Tres Cantos–A foray into the Spanish capital

The weather has been lovely, highs in the mid-80s and lows in the 60s (though it sometimes creeps into the nineties for a few hours, then retreats for several days) so we decided to head into Madrid to explore a bit. Tres Cantos, where we live, is about 13 miles north of Madrid, and if we had a car, we’d be downtown in about 15 or 20 minutes. But we’ve decided not to buy a car for now.

So, we’re getting to know our way around the public transport system, which is clean, safe and very pleasant to ride in.

There are several buses and a cercanias (commuter) train that will take us south to Madrid, all for under $3.00 per person. But Madrid is such a big city that sometimes we add another metro ride once we are in town. Compared to parking and all the hassles associated with owning a car, we think it’s well worth it.

Seeing as my hubby and I are both avid birders, we checked our favorite app (eBird) and found a park that looked good.

We got off the metro and walked down the narrow city streets, well off the beaten path, toward the park, with half an eye out for a place to have breakfast. Within a few minutes we happened on this amazing little hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Matilda.

We later found out that it had excellent ratings in Trip Advisor, but at the time, we just saw that the three outdoor tables were crowded with locals and we decided to stay. We were not disappointed. The food was really good and the waiters were in high spirits as it was the last day the restaurant would be open until the end of August. Este año tocan vacaciones, (this year we get a vacation) I heard one waiter comment to a patron. “Last year was awful but this year we’re headed to the beach for a month! Can’t wait!”

And that’s one of the things I love about Spain. People consider it their natural right to have 3-4 weeks of paid vacation. Entire stores close and everyone leaves. It’s a quality-of-life thing. I couldn’t agree more!

After breakfast we walked to the Real Jardín Botánico (the Royal Botanical Gardens.) Admission was only €4 and the gardens were stunning. It turns out that when early Spanish explorers were first in Latin America, all the seeds and plantings they gathered to take back to the Old World were brought to this very park. (This tingly feeling, this sensation that history is leaping out of the books to greet you in the modern day–this is another thing I love about Spain.)

The park was awesome! Huge trees that looked like skyscrapers, some with multiple stems jumbled together to form thick trunks, flowering plants and bushes of all kinds, a rock and succulent display, at least 50 very elegant bonsais, a sizeable tropical lily pond, a rose garden set in concentric circles, a dahlia garden with more varieties than I’ve ever seen before, cactuses in a greenhouse, a tropical garden, and myriad of paths winding around in mazes.

And there were birds too! We had our bins and saw several lifers there. More on them in another post.

After wandering about blissfully for several hours, we sat down at an outdoor café in the park for some cool glasses of white wine and some olives (5 Euros for all that) and then left the park to find “lunch” at about 2:30pm—just the right time for eating the main meal of the day, called comida here in Spain.

What do you think so far? Is there anything about our adventures in Spain or Tres Cantos you’d like me to discuss in a future blog post? Let me know!

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