We got into Madrid (for the second time) around 9:30 AM on Saturday July 3. Because it was the weekend we weren’t able to book any of the hostels we wanted since they were all take so the first night we stayed in a hotel. When we got there, the “hotel” was located on one side of the 3rd and 4th floor of a 5 story building. When we got to the door we knocked a couple of times and there wasn’t any answer. One the other side of the building was another hotel that had a woman sitting at reception. She told us to go up to the 5th floor. On the 5th floor there was no marking for our hostel but we knocked anyways. Jeff continued to knock and knock until some old woman finally answered that looked like she just came out of bed (at this time it was about 11 AM) and didn’t speak any English. After a good 3 or 4 minute struggle we parted ways and went back down to the reception of the other place. She told me that the 5th floor is where the owners live and when I told her what happened she let me use her phone to call them. When I called a woman answered and said to come to the 3rd floor. So we went there and knocked continuously until an old man answered the door with his button down undone and his gut hanging out. He seemed pretty angry and just like the woman before didn’t speak any English and looked like he just woke up. After a couple of minutes the woman I talked to on the phone showed up and clarified everything. When she came back she said our reservation was canceled because the credit card never went through. We were both relieved (since the place kind of seemed poorly managed and a little unsanitary) and nervous since everything else we saw was booked and now we didn’t have a place. Luckily it was a quick fix because the hotel that had the receptionist told us she had a two bedroom room available for about the same price so we took it.
Jeff said he was a bit tired and wanted me to wake him up in an hour or so. I was debating heading out but instead ended up passing out myself. We both woke up about 3 or more hours later lol. We then headed out to the Palacio Real (Royal Palace). King Philip V ordered it to be built as his own “Versailles” after the fortress burned down in the 18th century and is Europe’s third largest palace after Versailles and Shcoenbrunn, both of which we visited previously.
Although the outside wasn’t as impressive, the inside was definitely a contender. However, you can’t take pictures of the inside and am pretty sure that most of the admission goes to employing guards to make sure you don’t take pictures since there was literally one in every room so we weren’t able to get any illegal pictures. Also located on the same premises was the Spanish armory museum and the royal family’s pharmacy.
The next stop was right next to it was the Cathedral of Almudena built from 1883 to 1993 for their patron saint, Isidro. Why was it not named Cathedral of Isidro? My guess is because that is to sweet of a name for a church.
The entrance was free, but when you enter there is a very intruding donation box that suggests a one euro donation. As we walk in there are three nuns directly behind me. Jeff blows by the box like its not even there. I on the other hand try to make it look like I care by taking out a 10 cent piece and slide it in without them being able to see the denomination. When I tried to pull this move off I ended up missing the slot and dropped the coin pretty much at the first nun’s feet. I quickly grabbed it before she could hopefully notice and slid it in as a made a remark of “wow all this only for a euro” (j/k).
Underneath the church is a tomb that has a lot of royals tombs in it. Oddly enough it is common place for people to get married in and it just so happened when Jeff and I visited a wedding was in precession.
We then continued on our walking tour with the next major point of interest being Plaza Mayor where they use to hold bullfights, fires, and torturous Inquisitions. It is also the location of many street performers. From Mickey Mouse and Winnie to Pooh to a box with three grotesque heads sticking out.
And Spiderman! I wonder if that is Toby under there.
After the tour we bought 2 bottles of wine for a euro each and drank and watched part of the Spain v Paraguay game before heading out to a bar to watch the last of it. After Spain won, the streets exploded with people and we headed down to Puerta del Sol which was one of the major plazas of the cities and right by where we were staying. There was also a plethora of vender's selling beers for a euro each, and by venders I mean guys walking around with grocery bags full of beer. Jeff was feeling the wine and beer a little more than I was and gave in to buying an Espana flag.
We sat on the fountain for a while and ended up meeting a group of girls from Brooklyn and talking to them for a while. We decided to try to go on a pub crawl that the girls went on the night before (most of the crawls started at 1 AM as this one did) but they couldn’t find the guy that gave them the discount before so we just headed out to some random club. It was pretty hot outside, meaning inside the club was close to unbarable, but after sweating for a week straight you began not to care so we tore up the floor there for an hour or so before heading home around 3 AM.
The next day we ended up sleeping in to 11:15 AM, since we had our own room it was pretty easy to just stay in bed. When we finally did leave, we had just a short walk to the hostel we were staying at. Once we ditched our packs we headed out to the Prado Museum which is an art museum. Since I lost my student ID the guy told me I had to pay the full price of 8 euros rather than 4 and since entry was free after 5 PM we said screw that noise and went to the park to wait for it to be free.
When we went to get into the museum there was a line wrapping around it, but since it was free and they were just letting people walk in it moved pretty quickly. One of the major attractions of the museum was Diego Valazquez’s Las Meninas, which is considered by many to be the worlds finest painting. It was also the painting that Picasso used to replicate (whether it was the whole painting or just portions) many times over with his cubism. I think our favorite was a guy with a murderous face and a long gray beard breast feeding a baby.
After the Prado we headed to Plaza de Toros to see one of the major things we wanted check off in Madrid, a bullfight. We soon realized that it wasn’t too much of a fight as it was a slaughter. It was pretty much what you expected, except there were some things we didn’t expect. One was that they would bring out two people on horses that were wearing something similar to a flak jacket so they wouldn’t get gourd. Then bull would then rush the horse (one of the times the horse actually was totally airborne) and then the guy riding it would stab it in the back and try to force it away.
Another thing we weren’t expecting (or didn’t really think about) was after they took the bull down. After it was on the ground they would go up with a dagger and stab it in the neck usually killing it immediately. I say usually because there was one time (there was 6 bulls in total) when they carted it off its back legs were still kicking. Also when I say carted off I mean they brought out three donkeys and tied them to the bull’s horns and then dragged it out.
Once the six bulls were dead everyone clapped and whistled and we headed back to the hostel. The hostel we stayed at had a bar in the basement and was one of the few spots you could get wifi. We had to check some of our trip information online so we headed down there, and you can’t sit in a bar and not get a drink right? So we each got a half liter of sangria. We sat down there and gabbed with some of the people, most of whom where Aussies, and decided to make it a low key night since we had a 7:30 AM train to Pamplona and since it was the only train we could get that day since all the other trains were full we didn’t want to risk missing it.
The next morning we woke up a little after 6 AM. Once we brushed our teeth and packed up what little we took out we headed to the train station and on the way ran into one of the guys we were talking to last night who was just coming back from a pub crawl he was trying to get us to go on, so in hindsight I guess we could have done it. The closer we got to the station the more nervous I kept getting because of my no EURail situation. When we our train was assigned a platform a huge line formed and they were checking tickets before people boarded which made me more nervous since it would be easier for them to say no. Luckily when we got to the booth we told her the situation and she let us go. Once I got comfortable they started the in-transit movie, The Proposal. This was now the second time we saw this movie with the first being on our way from Seville to Madrid, however unlike earlier when it was in English with Spanish subtitles this was in Spanish with Spanish subtitles (very logical).
Since we have been slacking on the blog quite a bit I took this time to write up Barcelona and Seville. Oh yea I forgot to mention that the weekend we were in Madrid was also Gay Pride Weekend.
The answer is yes, those are leather.
B
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