Camino del Madrid - Day 0 - Madrid

Here I am finally. Checked into a hostal and before I am rested, already out. So nice to walk around the center of Madrid. The buildings, the people walking around and so many things to eat. Thought I would try out the famous calamares sandwich cerveceria this time. 3.5 euro. Really good, especially when you wash it down with a small glass of beer. Tapas, Jamon and more. Already eyeing on some of the menu del dia for din din and hope I can still eat. Hedonistic when it comes to eating now as I will work it off when I start walking tomorrow. What a way to get spoilt. Most of days walking to smaller towns I will consider it lucky to get even 10 percent of what's available here.

Besides that some prep work to do.

SIM card with 2 GB data and some voice credit. Checked.

Some provisions from Dia before the walk tomorrow. Checked.

Credencial. Umm.. I brought my last year credential with still lots of space for stamping. I figured since I won't be walking to Santiago it wouldn't really matter, plus they don't really check your credencial on these lesser trodden routes.

Still it would be nice to get an official one. The office of the friends of the Camino are closed on Monday. Another way someone suggested to try in the forum would be to go to the Church of Santiago and San Juan de Bautista here in Madrid. What? Have to share it with John the Baptist?

So I went down there (very close by) and of course it was closed in the afternoon. Sign near the door says daily mass at 6 pm. Maybe I can sneak in later and see if I can get a credencial from the priest. If not then last year's credentials would have to do. There are two Camino shell outside the church. Camino Ucles (some place south east of Madrid) and Camino Santiago. For show only as I follow the blue Santiago one and cannot find any more shells or waymarker.

Will I start from there tomorrow? Probably not. This is too big a city to walk out of. Thinking of taking the metro a few km north to Fuencarral nearer the edge of the city and start from there. For a 34km first day, a few clicks less is welcome. I will decide in the morning...