Rain in Spain

An early breakfast, a short tram ride, then a damp walk to the station down steep, slippy Lisbon streets.

A fast train to Entroncamento, made unpleasant by two families of Dutch/Portuguese who feed their young children cakes at 8 in the morning with predictable results.

The slow, single carriage train to Badajoz. The seats seem even more uncomfortable than last week. The Dutch/Portuguese are also on this service, but they don’t bother us because the train is noisy, we seat ourselves at the opposite end of the carriage, and perhaps the sugar has worn off.

Badajoz doesn’t have much to offer. We find a square that has several restaurants, but only one of them is open - Casa Javi. They speak no English, but we middle through the menu and have a great selection of tapas. Our favourite is the stuffed aubergine.

Somewhat tipsy we sit in the square, admiring the run down apartment blocks surrounding us. As the sky darkens we head for the station. Just in time, because the heavens open and the rain begins.

It’s still raining heavily when we arrive in Madrid four and a half hours later. Wrapped up in waterproofs, we walk down the hill through Delicias to the Airbnb.

For supper we eat the cheese and ham sandwich and bananas that I packed at breakfast. And fall asleep to the sound of water falling in the street outside.