After a late-arriving taxi from our apartment made us miss the shuttle bus to the airport, we were very anxious for what might be in store for us on our European vacation. However, with only a delay of 30 minutes, we made it to our flight with plenty of time to spare. The flight was mostly fine, barely half full with on-demand movies. The only slightly irritating aspects were the fact that they ran out of the chicken dish for the in-flight meal, the little old lady in the purple track suit who had a sneezing fit about three hours into the flight, her husband who was continuously wandering the aisle to get to the restroom, the non-dimming of the cabin lights for the night, and my late breaking residual NOVA allergy fit (AKA my own sneezing fit). We flew "through the night" with little activity to get to Madrid.
Thursday, April 8 2010:
We touched down at 7:30 a.m. having very little (read: absolutely no) sleep in what was supposed to count for a whole night, and made it through customs with no problems. We were then off to brave the amazing subway system of Madrid—seriously, this thing beats DC hands down, kick you in the face. We made two transfers and got off at the La Latina neighborhood in Madrid. It is supposedly one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, having once been the Moorish section of the city as well. The winding narrow streets and a misunderstanding of the location of our hotel left us wandering La Latina, looking in vain for a place for us to drop off our bags, which seemed to be exponentially increasing in weight with every hill we climbed. After about 25 minutes, a man finally stopped us and said, "Can I help you find something, because I've been watching you walk around here for a while." He directed us to the correct location and we soon found Doña Norma at the Abracadabra Inn on Calle Bailen. The quaint bed and breakfast apartment was decorated with an odd and charming assortment of hats, birds, and other Spanish-inspired décor. We dropped off the bags, but because check-in wasn't until 1 p.m., we didn't have a place to rest. So, we went off to our first activity, a bike tour of Madrid.
We made our way back to the metro and found a bakery where we had a small breakfast consisting of a crème and chocolate filled pastries, and we were told about a good place nearby to get churros and chocolate later on. We made a mental note. We took the train three stops to the Gran Via area to begin our tour with Trixi Bikes. With the two of us, there were six others on our English-speaking tour. Let me make myself clear that this city of 5 million people is not a bike-friendly place—at least not in the center of town. But with a little briefing by our tour guide, we were off on a nine-mile trek to discover the city. Early on, before we had gained the necessary confidence as a group, there was a split in the group due to some hesitation to riding in front of a moving vehicle on the bumpy cobble-stoned rodes. Melanie ended up getting stuck, and I found myself waiting, slightly panicked, for her while the tour guide continued ahead. She eventually came up the street walking her bike along, having narrowly escaped a hit-and-run. We hopped on the bikes and took off to reach the group, who eventually noticed we were missing about ½ mile ahead. From that point on, I was very careful to stay in first or second position in the group. I didn't want to be "that chubby guy who held up the group." That spot was left for the 60-year-old woman from Jacksonville Fl, who expressed an odd concern about Pizza Hut not being in Madrid.
We went to all of the interesting spots in the center of the city, and let me tell you, there were a lot. We saw the ancient temple that was donated to Madrid from Egypt, the Royal Palace, the city's main cathedral, the old neighborhoods and the oldest building in Madrid. We went on to see where Cervantes lived and died. We rode past the Prado and a lot of other places—it may be a blur because of the lack of sleep at the time. We ultimately ended up at El Retiro, which is their huge city park, and had a soda and some olives. We rode around the park and headed back to the bike shop to finish up. It was quite an experience and it gave us a chance to see a lot more than what you might normally see on a typical tour bus.
After the tour we headed to our hotel, and took a short nap. We got a briefing from Señor Eduardo, the owner of the place, who gave us a nice map and many suggestions on things to see/do while there. We left to go directly to the Prado since it was free from 6 pm to 8 pm. We walked around, saw some Rafael and looked in vain for Goya; it was cool, but seriously, after a while, there are only so many pictures of Jesus you can see before you're bored out of your mind (or maybe that was just me being grumpy from allergies and hunger). We left on a search for something for dinner. We couldn't find too much that met our criteria of being non-touristy, cheap, and with seating, but eventually we found a sort of bar that had some decent looking, fairly inexpensive stuff. I got a rundown of the menu from the waiter, which involved us both quacking like a duck. We ordered a tasty potato and rice thing baked in a tortilla, an empanada, and some bread with a cheese fondue. It was very delicious, especially on an empty stomach. We walked around a little bit and found the previously mentioned churros at "El Diamante" bar, which were delicious, and one order gives you a ton of them (we ordered two, not realizing this). Finally, we headed home, exhausted and ready to sleep after our first day.
Friday, April 9, 2010:
Today's activities involved a trip to the hill-top town of Segovia, which is about an hour north of Madrid. After Norma's breakfast of yogurt, pound cake, a roll, chocolate milk, toast and a grilled cheese sandwich (identical both days we were there), we took a bus from a stop within walking distance our hotel. The ride was nice, and allowed us to see a little of the Spanish countryside. It looks to be a pretty dry climate, but the mountains in the distance had some beautiful snow caps on them, and, according to our bike guide, offer some decent skiing.
We arrived at the bus stop in Segovia and promptly walked to the massive Roman Aqueduct at the edge of the city. At the top of the hill Melanie found a family of cats—her one true love. After spending what seemed to me to be an hour taking pictures of the furry, feral felines, we headed on to see more of the city. We walked down the narrow streets and came upon a small plaza which opened up to frame the city's amazing cathedral. We looked at a map and, upon my insistence, headedleft to find the entrance. We circumvented the entire cathedral and found said entrance about 50 feet to the right of where we began. A bit of a fail on my part. The gothic cathedral was very striking. The ornate exterior stood in contrast to the interior, which did have soaring, vaulted ceilings and stained glass but few frills. Our guide book attributed the less dramatic interior to the economic condition of the area around the time that it was being constructed, in the 16th century.
We explored the cathedral and were off to the Alcazar, or formal royal residence/fortress. The city of Segovia sits atop a mountain, and the Alcazar is perfectly perched above a steep drop off. The building is truly a visual treat to see. It is reminiscent of what you might imagine in an old fairytale. We descended the side of the hill the castle sits on, walked around to a nearby church and to the other side of the hill to hike up into the Júdaria, or former Jewish area of the city. This part of the city is known for its interesting use of stenciling on the stucco of the buildings. At this point, we were tired, and very thirsty. However, being in Spain, in the afternoon, nearly all the shops were closed. We wondered why for a bit, but then realized they were doing what we wished we could be, taking a siesta. However, at four, the bell rang, and the town seemed to come alive again. We bought a Fanta and had a drink in the sun at a nearby plaza. From there we began to wander back towards the bus stop in search of something to eat. The local favorite, cochinillo, or roasted suckling pig, was more food and cost more money than we wanted so we opted to not get it. Instead, I ordered a pastry at a small shop to hold me over until we had a bigger, better dinner back in Madrid.
Upon arrival, we walked to a lookout tower that was recommended in the tour book. What was not noted in the book, however, was that the observation/lookout building would be closed for construction. There were no signs about that either for the entire half-mile that we walked to it. So we walked back to the metro station, and headed to our hotel to freshen up before dinner. Luckily, we were just able to see the sun set on our last evening in Spain. From there, we walked around, looking for a place to eat, and snapped photos of La Latina. It's a very romantic area—very European with the many street side cafés. We really wanted Paella in Spain so we thought we were in luck when we found it reasonably priced, or so we thought. Sitting outside next to the oldest building in the city, we had a delicious meal, splitting a plate of paella and a pizza-like flat bread thing. The meal should have been about 22 Euros, but it was an hour later and probably a mile away that we realized our paying 35 Euros, plus a tip, was far more than it should have been. We wandered around the area near the Plaza Mayor, got some souvenirs, and found the Guinness World Record holder for the Oldest Restaurant in the World -- Botin. We didn't eat, but I took a picture. We walked down to see the cathedral and the palace, all lit up at night. After, we went back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.
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