Back

Savoring Madrid's Sun and Moon: A Day of Goodbyes and New Beginnings | Day 273 of my 2023 Journal

Cecilie Conrad·Oct 1, 2023· 3 minutes

In a park in Madrid

The heat is back. Thirty degrees Spanish full-on sunshine, you long for shade, yet love it. Just love it. This exact nuance of blue, this culture, the birds,

the people, the heat, the heat, the sun.

Oh My God.

Thank you!

It was perfect NOT to have that while walking the Camino, really - but now that it is back, I remember how much I LOVE the Spanish sun.

I also love the Spanish culture. The way people are out and together in their free time. They go all in with tables and games and radios and food and sunshades and grandmothers and kids.

Somehow, I made it to run in the morning heat, around the park, getting back into shape. It has been a long time since I could run, but after the Camino, it seems I am strong enough to rebuild the habit.

How great! Looking at people, sculptures, and dogs, I worked with my inner strength as the temperature climbed to an unbearable 30 degrees, and I had to hide in the shade of a tree with my yoga mat.

The whole deal was to wait for our Liv and Erik, who needed (mostly Erik, who had been traveling all night) sleep, to show up for yet another goodbye.

So, we picnicked, did co-yoga, joked, walked to a cafe, walked back, found a park where everything was illegal, walked back to the first park, had coffee, and said goodbye. We will see them again in December in Mexico City.

Then we did something a bit crazy.

We drove all the way to Playa de Sant Salvador—another 550 kilometers.

We just felt like getting it over with and waking up at the beach.

Again, When you take a risk, you are rewarded.

I can not begin to explain how beautiful the mountains were in the sunset. And to tease another overwhelmed moment out of us, we drove about 15 minutes in boring darkness before an orange full moon suddenly appeared from behind a mountain and was so beautiful we were screaming, both Jesper and I.

And so it was: Driving the last two hours guided by the amazing moon to the Mediterranean, to our hood.

Fell asleep to the sound of waves and the knowledge: This will be good!

With love

Cecilie-Underskrift-300x133

Cecilie Conrad

Thank you for reading
I would love to hear from you. Listen to your thoughts and reflections - or praise :) It is often emotional to share our lives like this, and we get very happy when we get your feedback. So feel free to share a comment below 😋 

I believe teenage girls need their mothers much more than our society appreciates and that the way we raise children in institutions, pushing them t…Read more
One advantage of living in a van is the number of things that need fixing/maintenance is much smaller compared to living in a house. Another advantag…Read more
This is a general warning for everyone who loves Shakespeare. For everyone who loves literature. Maybe for everyone in general. Do not visit Juliet's…Read more
It is sometimes emotionally complicated to stop. I remember someone said: “Vacation is doing something you are not usually doing.” Now we do not do v…Read more
Personal freedom is about waking up with loads of options, but more importantly, about having the courage to choose between options and knowing what …Read more
Before we went to Venice, I almost booked a place to stay in Murano, not Venice. It looked almost the same. From Venice, you take the public boat and…Read more
Why do we do what we do? It is obvious that traveling is an adventure and from the outside, it looks like a lot of vacation. The first part is right,…Read more
The feel of Venice is closely connected to walking. The experience of walking between houses, alongside canals, over bridges, over piazzas (and repea…Read more
It is funny how walking from Dorsodura, where we live, to the Saint Mark Basilica is a journey from a good tourist experience to something like hell.…Read more