After a short flight from London and a quick coach ride we arrived in Madrid, Spain at the Emperador Hotel. The hotel lobby was spacious and pretty as were the rooms. Once people were checked in and had a chance to freshen up, we headed out to make the most of our one free afternoon/evening in this beautiful Spanish city. The weather was quite warm and was perfect for sightseeing compared to the cold morning we experienced only a few hours earlier in London. Most of the afternoon was spent touring but of course we all first snuck in some shopping, after all we were on a retail study tour! The shopping style in Spain was quite different from the hustle & bustle of Hong Kong and London. Here we enjoyed a more relaxed atmosphere with the shops just opening from their afternoon siesta.
Some of the lovely tourist sites we got to visit were the Plaza del Cibeles, which is a fountain decorated with a statue standing in a chariot drawn by two lions symbolising fertility, the beautiful parks in the Plaza de Oriente and finally Plaza Mayor. Once we arrived at Plaza Mayor, and after we had a chance to wander around, we stopped to dine outside at the Ebola restaurant where we enjoyed great service from our delightful waiter "Magic". Whilst eating outside we were able to sit back, relax, watch the evening turn into night and enjoy the Spanish culture & nightlife which was oozing from our surroundings at Plaza Mayor. As the night drew on most of us stayed at the Plaza whilst others left in search of Spain's famous Churro's.
The next day after our intensive Inditex company visit, we travelled by bus to Santiago for lunch and to begin our walking tour of the old city located there. As we entered the old city we really had a sense of stepping back in time. Unfortunately the weather did not hold up so our walking tour was cut short as everyone made a dash for shelter and some hot chocolate to warm us up. However we did have a chance to see quite a few of the ancient sights that were being dressed up for some major celebrations that were going to take place the next day. One of these sites that we did manage to see was the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela which was a magnificent building dating back to the 9th century. We then broke into different groups to explore the narrow winding streets littered with shops and small cafés and restaurants.
As the day drew to a close we hurried back to our bus and made our way to the Santiago airport to catch a late night flight with our trusty Iberia plane back to Madrid. Once back in warm Madrid we all went out for a quick dinner and then returned back to the Emperador Hotel for our last night in Spain. The next morning we all met up in the lobby and managed to squeeze in a good debrief session with the whole group which helped everyone digest and review all of the information that we had been exposed to over our retail study trips so far including Hong Kong, Dubai, London & Spain.
Having a long lunch in Plaza Mayor
The group having lunch/dinner in Plaza Mayor
Kathleen and Alana enjoying the local fare - churro's!
