To the centre of Spain (27th August)

With La Tomatina over with it was time to say goodbye to our hotel. Not before filling up on a scrummy breakfast of croissants and orange juice provided for us. Plus check out was at 12noon which gave us heaps of time to pack and spend a little over an hour on the phone to Shona's family. Tomorrow is Shona's sister Emma's birthday and they were having a birthday dinner to celebrate. It was good to be able to talk to (almost) everyone and to tell Emma that we were thinking of her. We had an hour to kill before catching a taxi to the Busabout pick up point which worked out perfectly as we spent it chatting to Vaughn and Shannon our new Aussie / South African friends. As we imagined Busabout was chaos, there were 3 bus loads (52 seats in a bus) of people to take from Valencia to Madrid. But we all get sorted and on the bus. The drive is 6 hours and we settle in for the trip. Luckily the movie is The Bourne Ultimatum which helps to pass the time. After checking in we head out to to check out the Madrid by night. We find Sol the centre of Spain, which is under construction because Madrid are tendering for the 2016 Olympics. Further along is Plaza de Mayor a major square in the city. There is an artist wrapping toilet paper above the subway vent, so it flies in the breeze, street performers and even a flamenco dancer. The square is surrounded by restaurants but we know that they are over priced, purely because of their location. Dinner instead was a pizza and a pasta from a local Italian restaurant. Not very Spanish, but it was a good way to end the day.