My heart sank as I sat in the taxi that drove through Madrid to my hostel in Les Huertas. After spending time in exotic places like Thailand and Dubai...Spain just did not seem like it would be that challenging. Once you travel alone in Asia...what could possibly be more thrilling? Don't worry, I quickly got over momentary lapse of sense =). I was feeling kind of sick that day since I'd been travelling all day and was exhausted. My new hostel mates were going out for drinks, but it was just one of those days that I needed to sleep. And sleep I didn't get...there was a mariachi band from Mexico staying in our hostel and decided to start playing outside of my window at midnight - but I must say they were very good. What better way to spend the first night than being seranaded by a band oustide of my window....welcome to Espana!!
The next day, feeling somewhat better I took a free walking tour held by our hostel. We had a fantastic tour guide who explained in detail the history behind many of the areas in Madrid and the heavy Moor influence on the architecture. It was unbearably hot that day so I left the tour a bit early and went back to the hostel. This is probably one of my favorite hostels so far - great location, decent room, free internet, and of course awesome people. 20 of us from the hostel decided to watch the World Cup semi-final outside of Real Madrid's stadium - we had heard it is pretty wild. Somehow we ended up getting split up and the 6 of us were standing in front of a screen on the side of the stadium. There must have been thousands of people jammed around the screens - all clad in red and yellow..feverishly waving Spain's flag. Man this is why you start to love soccer and the World Cup - after watching most of the games this summer in every country I've been to with people from every which country - there is no other sport that truly unites the globe, I'm gonna have to start following the NY Red Bulls when I get home. As you can imagine, after Spain won (per the prediction of Paul the psychic Octopus) the Spaniards went nuts - we decided to get out of there as it was too rowdy. Then followed tapas dinner at midnight (which became the norm for me, lunch at 2...dinner at midnight, and breakfast if I even bothered to wake up) and checked out come bars at La Latina. FYI clubs in Madrid don't even open til 2am...so you can only imagine what the nightlife is like.
One complaint about Spain, I am now beginning to understand why the unemployment rate here is 20% (highest in the EU) and why the country is nearly broke. I went to the train station to buy a ticket to Barcelona since you can't buy it online. There are no ticket vending machines in the station, you have to take a number...and wait. I looked at my piece of paper and it said #495 and there are....wait for it....200 people in front of me. First I thought - is this a joke, do you seriously think I'm going to sit here for 4 hours or more on a Thursday afternoon to buy a ticket to Barcelona - so wait longer than the actual train ride itself to buy a ticket??? I think not. So the 200 plus other people waiting at the station - don't you all have a job or anything better to do than wait?? I guess not. I walk a couple of blocks and luckily find a travel agency - they sold me a train ticket. Wait time - ZERO: I had to pay 20 euro extra...but so worth it. I expressed my frustration at the train station to the travel agent, and his response "Welcome to Spain" lol.
Two sites that I absolutely adored in Madrid were the Museo del Prado and the Temple of Debod. The Prado has many Velazquez paintings and check out his painting Les Meninas - he actually painted himself in there and was a work that was intrepreted by many other artists. The Temple of Debod is a 2200 year old Egyptian temple in the middle of Madrid. It was a gift from the Egyptian gov't to Spain for helping them to excavate several other ancient temples.
After spending the weekend in Barcelona...one name seems to permeate the city: Gaudi. What didn't he architect in Barcelona, between the numerous modernista mosaic style buildings, Park Gaell, and Sagrada Familia - he was truly imaginative and creative artist. Walking around Barcelona is a true pleasure, getting lost in the little alleys and streets is fun - unless of course it's 3am and you've just spent 2 hours trying to find La Rambla. Half the streets aren't even named..let alone on the map. After finding it, me and my friend Jay end up going into the first open bar we see and drank some shitty Spanish beer - Estralla Damm (San Miguel is much much better).
Last but not least - the World Cup Final in Barcelona. I tagged along with some Aussi girls from my hostel to Placa Espanya - this great big open area in Barcelona. Once we get there, there are..no joke thousands of people piled on top of each other trying to watch 2 screens. The first 90 minutes I barely saw anything since there were just soo many people and too many tall dudes in front of me. I somehow managed to get closer and watch most of the overtime part of the game. By the time Spain scored a goal, I was soaked in liquor, swayed around by the crowd, and was nearly deaf from the infamous sounds of the vuvuzela. By the end of the game, I lost the girls I came with, and I had to get out of there; people were going insane - singing, honking horns, throwing bottles around, waving flags, it was definiately a sight. But what an experience to watch Spain win the World Cup; in Barcelona; for the first time in history.
I will never forget this night.
Espana was loads of fun...but itching to finally go to La France.
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