Sept. 26 (Madrid)

I arrived Madrid late in the afternoon and had my accommodation ready at Carlos V in Maestro Victoria which is about 100 meters from Gran Via and Puerta del Sol. It was a perfect location 25 meters from Calle de Preciados, where street performers abound and just adjacent to El Corte Ingles, Madrid's version of Macys.

Madrid is the largest city and capital of Spain. Here you'll find the best of Spanish art (in the Prado and several other eminent museums), the key square in all of Spain (the ancient and perfectly preserved Plaza Mayor), the most important bull ring, and certainly the country's best cuisine (including numerous famous regional restaurants). The most fitting place to start getting to know Madrid is at Puerta del Sol. Sol, as it is known to locals, is not much more than a huge traffic-junction-cum-bus-stop, but it's as central as you can get.

Sept. 27 (Segovia)

I joined Nitoy, Cecille and company, on a day trip to Segovia, 2 hrs northwest of Madrid by train. The group was to bike the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage route taken by St. James. Segovia is famous for the Roman aqueduct, which for 1900 years, this double-decked grid of unmortared stone arches - 150 feet high, almost half a mile across - carried water to this town on a hill, old Segovia. Also for the fairytale Alcazar, (which I believe is similar to that fortress in Disneyland), and the Gothic Cathedral at the Plaza Mayor.

However, I did not come to Segovia for that reason, but to taste one its finest cuisine, "Cochinillo de Asado". Elsewhere in Spain, roast suckling pig is always described as "cochinillo in the Segovian manner". We had to work our appetite by wandering the narrow cobblestone streets and sites and were finally rewarded by a savory white-bean stew called judiones de La Granja and the famous roast cochinillo, tender enough to cut with a fork, at La Taurina. One of the highlights of my trip!

Sept. 28 (Madrid)

The Museo del Prado, which houses the largest, most important collection of Spanish paintings in the world by Diego Velasquez, El Greco, Goya and Picasso, is what everyone visits when they come to Madrid. Sadly, I only have a day left in Madrid and it was a choice of that or the city. I chose to wander through the city.

I headed for the Royal Palace, at Plaza Oriente, a short walk from the hotel. The former residence of the Spanish kings, has a colossal number of rooms, 2,500 Gobelins, one of the world's largest weapons collections, and a 200,000-book library; it is Madrid's second most important attraction. Among the main eye-catchers: the Throne Room and Gala Dining Room, still used by the present king for state receptions.

Plaza Mayor, Madrid's famous central square, surrounded by ancient and arcaded buildings, was used in the 17th and 18th centuries for executions, bullfights and other festivities, and is now an atmospheric and picturesque pedestrian zone lined with coffeehouses and restaurants. A five-minute walk from the Puerta del Sol.

In cuisine, there are similarities of food back home in the Philippines, after all, we were colonized by Spain. Dishes like tortillas, gazpachos, paella, jamon serrano, chorizos, gambas, calamares and tapas. Everything you've heard about Madrid's mealtimes is true: the 3 pm lunches, the dinners that begin at 10 pm and continue well past midnight. Tapas are a form of between-meal snacking that have become a national pastime. No visit to Madrid would be complete without a couple of hours of tapas barhopping. You'll find tapas just about anywhere Spaniards gather to eat and drink its famous sangria drink. Most of which are consumed at a bar, with diners standing up. Olive pits and shrimp heads are usually tossed on the floor.

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