April 18 - 20 Santander Madrid Bailen

Day 5 April 18

We arrived in Santander Spain after an easy trip. Got the bike packed up and it took us a good hour to get out of the ship. We decided to ride with Tom and Teresa to Madrid. Met Tom who was on an R1. He is a sport bike guy and also has spent a lot of time in Spain. He guided us through Santander and put us on route 623 to Burgos. The sun was shinning and the road was spectacular. Thanks Tom.
We rode the freeway to Madrid. There was alot of road construction so the ride was a bore.

I need to talk about the bike. I researched the bike and saw good to great reviews. We had this thing loaded like a rented mule. Two-up with gear, it was good in the mountain turns and at some points, we were trying to make time so we were curising at 90 mph. This is a 650! I am now a fan. I hope to find another US registered bike for future trips in Europe and this bike will be Beverly's.

Arrived in Madrid a bit late and Paul led us to a Formula 1 hotel. Only 29 Euros per night. We would stay for two nights. Had dinner with Paul and Teresa. We hope to meet them in Morocco. Great time.

Day 6 April 19

Today we didn't touch the bike. We were in the outskirts of Madrid in Mostoles wo we took the bus into cuidad centro. Toured around the town, got a phone card, and went to the Prada museum. It is too big for serveral visits. We mostly looked at Rubens, Belasquez, and Goya. Came home on the bus and missed our stop. Good day.



Day 7 April 20

We left Madrid and went to Toledo; a beautiful historic city in a valley between two mountains. We had lunch and wandered around. Set off late and headed to Cordoba. I made a wrong turn and got on a toll road with no way to turn around. My GPS stopped working so we were flying blind.

Finally got on the frreeway and got caught in a hail storm. Stopped in the small town of Bailen. It wasn't much -- mostly ceramic and brick factories. Got a hotel and met a bunch of bikers from Poland doing a 4000k tour around Europe.