Madrid!

Getting around to the Madrid post finally! Friday morning Hilary and I left for Madrid on a nice long 6 hour bus ride. The morning was very exciting, and very stressful. Our bus was at 8am at Plaza de Armas, which is 15 minutes from where I live, walking, and 25 minutes from Hilary's hostel. I woke up and got there by 7:30 and sat to wait for Hla, who I thought left at 7. When she didn't turn up by 7:40 I called her and found out that her alarm hadn't gone off and she just had woken up! I ended up begging the bus driver to wait for just a few more minutes, and just as he was about to leave me in Sevilla, Hla managed to sprint into the bus station. It was a close call.

We got to Stu and Antonio's apartment around 3, it is AWESOME! So lucky that we got to stay there. We started touring in the afternoon and made it El Mercado de San Miguel, an indoor gourmet market with the best froyo ever, and the Royal Palace. When I came to Madrid 5 years ago, I had gone to the Royal Palace, and I've wanted to go back ever since. It is the most gorgeous building I've ever been in. Unfortunately you can't take pictures inside, it's so incredible. My favorite room has an orchard with flowers and peaches carved into the ceiling. Hilary and I walked through twice so we could take it all in. Our tour guide the next day told us that the palace actually has over 1000 rooms, so the tour must only go through a small part of it. The king does not currently live there because he deemed it excessive to live in such luxury in hard economic times. Instead he lives in a modest 100 room palace.

On Saturday we took a free walking tour of the city with Marc the Irish tour guide who yells a lot. He wasn't a bad guide, just a bit emphatic. He took us to Plaza Mayor, the oldest restaurant in the world, Miguel Cervantes house, the Egyptian temple, Plaza del Sol, and the Royal Palace. We did a short history lesson in which I was King Carlos V and Hilary was King Phillip II (I think?). Afterward we went to a bar called El Tigre where they give you a huge plate of tapas with every drink you order, not a bad deal. Later we were able to meet up with Purcell and hang out a bit in the city center with her. 

Tapas at Mercado de San Miguel

The cathedral next to the palace, it was a cool perspective with the sun behind it

The Palace

Temple given to Spain by Egypt in the 70's....don't remember why

Plaza del Sol; The Times Square of Madrid?

The second most translated and widely published author ever (if I remember correctly)

Free tapas! Jamon is everywhere.