Departed Barcelona in the early hours from Sants-Estacio, in a TGV for a 6 hour train ride to Charmatin station in Madrid. First taste of Madrid coming out of the Sol metro station in Plaza Puerto del Sol. Plaza Mayor, Museo del Prado (Prado Museum) and the Botanic Gardens.

Although it was possible to fly out from Barcelona, this was more expensive.So we took the 6 hour trip on a TGV train from Sants-Estacio station in Barcelona to Charmatin station in Madrid. The trains were surprisingly spacious and as well-equipped as a commercial passenger jet. Other than the usual conveniences, we were provided a headset and a TV set showing the destinations we had gone through, but it did show a movie in Spanish halfway through our journey. But the trip was most enjoyable because of the scenery as the TGV sped comfortably past the various costal towns dotted southof Barcelona before heading inland through country towns and villages.

Once we arrived at Charmatin station, we immediately headed straight for the Metro for Sol. The carriages were smaller than those in Barcelona but at least it was not as squashy as the ones in London. Another 30 minutes later we arrived in Plaza Puerto de la Sol - our first taste of Madrid. Since our hotel was conveniently located nearby, we were able to check in and leave quickly to do a quick tour of Madrid.

Since we came here to see a bullfight, we headed for the tourist information office in Plaza Mayor. The square is made up of a quadrangle with a large statue of Filipe III on horseback in the middle. The walls of the buildings on the quadrangle are decorated with paintings, making it feel like you are in an outdoor art gallery. But at the tourist office, the man at the counter told us the bullfight for tonight was sold out, but we could get tickets for tomorrow early next morning or book them at the box office near the Sol metro station, marking the location clearly on our map. However, the officer mentioned that we would pay a commision on the ticket bought from the box office.

At the box office, we were given a choice of seating. Basically the closer seats were most expensive with the ones at the back being the cheapest. We took the median, which literally meant that we would be sitting in the middle seats on Sunday.

Leaving the box office, we caught the metro to the Banco de Espana stop - the closest stop to the Prado Museum is located. We were first greeted with the sight of the fountain of Cybele in Plaza Cybelles and walked along the wide tree-lined street of Paseo Prado and arrived at Prado museum.

The queue into the museum was packed due to the high security metal detector that everyone had to pass through to get inside and also entry was free today as we later discovered. Once inside, we were able to explore the collections of Spanish and European art that predominate the gallery, as well as some ancient greek and roman sculptures. With three floors of paintings, the Prado Museum feels more like an art gallery than a museum. Despite the size of the museum, we were able to see most of it before the closing time.

Our final stop for the day was a walk around the Botanic Gardens. Unlike the museum, there was an entry fee to get in and I'm not sure if it was really worth it. There was nothing special that I could find inside the park, but I believe most of the money went to looking after some of the tree species. And it was an ideal place for visitors to escape the heat of the city during the summer months. We only stayed for about an hour before making our down towards Atocha station for dinner.

The area around Atocha is filled with restaurants serving the local dishes such as Paella and other seafood. Paella is fairly cheap, but at least two people will need to share the dish since there is a lot. Nevertheless, there was a good variety of prawns, muscles, shellfish and fish tossed in with rice and vegetables.

So overall it was a smooth transition from Barcelona to Madrid, despite the early start at Sants-Estacio station and a long ride on the modern TGV train. Much like this journal entry, Madrid is fairly compact, clean and well organised than the much larger Barcelona and it seems most places are within easy reach via the metro.