I got my bags packed on a roll heading out there and I'm ready to go looking real good

in my passport photo.

Amateur Traveler episode 565. Today the amateur traveler talks about

plathas and palaces parks flamenco and tapas as we go to Madrid in Spain.

I know that I should be heading home

but maybe not, maybe not today.

Welcome to the amateur traveler. I'm your host Chris Kristen Sentin and let's talk

about Madrid. I'd like to welcome to the show James Blick and Yolanda Martin.

James is from Devour Tours.com, a co-founder there, and Yolanda is from the

Flaminco Guide.com and they have both come to talk to us about Madrid, Spain.

Welcome to the show.

Hi Chris, thank you for having us.

Great to be here, Chris.

And we have done a show I should say to people on Madrid before I think it was a decade ago

I don't remember if I told you James how long ago it was but it's been quite a while ago and I suspect some things may have changed in Madrid in the meantime.

Some things have changed and some things never changed.

Exactly. Why should someone think about going to Madrid of all the places in the world to go?

It's a really good question, you know, often I say to people I meet or guests on our tour as I say, you know, Madrid has no Eiffel Tower. And kind of what I mean by that is that a lot of people struggle to know why they

should visit Madrid because they feel like it lacks that one central thing that

they can gravitate around or think about whether it's the Eiffel Tower or the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

So I think what is so fascinating about Madrid is once you arrive, you know, Hemingway called it the most Spanish city and it really is a city that pulls in culture and cuisine from all around the country.

It's a melting pot and so you get this wonderful flavor of the entire country

...