I have just come back from a weekend in Madrid, taking part in the Great Madrid Escape.

Friday morning I took an early flight from Frankfurt airport to Madrid-Barrajas, and then travelled in on the metro to the city centre to find my hotel, after which I went to the first meeting point where I met Ben and Marina from NotesfromSpain.com for the first time, along with other members of the NotesfromSpain forum.

Due to the weather, I spent most of my time in cafés and shops when we weren’t all meeting up to eat together. There were some really good meals (shame about the cod…) at prices that would put some restaurants in Frankfurt to shame.

On Saturday afternoon I came a across a demonstration taking part through the middle of the city, protesting against neo-nazis in Madrid but also against the Spanish Royal Family! Many passers-by took note and were listening to the speeches being made at the Puerta del Sol.

Listen to the podcast to find out more:

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For Easter I took my daughter to visit Burg Eppstein – a castle that started life in the 10th Century and who has changed hands many times over the centuries. At the beginning of the 20th Century much of the castle was restored and in 1929 it was handed over to the town of Eppstein.

The town is situated to one side of the B455 road and the castle ruins can be seen from the road itself. It is easiest reaching using the A3 exit Wiesbaden-Niedernhausen. There is plentiful parking on the outskirts of the old town, at the side of the main road.

The castle is open daily except on Mondays, but it is worth visiting when the museum is opened as it contains a number of interesting exhibits. There is even a themed book corner to keep children occupied. The museum is only open in the winter on Sundays and Bank Holidays, in the summer additionally on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. For current information visit the town website.

Hear more about our visit in the podcast:

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Today the Monday Podcast combines two ideas. When I was younger, I used to enjoy going out for a day and just riding on trains in cities like London or Rotterdam. Now it was time to try this with my daughter in Frankfurt.

Secondly, I often read questions in forums about visiting Frankfurt for only a few hours, eg. between flights, and I wanted to see how much of Frankfurt it was possible to see using the trams and U-Bahn lines.

Listen to the podcast to hear where we went and what we saw:

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