Swompdonkey

With four days to go in Europe, the pace is definitely slowing for this traveller. In Rome, I was like a hyperactive kid on a sugar rush. In Madrid, I have adopted the leisurly pace of a retiree, seeing one major site a day, spending alot of time sleeping, reading, sitting with my grandfather, or chatting with my aunt. It is just as well. When I got here, I had been driving myself at a relentless pace since the first week of this month. My health was bad, I looked terrible, felt terrible, but was strangely euphoric -A real "travel junkie". On Monday, my first night in Madrid, I crashed hard and slept for 10 hours.

Yesterday, I went and saw Goya´s tomb at the San Antonio de las Flores church. The building is small and nondescript on the outside, but within, on the ceiling, there is a magnificent fresco by Goya depicting the miracle of Saint Anthony of Padua, who resurrected a murdered man to proclaim his father innocent of the crime. I also stopped at Casa Mingo, a true gem of spot, which is right next to the Panteon de Goya (as the Spanish call his crypt). At Casa Mingo, you can sip a delicious glass of crisp apple cider and munch on chorizo a la sidra (cider sausage), while you watch the chefs work the rotisserie. At lunch, the locals guzzle the delicious cider and devour the pollo asado (roast chicken), which is the house specialty. The smell alone will send you to heaven...

Today, I am going to visit the Prado, probably the last museum on this trip, which has been part university art course, part religious pilgrimage, punctuated by the occasional bender! Basically, it has been altogether fantastic.