Arrival: topographical disorientation in the night

As I wrote in the last post, I'd left the family and luggage at the police station and headed for the car park. Jesús, our apartment host, wasn't going to be around because he was working at the rural hotel which his mother & he were running. But he'd left his friend, Mark, to receive us.

I rang Mark and told him the situation. I could either go back and get the family, or he could do it and I would then head straight to the apartment myself. Bless his heart, he said he'd go meet them. I later found out that the apartment was on the third floor, but it was an old building and their floors were, well, different.

Mark helped with the luggage and had to heave a heavy suitcase up 70 steps! Yes, that's right, 70 steps. Thanks Mark! He must have regretted volunteering! So, if you have problems with your knees or similar, then this isn't the right place for you.

Meanwhile, I'd parked the car and started to head to the apartment. If you'd been reading some of my posts, you'd know that I have a form of topographical disorientation condition, which is worse at night. By this time, it sure was night and was drizzling as well. Also, my phone's battery was dying out. I hadn't mentioned it before in my post on the car rental, but the Renault came with a usb port! Thanks to that, I could be using the navigator for hours, with the phone plugged in. If not for that, the battery would have conked out very quickly and that would have made using the phone's GPS an impossibility.

So, a piece of advice: if you're thinking of doing the same as I had been doing, make sure the car comes with a usb port!

To cut a long story short, as I came out of the car park, I turned left instead of right, and walked and walked, until I realised I was way off. I turned around and managed to get up to Plaza Cervantes. With the rain, the night, and the phone dying, I wasn't banking on getting to the apartment easily, so I rang Mark again. With my explanation, he knew where I was and said that he'd come and pick me up.

With service like that, what more could you ask for?

Antique doorknocker

It was Saturday evening and everywhere, there were people. The joint was jumpin' as they would say. The streets were packed in spite of the rain. I was glad Mark came to get me. When we got to the main door, I thought, wow. Good vibrations. When Mark said 3rd floor, and I looked up at the stairs, I thanked him profusely for having picked the family up and heaving the luggage all the way to the apartment. Saved my back, for sure.

I had to pay back, though. Checking out three days later, I had to carry ALL the luggage all the way down all by myself! But, that's another story!

I love these shots so much that I decided to publish both! Which do you prefer?

So, what was the apartment like?

Next post: The Review!