Madrid!

We just got back from Madrid this morning… we had such a good time! We left Barcelona on the train on Friday night, and traveled through the night to Madrid. We were in a sleeper car with 6 tiny little bunk beds to a room. It was definitely cramped and uncomfortable but we managed to get a few hours of sleep. Once we got there we found a taxi and had him drop us off near the hostel we wanted to stay at. The guy at the hostel said we’d have to come back later to see if they had any rooms, so we decided to start exploring the city.

My guidebook had a walking tour of the city so we decided to follow it. We got to see so many old buildings, churches, palaces, plazas, gardens, etc. It was absolutely beautiful! Some of the places that you’ll see pictures of include:

-Plaza Mayor (a big open plaza in the middle of town surrounded by bars and restaurants- it really comes alive at night! There are thousands of people out there nightly!)
-Plaza de la Villa (which houses the town hall and some of the city’s oldest buildings)
-Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Almudena (the main catholic cathedral for the city which took over 100 years to build, from 1883-1993!)
-Palacio Real (the old royal palace which sits right next door to the cathedral)

After the walking tour we went back to the hostel, and managed to get the last available room. It only had one twin size bed but they brought in a mattress for us to put on the floor, and it actually worked out just fine. We had our own bathroom, and even had a shower bigger than the one we have at home!

We grabbed lunch at a nice restaurant, but definitely had no idea how to order. We just wanted salads but somehow ended up sharing a salad, and each getting our own meal. We also got a bottle of wine and learned our lesson about buying the cheapest bottle of wine on the menu. For $6, we ended up with wine that didn’t taste good and that turned our mouths purple.

After a nap, we got up to go find the restaurant renowned for its churros with chocolate. They were absolutely delicious! (there are pictures!) Then we went to Plaza Mayor to try to find a bar. Everything seemed to be more restaurant-ish so we walked down the street a ways and found a little pub. We sat down for a while to have a beer, then as we were leaving these guys from Amsterdam stopped us. I guess we really look like Americans because he immediately asked us (in English) if we were from the US. They were pretty weird so we just told them we had to go… where are all the cute Spanish boys we’re supposed to be meeting? We went to people-watch in the Plaza for a while then headed home.

The second day, we went to the Reina Sofia art museum and the Prado art museum. They both had some really cool stuff. I especially liked the Picasso exhibits. Then we went to the Parque del Buen Retiro to relax and grab some lunch. We laid in the grass for awhile and had some ice cream. The guy in front of us was definitely dealing drugs… he would whistle at people if they walked by then make a gesture like he was smoking and people would just come over and get drugs… definitely the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.

We didn’t know what to do after the park and had about 3 hours to kill before the train so we decided we were gonna try to walk to the train station. It was a REALLY long, really tiring walk, but it was cool because we got to see a lot of really cute neighborhoods. TWO HOURS after we left the park we finally made it to the train station. We ate and relaxed until it was time to leave, then slept all the way home on the train back to Barcelona!

Check out the new pictures: http://www.webshots.com/user/KristenInSpain