Day 6 - Madrid, Spain - June 8

shaun in our room at hostel bahia
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We arrived in Madrid at 7:30 AM from our overnight train without any quality sleep. Our chairs converted to beds, however, it was still very uncomfortable. We spent some time in the train station buying our tickets for the subway and looking at maps trying to figure out where our hostel was so we could drop off our bags. It was a nice surprise to find out that our hostel was easy to find, as it was within a few 100 meters of a subway stop. It was also nice to discover how nice our hostel was: marble floors, hardwood paneling, an elevator, and a courtyard in the middle of the building (when we opened our window we could look down into a courtyard and hear/see a spanish fountain). We changed our clothes and headed out into the city of Madrid.

the foyer of hostel bahia
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We started our day by doing a walking tour of the central part of the city. We started at the palacio real built by Philip II in the 1560s. Next was the calle mayor, the palacio de abrantes, the church of st. nicholas, the plaza de san miguel, and finally the plaza mayor, ernest hemingways favorite hang out. We also stopped to eat at cafe bar los galayos which served excellent food, for a price. This was by far our most expensive meal yet and also, our most luxurious. We indulged heavily in the food and we also met a pleasant family of three from North Carolina who were in the process of traveling the world. We spoke at length about our trips. During this conversation, the waiter put a large bottle of unidentifiable liquid with fruit floating in it on the table, along with two cups. As Taylor continued the conversations, Shaun proceeded to drink the strange concoction. By the end of the conversation the liquid was gone and we were soon informed that it was brandy. Needless to say, our walking tour of the city was now a stumbling tour around Madrid. We continued our tour of the city exploring the latin quarter which included calle de toledo, colegio imperial, and calle de segovia. We noticed that as we continued to walk further we were taken into progressively more dangerous areas. After witnessing a girl pulldown her pants and pee on the street next to us, we decided that it was time to leave. We went back to our hostel to catch up on the sleep we missed from the train and to give me a chance to get that Brandy out of my system.

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After the nap, we headed to the park across from the Prado museum. We saw some beautiful gardens and very cool architecture. As the sun began to set we strolled back to the city centre where on the way we caught some live music from an apparently famous Spanish artist. I managed to get up close and take some cool pictures of the singer. We then searched around the city for somewhere cheap to eat dinner. We found a spot at a place that neither of us can remember. However, we ate like kings and had two pitchers of Sangria for only 13 euros. After dinner, we headed back to our hostel where we caught a party hosted by Canon with a live DJ playing some music. It turned out to be a competition for taking pictures called a photomarathon. Unfortunately, my Nikon didnt qualify.

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Time for bed.