Visited café number nine this morning and lo and behold: decent coffee. Still a hipster shop falling for the 100% Arabica folly, plus I had to tell them not to water it down too much, but it was acceptable. Empanada lunch at an Argentinian place was enjoyable as well. What I really enjoyed was conversing in Spanish. I have by now reached a level that allows me to navigate and to talk about food and beverages.

There is a cathedral around the corner, it’s heavy old doors bolted shut. Just like my heart to Madrid. We are not becoming friends. Normally it takes me half a day to find out where the good stuff is. Food, coffee, staff, … not so in Madrid. After two days and eight coffee shops I still haven’t had a single good cup of coffee. Beer is mostly Heineken or Bitburger, local brews far in between.

We didn’t start off on the best foot, the trip to Madrid and I. Having boarded the flight and waiting for departure, the captain announced “the stairs damaged the door and we need to check whether the plane is safe to fly”. Not what I want to hear. At all. With a mere hour delay we left Berlin and arrived at the destination. Navigating Madrid is easy, thanks to an extensive tube network.