A quick tour of Madrid

Now I find myself awaiting the departure of the Renfe AVE train from the Atocha station in Madrid. It seems that European transports enjoy playing classical music for their occupants, although this one feels a little more like jarring elevator music. I decided to splurge on this train ride as it only takes two hours versus the six hours in bus; which if I had ample time would be ok. The big downside is that the train costs 64 Euros, whereas the bus would have cost 15. It is a large difference, but between keeping my spending down (Madrid, including this train ride, cost 175 Euros) and "living-life-to-the-fullest", I took the train. Sidenote, I was looking for water this morning and ended up finding a vending machine that sold water and was slightly disappointed as I thought it would only be a small one, but it sold 1.5L bottles (I decided not to travel with a water bottle - partly space, partly the need for bottled water come Morocco)!

I am on my way to Cordoba in the south of Spain, the Andalusian region. Having skipped Barcelona due to time constraints and visited most of Madrid's main attractions, I am looking to spend a good portion of my time in Spain visiting the architecture and history of the Moorish times (Islamic). Overall,  my time in Madrid has been well spent with some needed down times; however we are still a little short on hours of sleep.

My first day in Madrid, I worked my way around the airport which involved taking the shuttle bus between terminals as I failed to find the Metro access at the first one. Once I found the station, it was a relatively simple process of getting my ticket from an automated machine with clear instructions - pick "ticket" then select the Metro line you want to take and the last station that you want to get off at (in Spanish). Upon completion it spits out a little ticket that you next pop into the entrance booth. Even having to switch lines on my way to the hostel wasn't a big issue as everything is clearly lablelled. However, there were those who were much more lost looking than I, but I am inclined to say that the research I did on the way to Spain helped. As well , luck must have been on my side as when I popped out of the Metro I managed to wander down the right street until I found the proper street number and entrance (a typical apartment door)! As soon as I got to the hostel and was shown around, I decided the best way to start my trip in Spain was to have a siesta! Three hours later and rather groggily, I ended up going for a quick walk to a local park with a panoramic view of the city and then grabbing some groceries.

Staying in the hostel with access to a kitchen is a definite bonus, not only is it cheaper, but usually healthier and more communal, especially compared to some folks' MacDonald's choice. So far my typical breakfast has been two fried eggs, two pieces of toast, a few mandarins, a yogurt, and a packaged cappuccino. Lunch I have either come back to the hostel or brought with me; either way a few small sandwiches of bread, jamon, and cheese along with some more mandarins and a coffee. Dinners have been a little more varied - tapas & mojitos one night and pasta another. My pasta was simple, or so I thought, apparently using three ingredients - pasta, cream, and spinach plus spices - counts as a fancy meal and I must say that it turned out rather spectacular (albeit too much and not great when it has cooled down). Tapas, along with jamon, is a very Spanish meal. A few of us had heard about this place where when you bought a drink (typically beer, but we got motjitos) you received a plate of food (known as tapas). As there were three of us, we received three plates of food! The food included risotto/paella, cheese & jamon with bread, potato & egg salad on bread, chicken wings (dry in a good sense), and frittata. By no means is it supposed to be anything fancy, but it is indeed delicious and filling. Although a quasi meal, it is not somewhere you stay for long - it is standing kind of venue with typically glaring lights and loud conversations, also the floor is littered with used napkins (perfectly acceptable and expected). We finished the night at an Irish pub that played Spanish and American pop hits, and offered Guinness and Murphy's; what I would call atypical but a good time! Overall, despite choosing economic and healthy (ish?) it had been quite tasty and interesting.

Sadly, the weather hasn't been very cooperative. I had expected Madrid to not been toasty or necessarily sunny, but it has been rather chilly and wet - à la Vancouver or London - but with lots of wind. Despite being between 0 and 10 degrees, the Finnish girl and I agreed that we found it cold, even after coming from colder climates. Nevertheless, I spent a good chunk of my time in Madrid walking the city - only one very soggy occasion, but thankfully, due to a technical wardrobe, dried off relatively quickly. On that note, I have so far been pleased with what I brought with me only being saddened by the fact that this morning after packing I realized that I indeed did not pack "light". By no means did I pack "heavy", but there's a good 10+L that I wish I didn't have in my pack. At this point I'm going to leave it as is until I get completely fed up with it or figure out what I could 'lose' as I can still huff around with relative ease (not grace) and I don't have a pack on my front (only a side satchel).

As I mentioned, I have walking everywhere, except the airport and train station, as the city centre (and all the main attractions) is extremely walkable being only about 2.5 km maximum one way. After walking and standing all day, it gets a little tiring but is worth it - especially considering the amount of time I spent sitting in transport, and eating. On my first full day in the city, I managed to wake up at 1000, after spending an hour in the early morning tossing and turning, which gave me a later start to the day than I was hoping for and meant that I would have to take the afternoon walking tour. I ended up going with one of the Americans at the hostel. The way that these tours works is that there is no initial fee (therefore "free"), but at the end of the tour they ask for tips as the tours are the guides' actual jobs. Overall it was interesting as it provided a bit of the history of the city as well as the sights. One my second full day, I perused two of the main museums - the Sofia and el Prado. Sofia is the contemporary gallery, including the works of Picasso and Salvador. Although postmodern art is not my thing, it was well worth the time and perplexion. While waiting for the free admission to start (14 Eur otherwise), I meandered through the el Retiro Park which was rather lovely, very manicured, and quiet, presumably because the weather. The el Prado was definitely more my style with the grand, wall-sized paintings and Roman/Greek/etc statues - lots of mixes as most of the heads were recommisioned after their initial creation. Either way it was a day full of art, history, u-turns, and standing.

Well I should be arriving in Cordoba shortly, especially since we've been racing along at up to 296 km/h! My next blog entry should be when I'm on my way to Granada.

-Alex

PS: pictures will be in short supply until I get a system for moving my camera pictures onto my tablet, currently using limited tablet and phone pics.