We decided that instead of the usual gifts for gift day, we would gift ourselves a trip to Spain! Initially we planned to fly in to Madrid, and also take a train or bus to Barcelona so we could see both cities on the same trip. It did not work out that way, but that did not make the trip any less amazing!
Day 1:
The trip could have easily started off in a very unpleasant way. We bought tickets to take a coach(bus) from the Colchester bus station to Stansted Airport in London at 4:55am and it takes 55 minutes to get there. The station is less than half a mile away from the house, so we walked there. But once we were less than a block away, i realized I didn't have the tickets for the bus, but I had them when we left the house. So I knew I must have dropped them. We only had a few minutes until the bus would leave, so I ran back, retracing my steps, and sure enough, about halfway home, the tickets were there on the floor. So I ran to to the bus station, and barely made it on time. The bus took off early actually, which I find not cool. because if you arrive just on time, the bus would have left already. But anyway, we averted that disaster, and were on our way to the airport. Once at the airport, we went through security, which I must say is much less intense than in US airports, and then we needed to get our boarding passes stamped since we did not have a European passport. Once we did that, we found a place to sit down, and we ate the hummus pitas that Geli prepared for us. We were a bit early, so the gate for our flight was not even displayed yet. We got on the flight without any problems and were in Madrid in a couple of hours. From the Madrid airport, we took the metro to the center of town, for just €2 Euros!
Once in the center of Madrid, our first stop was to find the hotel. We wanted to leave our bags there, and walk around to see what we could find. We did not have any difficulty finding the hotel. Once we did, we checked in, paid, and we were on our way. We had no destination, just wanted to explore the town. The hotel was on Gran Via street, right in the center of town. Plaza Callao was right in front of the hotel. So we walked through it, and down Calle del Carmen, which took us straight to the Plaza Puerta del Sol. As we were getting close, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me because I could hear a Mariachi, playing mexican music. But it couldn't be, we were in Spain! once we got to the Plaza, there really was a Mariachi there, playing "Cielito Lindo", and Dora was also there, selling balloons. Sophie liked Dora, not so much the Mariachi. We had barely covered any ground and we were already impressed. A truly vibrant city, people everywhere, impressive buildings, music in the streets, statues, plazas, it was great. After listening to the mariachis for a bit, and getting Sophie a balloon, we decided to walk down Calle de Alcala, in a hunt for some coffee. We had not slept well at all(I worked until 3am the previous night, and we were up at 4am to get to the bus station by 4:55am), and needed some caffeine! This turned out to be more challenging then we expected. Coffee shops were abundant, but it was difficult to find one that served soy milk(or as they call it there, "soja") or a vegan creamer. We must have stopped and asked at like 6 of them. We finally found one that did. We got Sophie a smoothie, and Geli and I got our much needed caffeine!
After that, we kept on walking. We saw plenty of government buildings(ministerios) and at the intersection with Gran Via, the impressive Metropolis building. A couple of blocks further down was the Fuente de Cibeles and Plaza de Comunicaciones, both very cool. We kept walking around, with no real direction, just wandering the city. After all that walking, we decided to find a place to eat. We had looked up a vegetarian Chinese buffet, and wanted to go there. But when we got there, it was closed, it was around 7:30pm or so. We thought they were closed for the night, there was no business hours visible. We later found out that the restaurants operate on a strange schedule. They open for lunch from around 1-4pm, then close and reopen for dinner at 8pm. On our way home, we were looking for a grocery store, which was more difficult than we expected, since January 6th is a holiday in Spain(Dia de Reyes). We finally found a small one open and we got some cereal, soy milk(soja! as they call it there), contact lens solution(since you can't get yours through airport security), a cereal bowl, a spoon, toothpaste, potato chips, and a power adapter so we could charge the camera's battery and the laptop. Yes, they use a different plug type and voltage than in England and the US. We should really standardize...After that, we called it a day and went to the hotel.
Day 2:
The next day we went out and got some more food for the hotel room. We got some apples, clementines, potato chips, dark chocolate with almonds, a Spanish hot sauce called "salsa brava", but it wasn't very spicy at all, and some Canary Island bananas!!! The bananas was an amazing find! We don't buy bananas(amongst other things) usually for several reasons(mainly human exploitation and the enormous distance the food has to travel to get to you). The bananas in the UK seem to come exclusively from the Caribbean, and in the US they were from South America. But these were from some Spanish Islands, just off the north west coast of Africa. They were smaller, and sweeter than normal bananas, they were fantastic! After that we went to have lunch at the vegetarian Chinese restaurant(Shi-Shang). It was a buffet, and it was delicious! Everything was vegan, except some of the desserts had dairy. But they didn't even use eggs, so the fried rice, spring rolls, and tempura were all vegan! We also found out that juice is called "zumo" in Spain, and not "jugo" like in Mexico, while ordering an orange juice for Sophie.
After the lunch, we went walking again. We just wanted to explore the city. This time we did know that we wanted to see the Templo de Debod and the Palacio Real, but beyond that, just more walking and more exploring Madrid. We found a small playground and Sophie had to play there for a bit. It was was next to a small market on a plaza that had some churros and garrampiñados. We didn't get any because we didn't know if they would be vegan, and didn't feel like asking(in retrospect, we should have!). On our way to the temple, we found the Plaza España, and the Edificio España across from it, both impressive. We also saw some other buildings that were nice, and there is a park around the temple. The temple itself is very impressive! It is an Egyptian temple from the 4th Century BC! It was moved to Spain in 1971 by boat, then train to Madrid. We would have stayed there a bit longer and looked around the inside of it more, but Sophie was being difficult, so we had to leave. The view from outside the temple is stunning, it is on a hill, so you can see the surroundings. We took her to the playground at the park surrounding the temple so she would run around a bit after that. Then we headed through the park to find the Palacio Real. There were some statues on the way there and some gardens that were landscaped to look like a labyrinth. It started raining around this time, but we still wanted to see the palace, so kept going. Once we got to the palace, it was really impressive! There was a plaza in front of it, with the Teatro Real(Opera), and a lot of statues. Just beyond the Palace was the cathedral, also a very impressive building.
On our way from there Sophie fell asleep, so we headed for the hotel. Once there, Sophie took her nap, and when she woke up, we decided to go get some dinner. It was already dark, so we got to see Madrid at night, and it is quite beautiful! We went to Maoz, which is a chain of vegetarian restaurants with a very simple menu. Sophie and I had falafel pita sandwiches with other fillings that you can choose from the salad bar, and Geli got a bowl full of salad bar stuff and some falafel, and we also got some fries. It started raining again, so we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.
Day 3:
This day it was our goal to go to the Parque del Retiro and see as much of it as we could, then eat a vegetarian restaurant. As soon as we left, in the Plaza Callao across the street from the hotel, there was an orchestra performing there, which was a pleasant surprise. We watched them for a bit, then were on our way to the park. Plenty of impressive buildings on the way. We saw the congress building, a Cervantes statue, some great views of Madrid, an impressive church building, the Museo del Prado, and then we got to the park.
It started raining again, but we were determined to see as much as we could of the park. The entrance was a huge area of very landscaped gardens. Very nice, but also made to look very...artificial? I am not saying it was bad, it is merely a matter of taste. But the shrubs and bushes were trimmed in unnatural shapes, the flowers planted in an orderly way, etc. So after walking through there, there was some trees that looked like brains, and a strange statue of Jacinto Benavente. Sophie had to climb a tree, and after that we went up a hill to another are of the park. There, we ran into the Palacio de Crystal, which was impressive, and made mostly of glass. There was also a very nice waterfall next to it, and some ducks there. We went inside mainly as shelter from the rain, and also to see if they had a bathroom, since Sophie wanted to go. They didn't, but they told us to go to the nearby Palacio de Velazquez. We got lost in the park, but we found it, in time, Sophie was wet, but it was from the non-stop rain, we all were. The Palace there was not as impressive on the outside as others ones we had seen, but inside it was completely white, which was interesting. It was a photography museum, with only huge photography on display there. So after Sophie went to the bathroom, we looked around, as much as we could, but she started being difficult again.
We headed out of the park through another exit, so we could see other parts of the park on the way out. We saw a couple more statues and fountains on the way out. Then we headed to Viva la Vida, a vegetarian restaurant there. Sophie was understandably grumpy, it was raining and she was wet, and cold. So the restaurant was a nice break from the rain. It was a buffet, sold by weight. So you serve yourself, then they weigh your plate, and charge you that way. It was very good food, we enjoyed it. It is mostly for carryout, there was only one small improvised table and a few chairs there. It was rather small, but then again that is nothing new to us. Vegetarian restaurants aren't known for being very big. So we had our meal and then headed back to the hotel, while it was still raining. We stopped at the grocery store again, to get some more food, we got some bread, a soy yogurt, a cereal Sophie picked(Hello Kittie Fruit Loops!), and a spanish spread called Almendrina, which is a sweet almond spread. The spread was amazing! I wish they sold it here, it was nutty, and sweet, and went perfectly with bread! It was a bit early to call it quits that day, but the rain would not stop, and Sophie was in a bad mood. It is not nearly as pleasant to explore a city when it doesn't stop raining. But we had plenty of time the other days, so we decided to go to the hotel, watch some TV, eat, and rest.
So this is a summary of our first 3 days in Madrid, and I do not finish it on this post out of consideration for you, as this is lengthy enough already. The next post will wrap up the awesome time we had in Madrid...
