldn’t resist going on it to get back to the hotel.

In terms of accessibility, the metro reminded me a little of Paris as only some of the stations are accessible. Depending on what line you wish to go on the gap between the train and the platform edge varies and in this case super bunny had to take a leap of faith whilst attempting not to run over anybody.

I forgot to mention about the general accessibility of the stadium tour, the exhibition was fully accessible but the dressing rooms and the pitch were not-not bad for a freebie!

Tomorrow. we head back to the metro to visit another one of my favourite things a observation deck and to top that off the train station!! Oh and going for a walk around the centre to hopefully find a Real Madrid shop.

See you tomorrow!😀

So it’s the start of our travelling for 2016, this time we are in Madrid!

It all started when we arrived at Bristol airport which we know is not the best for wheelchair assistance but surprisingly it all went smoothly for once (apart from security taking away our Allen keys which are useful for fixing Superbunny, hopefully everything will be fine).

We were up in the air by 18:45 as the flight was delayed by half an hour due to a technical fault a And the flight time was supposed to be 1h 50m but was actually 2h 20m. As we approached Madrid Barajas international airport, the dark clouds rolled in as predicted but it remained dry.

You would have thought that being a major international airport they would have had wheelchair  assistance off to an art but they seemed very confused. Instead of taking Superbunny up to the air bridge like normal they decided to use a scissor lift up to the rear of the plane which was useful as we were sitting at the front of the plane!

Although our plane was delayed our taxi driver was still waiting for us to bring us on the short journey to the hotel. The hotel is situated within my favourite part of any city, the financial district as well as being stragically situated beside the accessible metro line…. how exciting! Oh and look at my room…

Tomorrow the weather forecast is for heavy thundery showers so the plan is to visit the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium and then probably marvel at some lovely architecture.

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