We arrived in Madrid in the mid-afternoon of Saturday, 2/28/26. Neither of us were too tired since we did manage to sleep a bit on both legs of the journey eastward. We checked in at our Madrid lodgings, the Mandarin Oriental Ritz Hotel. That Mandarin Oriental part of the name is very recent history compared to the Ritz part. The hotel opened in 1910 and it is one of the great old hotels of Europe. Marble everywhere, staff so friendly and solicitous, a great lobby bar where you feel a bit as though you are in a real-life version of the movie Casablanca. The hotel is at the very heart of old Madrid, steps from the Prado Museum, close to the Retiro Park. Very vibrant on the street yet our 6th floor room is like a soundproof booth.

After arriving at the hotel we took a bit of down time and then went out for a walk around the Plaza de Canovas del Castillo which features the Neptune Fountain We happened upon a shop that sells every possible variation on turron, the famous Spanish nougat concoction that is sort of the Spanish version of Milky Way bar without the chocolate on top. The store was mobbed with turron lovers. They were giving out lots of free samples so that may explain the mobbing. The store was called Torrones Vincens, established in 1775.

After our short walk around the neighborhood we repaired to the Ritz and ducked into the Pictura Bar and ordered up some snacks and beverages. We sat there for over an hour just soaking in the hallowed environment and enjoying the very tasty snacks we picked out: some tostados with anchovies on top, and a crudite platter with their homemade hummus which was really fantastic. There were also complimentary almonds, cashews and potato chips. They really know how to do potato chips in Spain.

After our (sort of) healthy snack we ascended to the sixth floor and got tucked in for the first time in about 24 hours. We both felt we had earned a good night's sleep and looked forward to our first full day in Madrid.