Camino Schmidt, Sierra de Guadarrama, Madrid, Spain

Sun filtering through the trees

On a beautiful cold winter morning we decided to leave the city and venture into Madrid's closest mountain range, the Sierra de Guadarrama. The mountains, just north of the city, lie only 70kms or 1.5hours by train from the city centre. At this time of year they are home to a very popular ski resort and although we assumed since it's only the beginning of winter that there probably wasn't that much snow, we were quite surprised!

John captured this award winner! 

The hike we decided upon is called the Camino Schmidt and is a 14km venture from Puerta de Navacerrada to a small Spanish village called Cercidilla. Upon arriving in the frosty Navacerrada we literally slid out of the train straight onto the platform covered in ice. This gave us a small exhilarating sense of fear for what was to come! Exiting from the train station meant we were pulling ourselves up the frozen path against the -8degree air and along the hard hand railing, forcing our sliding feet upwards. At that speed it took us over an hour to find the trail head (including a stop for lunch) and before even starting the hike, we were already worn out!

Fork in the trail

A trail of ice

We of course knew there would be some snow, but we didn't expect the trail to start North of the ski field and for there to be so, so much snow! As we began our walk, the sun's heat grew warmer. The nervousness harbouring in the pit of our stomachs grew to excitement as we saw the beauty of the area. Large dark black pine trees covered in soft clean snow filtered sharp sunlight across the beaten path. As the sun heated the mountainside, snow and ice melted and fell from the trees imitating snow fall. There was no sound other than our boots crunching on the freshly fallen ice. It felt magical.

Walking the direction of footsteps

We walked on for over four hours passing the odd group of two or three hikers (looking surprisingly far more prepared than we were, with their overly sensible hiking sticks and snow shoes) until we reached a large clearing. It was here, in hindsight, that we think we took a wrong turn (although we debated this for quite some time, without really ever knowing how we lost the track). Somehow we ended up literally mountaineering a random peak around 10 kilometers, in the middle of nowhere, east of where our trail should have been...... even though we continued to follow the distinguished yellow trail markers.

Stunning nature

Icy ravines

Thankfully (or not) our GPS could finally pinpoint our location and after our initial dismay at how far from the original track we were and thinking that there is no way we were going to backtrack over that random mountain peak again, we moved into survival mode and hiked down to the nearest road and made our way to the closest train station before the sun set.

However, the station turned out to be deserted and seemingly not used for years. It was approx. 8 kilometers to the next village, which we walked begrudgingly as the sun set and the temperature dropped.

I need to take a break

Following the road less taken

End result: Sierra de Guadarrama 1 vs. John and Kara 0.5 - only because we still haven't a clue where the track forked.... in conclusion we are going to lay fault on the snow... perhaps it was covering a marker we never saw?

Kara admiring the view

Looking towards the mountain peak

Snow covered trees

Nevertheless we had an amazing day out in the mountains and it was just so, so beautiful. We can't wait to get back there soon!

Tot siens,
John and Kara

This was not meant to be our trail

Looking back at where we had climbed

La Noche Buena, Madrid, Spain

Sunset at Plaza Mayor, Madrid

Christmas Eve! 

"Esta noche es Noche-buena, y no es noche de dormir"

Tonight is the good night and is not meant for sleeping!

Madrid's Christmas market in the Plaza Mayor

Being fortunate to experience now our second Christmas season in the Northern hemisphere we were very excited to get amongst the local festive spirit and join in Spain's many Christmas time customs. Although most Spanish tend to hibernate more in the Winter they were out in full force this season. 

The famous Tio Pepe and Sol Christmas tree

Christmas Tree- Vodafone Sol

Christmas Tree- Barrio Salamanca

Christmas plants

Nativity scene figurines

Christmas markets

Nativity figurines

Fairy lights

Families shopping in Plaza Mayor

Christmas officially starts in Spain on December 8th with the Immaculate Conception, from this time the city begins to overtly dress and display itself in colourful and bright lights with hideously artificial trees on almost every street. Beautifully detailed nativity scenes pop up in shop windows, churches and homes. 

Calle Mayor lights

Lights by the Town Hall

Calle de Arenal

Calle La Montera

Christmas ball lights

Lights on Gran Via

Compared to New Zealand or South Africa it's certainly much cooler in Madrid but it's unfortunately not a white christmas (maybe next year?) but the immense sunshine is a fair compensation! It also gives us one less reason to not be outside exploring Madrid's Christmas markets and of course the Christmas lights walk!

Beautiful streets!  

We have included in this blog some snaps of the colourful lights around the city, which we recently visited. In Spain, Christmas Eve seems to be bigger than Christmas day and families celebrate on Christmas Eve by coming together and eating!

Palacio de Cibeles

Food seems to be generally served all afternoon and after attending midnight mass (at 12am) families return home for their main meal- yes this would be around 2am! Then the parties begin!

At this time, we would like to again this year take the time to wish all of our friends and family across the globe a happy Christmas season.

Merry Christmas!

Wherever you are, we hope that you are enjoying some delicious foods in your belly and are finding a well deserved moment to reflect on another fabulous year.

As we reach for 2015 we hope that you continue to explore, venture and push yourself towards new goals and are surrounded by the love of others.


Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a fantastic 2015.


Tot siens,
John and Kara

Dancing on the streets

Christmas lights Plaza Colon

Toledo, Castile La-Mancha, Spain

View of Toledo from the Alcazar of Toledo 

Christmas is just around the corner! And our first guest has arrived so the Spanish exploration continues!

Yesterday, we got up well after the sun had cleared the horizon, had our first Spanish breakfast and then of course our second breakfast (not because we were up very early but just because that's what you do) before slowly making our way around midday to Madrid's Estascion de autobuses. Our plan was to visit the UNESCO world heritage city of Toledo, located 70kms south of Madrid in the Castile La-Mancha province.

Looking at a small church entrance

The city of Toledo is located a top a mountain and has been occupied by many different groups and forces since long, long ago in the bronze age. We made our way to Toledo via direct bus from the Estascion de autodus and arrived within a quick and comfortable 45minutes.

Tapa lunch stop! 

It was a beautiful blue sky day when we arrived but the wind was icy cold, leaving us thinking that perhaps we should have bought a tad more practical clothing. Ek! We assumed that the city was very small so we didn't bother collecting a map at the bus station rather taking the more wild way of heading 'south' up that mountain. By this time, hunger was driving us on and our priorities changed to just finding somewhere to eat!

Looking up the East side of the main Gothic Cathedral

We eventually found and stopped at a small and thankfully warm tapa bar, ate some Spanish Tortilla and drunk a nice cold beer! This boosted our spirits and warmed our bellys so we continued our exploration.

The three of us ventured across the city and clambered up the Alcazar of Toeldo to admire the views, we walked to the city monastery and through the mighty Cathedral. By then it was bloody cold with the wind whipping up through the small cobbled streets, but we powered on!

Main Toledo cathedral

Its that way to the mountains....

Surprisingly, many of the small Toledo shops were decorated with an array of 'Lord of Rings' memorabilia and merchandise. We read that Toledo was home to many fine sword-makers and blacksmiths dating back to the Roman era. Then between the 15th and 17th centuries there was a large boom wheres Toledo's products became known as the best in Europe.

Main cathedral sphere of Toledo

Walking down the lanes

Today the city keeps the production and interest alive by selling many different Tolkin products, from golden rings to ginormous hand swords .

In front of the El Transitio synagogue 

Her lady sword holder! 

Plates on the walls

When the sun set and the temperature dropped further we made our way in a barra for a few more belly warming drinks and then ventured back to the Estascion de autobuses to our trip back home!

The highlights of our trip were; the views of the medieval city, getting lost in the unbelievable small, twisty and turny backstreet laneways and trying the Spanish mixta lemon beer!


Tot siens,
John and Kara (and Ryan)

Mercado de Maravillas, Cuatro Caminos, Madrid, Spain

Our Mercado de Maravillas

One of the most fascinating things about living in Madrid is the food shopping! Madrid is an old city and its an extremely walkable city! It seems that most of the locals still shop for their food the old fashioned way! In old style covered market places, hopping from one vendor to the next toting their wheely bags.

John buying mince for our dinner!

Although many of the city's food markets (such as San Anton or San Miguel) are now tourist destinations and there is substantial competition from one stop discount supermarket chains (like dia/lidl and carrefour), Mercado de Maravillas is still worthwhile and surprisingly more economical. 

Fresh fish salesman preparing someones tea.

We are very spoilt to have recently found that we live just the throw of an apricot pit to our own traditional (non-touristy) market place (Mercado de Maravillas).

This hidden away gem is actually the largest market (half a kilometer around with over 260 stalls) in the city and is full of amazing character, colours, smells, people and food!. This weekend we ventured together to explore, do some people watching and a bit of shopping. 

One of the many meat shops, with all your meaty needs.

It was a perfect day for exploring an indoor market! Very overcast with threatening rain overhead and a cold wind seeping its way through under the door. So we donned our hats and gloves and briskly walked up the road to the market. Inside was extraordinarily busy and we were greeted by the warm smell of roasted garlic potatoes and burnt coffee.

We took our time wandering around the shops, watching the many vendors at work cutting up huge fish with even larger knifes, salesmen de-boning rabbit, others weighing up fruits, eggs, cured meats and cheeses. We ummed and aaahhed far too long about what type of olives we should buy to munch on and admired the beautiful Spanish breads and pastries, which you might as well just slap onto your thighs they look so decadent.

Fresh fruits and veges

You could purchase anything food related at this market.

There's actually an old Madrid saying on the door at the entrance "Si buscas algo, vete a Maravillas. Si no lo encuentras, es que no hay" (If you're looking for something go to Maravillas. If you don't find it, it's because it doesn't exist.)

Chocolate con Churros (typical 2nd breakfast food)

By the time we felt that we had seen enough for one day vertical gravity took hold and we were suddenly pulled  into one of the random spotted cafes for a chocolate con churro~Kara and paella~John. (Actually it's more like a bar you lean up against to drink your coffee or beer as you eat your tapa).

So we stayed a bit longer before again venturing out into the cold and wet winter day and heading home with our wares. 

(As a side note, when visiting watch your timing when shopping because of course they close every day for siesta time!) Closed Sundays. 

Tot siens,

John and Kara