Madrid - Days 5-8

15-Apr-10 - ...Except for that b****y volcano, of course. I'd seen the news item on the BBC website, but at that time it only seemed to be threatening Scandinavian and Scottish airports. I arrived at the airport in good time, with the prospect of a comfortable hour in the first-class lounge. This was not to be. I may have mentioned before that I choose to travel via Madrid terminal 1 (as opposed to the hell-hole that is terminal 4) because it's quick: my record so far is 12 minutes from the taxi to airside, although at that time I was travelling with hand-baggage only and had checked in on-line. This was different. There seemed to be mile-long queues everywhere, and I staggered to the business-class check-in desk pleading 'special assistance'. The clerk was helpful but was unable to check my bag in as the 15:00 flight was not confirmed. He advised me to come back at 14:00. That was when I discovered that there are NO SEATS of any kind in Terminal 1. People were sitting/lying on the floor or perching wherever they could. I managed to find an unmanned desk and perched on the partition between the two luggage belts until the man from special assistance arrived. To cut a very long story short, things began to happen after that: the Air Europa desk said that the earliest they could get me on a flight would be Monday (bear in mind this was on Thursday) and issued a new ticket. Fortunately I have travel insurance and realised that I'd need a hotel for four nights, and my mental filing system was running through the hotels I know in Madrid. I couldn't afford to go back to the Wellington and was considering my old favourite, the Plaza Mayor... But I needn't have worried. The girl on the desk had made all the arrangements and I was whisked out to a luxury coach (along with the rest of the passengers who'd been trying to check in) and we were driven to the Hotel Auditorium, which is a magnificent new four-star hotel just outside the airport. This claims to be the largest hotel in Europe, with 869 rooms, and seemed to be effortlessly geared-up for coachloads of people arriving unexpectedly. The hotel's main business is conferences and events, and the foyer is the size of an aircraft hangar with an atrium four storeys high, a huge lobby bar, glass-walled lifts, some rather kitschy but very nice lighting gear and an exploded Chevrolet ('Crash' - modern art).

The Great Glass Elevator (and Chandelier). Pic.: www.hotelauditorium.com

 'Crash'

 The Great Glass Chandelier (Airport Beyond)

As I checked in I asked what the deal was: "The airline is paying full board: breakfast, lunch and dinner in the Buffet-Madrid..." The clerk handed me vouchers stamped with the date and my room number. "...Just hand these in at the desk." And that was it. The room was on the first floor and half as big again as the one I'd had at the Wellington, with a double bed, armchair, table, desk, marble bathroom, TV (with BBC World News and Sky News) and free (!) Wifi. This last was to be a particular boon as I was to spend most of the next few days working on the laptop. Luxury accommodation! Having investigated the lobby bar I headed for the Buffet-Madrid with the first of my vouchers. This is a spectacular affair, with 1,000 covers and two self-service counters with hot and cold food, salads, fruit, desserts and what have you. I loaded up a plate and found a seat - communal tables - and looked for the wine list. There wasn't one: a smoothly-efficient waitress appeared as if from nowhere and put bottles of mineral water and Rioja on the table, and went away. The Rioja proved to be the house red: 2008 Antaño from Bodegas Garcia Carrión and was, quite frankly, excellent. This was not haute cuisine but extremely welcome, unlimited in quantity, and a blessèd relief after the sight of passengers from 'budget' airlines sleeping on their luggage at the airport. If this was being 'stranded', well, I wasn't going to complain, and neither was anybody else I spoke to. We were being treated like honoured guests rather than airport refugees - the level of service was spectacular.