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Madrid – Beer in McDonald’s

[I originally posted this in July 2018, but have reposted it to fix some broken image links. Mahou has now been brought to the UK, although by brought over, I really brewed here as another generic lager stripped of any real authenticity]

I admit that going to McDonald’s in Madrid is hardly sampling the local food. But it was hot, I needed wi-fi (actually, I can’t use that excuse any more, I have a large data package to use across the EU, so I’ve lied here) and most importantly of all, I’m sure that Dylan and Leon would want to see photos. It’s of course crucial to educate these two young and impressionable young minds about the importance of travel.

I’ve had beer in a McDonald’s in Porto, Portugal, but I haven’t in Spain, so I thought that I should correct that omission. The beer here is Mahou, which is a Spanish beer which has been brewed in Madrid for over a century (by that I mean that they’ve been brewing beer for over a century, not that they’ve had this particular beer resting for that length of time). The quality was fine and it was at the appropriate slightly chilled temperature.

As for the quality of the rest of the meal, it met my expectations for McDonald’s……

August 11, 2025
Gdansk – Labeerynt

[This was a post from June 2018 early in my craft beer adventures, so excuse the lack of details. I’ve reposted it to fix some broken image links]

This craft beer bar came well recommended, and although it was nearly empty on my arrival, it soon got busier.

I asked if they had any dark beers, and they located two different bottles in the fridges. One of the beers they found was milk stout, which perfectly matched my requirements.

The drinks selection on a large chalkboard.

The bar got busy when the World Cup match started. It’s Mexico against South Korea and I hope it finishes soon….

August 11, 2025
Luxembourg – Ibis Budget

[I originally posted this in July 2018 but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

Since I’ve been coming to Luxembourg relatively frequently, I’ve tried to find a hotel which is near to the airport. And this, Ibis Budget, is just a five-minute walk from the terminal, although they also operate a shuttle vehicle for those with luggage (or who can’t walk, or are too lazy). The Ibis and Ibis Budget are in the same building, the Budget part to the left, and the standard hotel to the right.

Ibis Budget is cheaper, so I obviously stay there. It’s also cheaper at weekends, which I will remember for future trips where I can be flexible with dates. This is also because bus travel in Luxembourg is free on Saturdays.

There is a corridor on the first floor, as well as on the ground floor, which links the Ibis and the Ibis Budget together. On higher levels, there is a fire door which seems to stop hotel guests from doing that, although I’m unsure why. Often there are no staff members at the Ibis Budget desk, but it’s possible to check-in at the main Ibis reception.

For those with Accor status, they can claim a free drink, even with Ibis Budget. This is something else I’ve never quite understood, as Ibis Budget often don’t provide a free drinks voucher. The voucher mentions beer and soft drinks, not making any reference to wine. This is the beer that can be acquired though in the ground floor bar of Ibis.

The room is basic, but having stayed in different room types, this appears to be the refurbished looking room. They have twin and double rooms, usually with the bunk bed arrangement above.

I’ve stayed in many Ibis Budget hotels around Europe, and they have the shower in the main part of the room. That’s absolutely fine when alone, but is a rather more challenging situation if you’re with someone and want privacy. I’ve noticed several reviews over the years about how people don’t like it.

I mention the shower in the room thing because for the first time in an Ibis Budget, I’ve noticed that they’ve put a curtain up between the shower and the bedroom area.

The breakfast room is downstairs next to reception, and is clean and serviceable.

The selection is reasonably wide, with cereals, breads, meats, cheeses, hot drinks and fruit juices.

And my little selection.

I’ve stayed at the hotel around six times now, and I’ve never encountered any issues with noise either internally or externally. As mentioned, it’s a short walk to the airport, and there is also a bus stop outside the hotel which takes around fifteen minutes to get to the railway station in the city centre.

August 11, 2025
200 Years Ago in Norwich : John Atkins Sentenced to Death

In another of my exciting (or something like that) posts about articles in the newspaper from 200 years ago this week, this is the court record of when John Atkins went to court.

“John Atkins, for breaking into the dwelling-house of John Seaman, of Tasburgh, and stealing a gold ring and about 40s. in cash. – This case was very similar to those already given: The prosecutor having left his house safe when he went out; on returning found it broken open, and suspecting the prisoner, caused him to be apprehended, who (when taken before a magistrate) confessed the charge. Guilty-sentence of death recorded.”

Even the article notes that this is just one in a series of judgements from the same court which routinely led to the execution of the prisoner. It’s really quite evident that these death sentences weren’t much of a deterrent and that crime was running at high levels. It seems that John Seaman likely already knew Atkins, given that he suspected him of the crime. John was though in luck, as on 31 August 1825, it was decided that he would be pardoned and his sentence commuted to transportation to what was referred to as “the new colony” of Australia. However, I can’t find any mention of his transportation record, so his ultimate fate remains a mystery to me at least.

August 10, 2025
Madrid – Plaza de España

[I originally posted this in July 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

The Plaza de España was only laid out in 1911, with the area having previously been used by the military. The interesting looking building behind the above fountain is the Edificio España which was a shopping centre and apartment building, although it’s now closed with the intention of turning it into a hotel. I imagine it’ll be a luxury hotel, rather than my own preferred option of an Ibis Budget…

This statue dominates the square and it’s the monument to commemorate the life of Miguel de Cervantes. Cervantes is one of the country’s literary greats, the author of Don Quixote.

The grand statue was inaugurated in 1929, although some of the statues surrounding it weren’t completed until the 1960s.

At the other end of the square is a fountain, which adds even more character to the area.

The square has lots of seating, mostly under the olive trees which have been planted in neat lines to the sides. There were numerous tour groups all jostling for position when I was there, but I was happy to let them get on with it as it was far too hot for all that excitement…

August 10, 2025
Madrid – Muslim Walls and Parque Emir Mohamed

[I originally posted this in July 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

Given the size of Madrid I decided that I’d just start in the middle and use the Wikipedia app to find some sites of local interest. One of the first that it came up with was the Muslim Walls, which date to around the ninth century and originally protected the palace and mosque.

The walls have been uncovered recently following archaeological investigations, and this section is located at the base of Madrid Cathedral.

There’s a plan of the walls which gives some basic context.

A plan of how the central area of the city used to look.

The original Muslim walls, which had survived because they were used as supporting walls for later buildings placed on top of them.

The walls are some of the earliest remaining pieces of defensive stonework surviving in Madrid.

The park at the base of the walls seemed to be closed when I looked at it, which seemed a shame given that it was such a well designed and clean location. However, I was fortunate that I visited on a Sunday, as this is apparently the only day that the park opens.

The plants and trees in the gardens were well tended (I don’t know much about this really, but they just looked organised) and they had information in Spanish and English about what they were. This is apparently a hackberry tree.

And apparently this is a cypress tree.

This is an olive tree, although I might have guessed this one without the label as there are olives growing on it….

The park’s central fountain.

August 10, 2025
New Orleans – More Wine, Less Crime

[I originally posted this in July 2018 and have reposted it to fix the broken image link]

I’ve seen less interesting political posters and few are as inspirational as this…

The campaign was for Patrick Van Hoorebeek to become Mayor of New Orleans, although he wasn’t successful. Hoorebeek stood as an independent and he came twelfth in the 2017 election securing 232 votes, which is 0.28% of the vote.

Rather impressively in terms of a determined population, every single Mayor of the city has been a Democrat since 1872…. LaToya Cantrell won in 2017 and she became the city’s first female Mayor.

August 10, 2025
Marvellous to See J Mark Dodds at GBBF

I’ve already written about my week volunteering at GBBF, but it was lovely to catch up with J Mark Dodds during the week and of course Julian. I nominated Mark to be a director of CAMRA’s NEC and I was delighted that he was elected.

August 10, 2025
Volunteering at the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) 2025

I’ve volunteered at Norwich Beer Festival for over a decade (and on a separate note, I’m delighted that that’s going ahead this year albeit in a slightly different form because of the delays to the Halls repairs) so I decided this year to come and volunteer at the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) for a week. I arrived early on the Sunday morning and was given the H&S briefing given that the NEC hall was a construction site at that point. Hi-vis jacket and steel toe shoes later, I was ready for action, hoping that they didn’t want me to do anything construction related.

I was tasked with helping set up the Breweriana stall, a word (Breweriana, not stall, that I had to think about how to spell and pronounce). I discovered that this meant old books, old glasses and brewery memorabilia so I merrily decided to ask to stay all week, meaning that they were stuck with me for the whole event. I was pleased that the managers and staffing agreed to this, but it was definitely an excellent decision.

It looked chaotic at this point, but the two stand managers knew what they wanted to achieve.

Starting to put the old glasses on the shelving units. I’m pleased to say I didn’t break any glasses all week.

Woooo, glasses from Norwich Beer Festival, and it was possibly me that sold them in the first place.

The stand coming together.

We had a lot of bottles of unopened beer which sold well and here’s an early bottle of Adnams Broadside.

Volunteer food options were a little limited due to NEC restrictions, but, fortunately, a quick walk to the monorail to get to Birmingham Airport meant I could get to Greggs and M&S. I was located near to the hotel, as CAMRA had paid for some rooms at the Hilton located at the NEC and that meant I didn’t have to trek back into the city centre every day.

Funky Fluid! Europe’s best brewer.

Twas ever thus.

There was live music during the event and I think it’s fair to say that this did not surprise and delight me. Not because of the quality of the bands and singers themselves, but just because the noise was a bit loud and the building acoustics are terrible as it wasn’t really designed to be a concert hall. I’m not sure that even the Wurzels would have sounded good in here.

Thanks to Roy and Jen for bringing me four Greggs chicken bakes from the company’s outlet store.

The hot dog at the staff party at the end of the event. The actual hot dog isn’t visible, but was rather lovely. Note the healthy salad.

There were seconds available later on, so I accidentally had another one and the staff forced a sausage roll on me as well.

The staff party taking place after the festival closed to the public. I’ve tried to avoid taking photos of people here, but as a sense of scale, this was the size of the volunteer area during the entire festival. We had a lot of space everywhere.

Inside the American beers storage area where I had numerous beers that did surprise and delight me. The Volunteer Arms had free beer and cider all week and it was rather lovely to try so many different beers during the week. For anyone wondering about whether they should volunteer, I’d very much recommend it.

The take-down of the stand took us around three hours and that was the end of that. This was the first time in a long while that GBBF didn’t take place in London and it was obviously risky moving it elsewhere, I hope it’s worked out well enough in Birmingham to have another event like this next year. It was great to meet new friends and I was fortunate to be included in a great team at my stall. It was lovely to see Mark, Simon, Susie, Bob and many others who I knew from the Star, not to forget the marvellous Julian, Roy and Jen from Norwich.

August 10, 2025
Madrid – Campo del Moro (Moorish Gardens)

[I originally posted this in July 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]

There is only one entrance to these extensive gardens, and there is an impressive view of the Royal Palace that visitors see when they come through the gates.

The area that the gardens stand on today was once space between the palace and the river, which was formerly a steep slope. It was partly levelled in the 1840s, although the construction took some decades to complete.

The fountain doesn’t currently have water in it, and it seems from reviews that it hasn’t for some time. The formal name of the fountain is Fuente de las Conchas (fountain of the shells) and it dates from the late eighteenth century, although it wasn’t moved to its current location until 1845.

The fountain from another angle.

There were some beautiful parts of the gardens, although I didn’t see any particularly impressive floral sections. The gardens were badly damaged during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s, but efforts were made to ensure that they were repaired.

This is an eighteenth century wagon which was used in the construction of the Royal Palace. It was part of the collection of the carriage museum, which is at the park, but which has been closed for some years.

There were long rows of trees, which provided the shade that I needed given the heat in Madrid.

One of the more formal parts of the gardens.

One of the wide avenues in the park.

There are a number of these Tyrolean style buildings located throughout the park, all dating from the late nineteenth century. They didn’t currently seem to be open or accessible to the public.

These gardens are extensive, although the entrance can be tricky for some people to find. They do seem to need more attention though, with the museum closed, the fountain having no water and the toilets needed a little attention. However, there is no entrance charge and it is a surprisingly peaceful location, with not that many visitors in the gardens during my visit.

August 10, 2025