Two Mollohan girls in Madrid

Of course there was a 4-hour delay for my sister’s flight. It was hard to mind though. The arrivals section of Barajas has free wifi, but more importantly, the arrivals section has… arrivals. At the risk of getting too sappy, I will just say that if you ever loose faith in love or the significance of human connections, go hang out at arrivals in your nearest airport (free therapy!). I have never seen so much live emotion in one place in my whole life. When I finally saw my sister, Stephanie (who I have called Fuddy since I could talk-there is really no need to explain this) emerge from the luggage claim section, I was feeling more warm and fuzzy than ever, even though my plans for the day got completely messed up by her planes delay.

On our walk to El Parque de Buen Retiro later in the day, Fuddy was pick-pocketed. This further delayed my plans. One good thing about the tragedy though, was that I learned I am much better at Spanish in stressful situations where I am trying to help English speakers. Yay! We decided I would lend Fuddy money for the entire trip until she could get to her money again in the U.S. Fun stuff.

After the wallet fiasco we went home, with nothing on my daily to-do list checked off. I was very unhappy.

We started early the next morning with Templo de Debod and Plaza de España, then to El Palacio Real, Museo de Reina Sofia, Puerta del Sol, El Tigre (for cheap Tapas and Sangria), El Palacio Cristal, Mercado de San Miguel (coffee to recharge), La Plaza Mayor and El Museo del Prado. I know, I know; I may have overdone it, but we were on a tight schedule. 

Epic guide with a moustache in Museo de Reina Sofia 

Vertical Garden at Caixaforma


Sissy and Templo de Debod


Mercado de San Miguel


Sisters and Sangria at El Tigre Bar


El Palacio de Cristal at El Parque del Buen Retiro


El Palacio Real

At night, we went to get Indian food in the Lavapies neighborhood then to Sol to get some drinks. We planned on just beers at Dubliners until we saw my friendo Guillermo, who works at Kapital so we decided to go there with him. Now, we had an amazing time and I love my sister, and she doesn´t LOOK 9 years older than me, but she is, so I have to admit it was the slightest bit odd to be get down on the dance floor with her at club Kapital.

Christmas at La Puerta del sol

Kapital craziness

I had to show my sister La Chocolatería de San Gines and introduce their chocolate with churros, so we went Sunday morning before the Rastro Market. The Rastro was the typical stressful experience, but I am glad we went as it proved a lovely warm-up for the crazy shopping experiences in Istanbul.

When we got back from the Rastro, we packed quickly (and I really DID lay out all the things I wanted to bring, removed half, and put the remainder in my backpack) and headed to the airport. Destination: Istanbul, Turkey.