Next stop Madrid

Retiro Park
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Our next stop in Spain was Madrid, where we spent 3 nights. We stayed in a hostel called Cats Hostel, which was located in a historical Spanish building, with a cool courtyard and mosaic tiles.

On our first day, you'll never guess what we did... took another hop on/off us sightseeing tour! First stop was the Prado art gallery, one of the world's best, where we saw artwork by El Greco, Picasso, Kandinsky, Titian and many others. I really liked El Greco's work. Next, we went for a walk through the Retiro Park nearby. It was very pretty with ponds, fountains, statues and flower beds. Our next stop was the Real de Madrid, the Spanish royal family's official residence. The palace was amazing... even the walls of the rooms were embroidered in great detail, and there were some very impressive artworks and treasures.

We saw artwork by El Greco, Picasso, Kandinsky, Titian and many others

The Prado art gallery
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On our next day, we had a quiet-ish day. We went to another of the art galleries, the Reina Sofia. This one houses contemporary art mostly by Spanish artists. We saw a lot of Picasso's work, including the famous 'Guernica'. We also saw some portraits by Chuck Close, an American artist, that Richard particularly liked. They are done in so much detail that they look like photographs.

That night, I had an early night as I had a cold, but Richard went out with some people from the hostel to a club in Madrid. [Over to Richard] The club, Kapital, is 7 stories. Each floor has different music on it, and one even has a movie cinema that constantly plays free movies. It was an absolutely amazing place. In theory. In reality, it cost 18 euro to get in (including 1 free drink), then the drinks were 7 euro a pop (for beer, 11 euro for mixed drinks, 5 euro for water). The only people more pretentious than the clubbers were the bartenders. All were women, all looked like they could be models, and all had a 6 foot pole up their ass. I mean, come on, you're a bartender, not the freakin queen! [/rant, back to Elena]

Elena infront of the Royal Palace in Madrid
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On our final day in Madrid, we took a day trip to Toledo. I think Toledo is my new favourite town so far! It is a medieval town, with cobbled, narrow streets and pretty views from the hills. There are also very interesting buildings to see, dating from the 13th century or earlier. We visited an old monastery, synagogue, cathedral and also the El Greco art gallery. We also discovered a great cafe in Toledo, with the best hot chocolate EVER! It was basically pure, thick chocolate, with hardly any milk... so good!