The Trip to Madrid : 27-30 September (Segovia & Toledo too)

Friday night, September 26^th we had our placement test and the next morning we (the group of 35) were taking our first of three group trips together. Our bus left at 8:30AM and I wanted to shower so I got up at 7 and it was still pitch black outside so I checked my phone, watch, alarm clock and then my laptop to make sure my time was right. Everyone was still asleep and the shower is pretty noisy so I decided not wake everyone up. I had heard that the bus ride was about 5 hours to Madrid and I planned on sleeping for a majority of the bus ride.

Toledo

The combination of the views of the mountains, the olive fields, and the bright morning sun kept me awake, and for some reason I just can’t sleep on busses or planes anyway. We stopped for food and a restroom break two hours into the trip for about 20 minutes and then for the rest of our bus ride, Veronica (Our director) put in a movie, “Di Que Si”. It was in Spanish with English subtitles, and not a bad movie for being a chick flick type of movie. We stopped in Toledo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_Spain which has the second largest cathedral in Spain.

Walking down Hell Street

The intersection of Devil Street and Hell Street (with the help of Picasa photo editor)

Our bus took us to the top of the mountain to get an amazing view of the entire city. We had a tour guide lead us through the city. Our tour guide was really cool, he was an older guy and he got into a pretty heated argument with a guy for parking in the street. I couldn’t get my camera into video mode fast enough to capture one of the funniest moments on my trip so far. On the tour we got to see three cathedrals and a Mosque. The artwork in the cathedrals was absolutely amazing because of the size of the pieces and it’s unbelievable with all of the detail and how long it had to take to create the sculptures throughout the cathedrals. http://travel.webshots.com/album/553438684xUuGrC?start=0 This website has pictures of the inside of the cathedral, which I couldn’t take any pictures but this will give you an idea of how cool these old cathedrals are. According to our tour guide, the expression “Holy Toledo” came from this city because of all of the churches and cathedrals located in Toledo.

Big Cathedral in Toledo

Back of the Cathedral

Swords at the Toledo Knife and Sword Factory

It was another hour bus ride to Madrid, so we got to our hotel - Hotel Moderno - at about 7 P.M. We were right in the center of Madrid, La Puerta del Sol. I stayed in a triple room with Pete and Ben. We were given 10€ for each meal and the three of us went to look for somewhere to eat. Since we were in the center of Madrid, there were not many meals for under 12€. We walked about 4 blocks and found a burger place and it still ended up costing 10€ for a burger and a beer. Real Madrid was also playing in Madrid that night so the restaurants were all full, so that was an interesting experience in itself to just walk around and hear all the people yell when something good or bad happened in the game. We had just a little time to eat because we had to be back at the hotel for a Flamenco show at 9:30.

A Bush protestor right when we got into Madrid

The Flamenco show was really cool, I had third row seats, much better than I expected. There is such a distinct technique to Flamenco and its unbelievable how fast the dancers could move their feet and hips. The music is also really cool, I would love to learn how to play guitar like that, but I still need to just learn the basics. The singing is a little weird and hard to pick out actual words. It sounds like a yelling and all of the words are really elongated; Flamenco is definitely a huge part of the culture here is Spain.

The view from my hotel room in Madrid - Puerta del Sol in the background

After that we met up with some students that were studying in Madrid and they were friends of students in our program. They took us to an Irish bar, and we grabbed 3 tables and took over a corner of the bar, we should try to not go to places in groups of 15 or bigger, I have an impression that it’s kind of intimidating to the locals and kind of annoying to the owners and bartenders. It was after 2 when we left the Irish bar and some people wanted to go to a club, and some were ready to call it a night. The club was 15€, so I thought it sounded like a waste of money, so I went back to the hotel and we still stayed up way too late just hanging out at the hotel. The next morning we had to be at breakfast at 9, so we didn’t get much sleep.

Day 2

A great part about this trip is that we get complimentary breakfast. Most of us would stock up so we would have a sandwich for later on in the day. We walked in the rain to the Museo del Prado, http://www.museodelprado.es/en/ingles/ and spent about 2 and a half hours. I made sure to see the Goya and Velázquez exhibits. It was interesting but there are only so many portraits of wars, Jesus, and royalty; you can look at before they all just start to look the same. On the way back to the hotel I stopped in a park and bought a Spanish flag and a Real Madrid Scarf/banner for 5€ each. When I got back to the hotel I took a much needed nap – maybe two hours or so - and I woke up when Pete and Ben came back with KFC for their lunch.

Cathedral in Segovia

We went to a play, “La Decente”, which was a mystery/comedy and was starring an actress who had won an Oscar. The play was good, but I got about every third word, so I had to ask Pete to make sure what was going on. Ben had heard that there was Spanish royalty at the same play, so after the play I asked Veronica and she said that King of Spain’s sister was sitting right behind me. I thought it could have been them because they were escorted in and a guy was waiting to escort them out when we left. After the play we were all pretty hungry and we went out for Mexican food. It all was pretty expensive so we all got different appetizers, and we all still went over our 10€ limit. I slept through lunch, so not a big deal. We all didn’t feel like spending too much more money so we all just hung out in a few of the hotel rooms for the night.

Day 3

We left for Segovia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segovia at 10AM. It is a city where one of the oldest aqueducts and an old castle Alcañzar is located. We got to take a tour of the Alcañzar and look at the armory. We got lunch for around 7€, it was a place that served breakfast 24/7, which was great because it was like a breakfast back in the states: eggs, toast and sausage. After lunch we had free time to walk around the city and to look at the aqueducts. The size of the aqueduct was very impressive and the repletion of all of the arches within the stone work. It was very cool to see.

Alcanzar

On the way back to Madrid, I also saw my name on the walls along the interstate so on the way back I got a picture of it and I saw it a number of times, but I have not figured out yet what it means. We had an hour bus ride back to Madrid for the night, and when we got back we got kababs, because they are cheap, filling and delicious. So compared to our first day we have been doing a pretty good job on watching on how much money we spend on meals and use the rest towards souvenirs.

Day 4

On our last day in Madrid we went to the Royal Palace http://www.travelinginspain.com/Palace.html. The building has over 2000 rooms and we saw about 25 or so of the rooms and they were all huge and they all had specific meanings for each room such as one room was the King’s tea room for after dinner or the same room could have been a King’s bedroom in the past. It was unbelievable how big the building was. I was already congested so being around all of the old carpets and stuff on display didn’t help until I got back outside. All the floors are made of Spanish marble or wood. Most of the walls were covered in silk or velvet. The colors were so vibrant and bright; there was a lot of reds, yellows and blues used on most of the walls. There were many things covered in gilded bronze – lions everywhere which represents power in Spain. The most amazing thing was that each room had a different set of chandeliers. My favorite room was probably the Grand Dining room because it was the longest room in the palace and was in three sections and the table spanned all three sections. The table seats a grand total of 144 people.

Front of the Royal Palace

Center of the Royal Palace

After the Royal Palace we had some free time to wander around Madrid before we left, and of course Pete found the cheapest meal after we all had bought our lunches. The Museo de Jamon has a sandwich, apple and a drink all for 2€ (For future reference for any of you every traveling to Madrid). It’s sad that the beer for our dinner cost more than the entire meal.

I was thristy so I had to get a drink at the Royal Palace fountain

Group picture with Don Quixote

The trip home was more spacious on the bus because four girls went to Germany and Octoberfest from Madrid. A few other people went to Italy and Pete got on a Train for Seville to meet with his parents who traveled Spain for 3 weeks. So I was forced to use my Spanish and explain to Yaya and my señora that Pete wouldn’t be back until Friday night. Pete told me to tell them that he was in jail and needed some bail money. Since he was gone for a few days, I could tell that my Spanish improved drastically. I could actually have conversations with my family and I understand them better now.

Siding of a building that prevents people from climbing the sides

Now a few photos of the Aqueduct

The next few photos are from Alcanzar - I know they are out of order...

Group Photo from the top of Alcanzar

This is a spray painting picture I bought on the street in Madrid for 15 €. The guy makes them in about 20 minutes. See the baove photo for a compliation of how it was made.

Sorry for the worlds longest blog post but enjoy reading and the pictures. I will be making a Picasa WebAlbum soon so you all will be able to see my photos. This past week I have taken a lot of pictures around Granada and this weekend we went to Ronda and the Alhambra – so I have taken about 300 to 350 pictures in the past 5 days – Did I mention I love my new camera??? Also, I have gotten a few emails from family and friends along with Facebook messages & chats, but I would like to hear from more of you back home and whats going on in your lives. I hope all is going well back home in the states or wherever you all may be.

Next post: Will be about my trip to Morocco from last weekend. Next week I am traveling to one of my homelands – The Czech Republic. Pete, Chris, Melissa and I are traveling to Prague to meet up with a friend of Pete and Melissa’s from home – it will be a four day trip, I am looking forward to it.