Tom's Travels: Madrid Day 1-5

6 - 10 July 2013

Day 1: Arrival
Another fast and punctual train took me to Madrid; have I mentioned how much I love the trains here? Men in Black 3 was playing on the train too but it was dubbed in Spanish with Spanish subtitles so I watched Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter on my tablet instead. Once at my hostel, Las Musas, the first item on the to-do list was a siesta so I could be ready to go out...

A night out
..and it's lucky I did because the people in my room were heading out. We started the night at the bar in the Cat's Hostel, a party hostel around the corner, where we enjoyed 3 euro half litre beers then joined a pub crawl. I can't remember the names of the places we went but they were all pretty good, although small, except the last one which was big but had indoor smoking; something I don't miss at all. In Spanish style we didn't head out until 12:30 and we got home at 5:30, an early night.

Day 2: A day in the Park
After an exceptionally slow start to the day, I went for a walk to the big park in Madrid: Parque de el Retiro (no it's not a park for retirees). I wandered around all the paths, spaced out in the sun for a bit and had a look at the sculptures, monuments and buildings that are hidden around the place.

Bull fight
I was a bit apprehensive about this but I thought I might as well see it once while I'm here to see what it's about. We got the cheapo seats which were right at the top of the arena, and you had to climb over people to get a seat, but at least we were in the shade. Basically, I wasn't a fan of the fight. I spent the whole time hoping a matador (or two) would get gored to death. On a more positive note, the arena is really impressive, both the architecture and how well it's maintained.

Dinner
This hostel has a really well equipped kitchen, which my Serbian/Canadian friend and I used to cook dinner made from a random mix of whatever looked good at the mini-mart down the street. We ended up with an omelette, sausages, meatballs and some pasta that some other people had left over.

Day 3: Toledo
The hostel ran day trips to Toledo and after realising that Madrid is actually quite small, it seemed like a good plan. We stopped at a point outside the city, to take some photos and get a feel for the layout of the town, before being dropped near the big palace in the centre of the old town. This town had the same offerings as other medieval villages: a church, a castle and a palace but instead we decided to walk around the streets, looking at the many swords and knives on sale, and take the walking track around the edge of the city and past the castle. We also stopped at a supermarket, possibly the only one in town, where the helpful shopkeeper cut up our bread, fritz type meat and local Toledo made cheese.

Drinking games
The hostel was running free drinking games (with sangria from milk-wine containers) so naturally all the cheapo backpackers, including me, were there. It was a modified version of 4-kings and then at the end there was a competition where you have to stick a napkin on your tongue and when they say go, get it all in your mouth the fastest without using your hands; it's really good fun. Afterwards they have a pub crawl so I headed off on that too and had a blast.

Day 4: Walking tour
My favourite walking tour company operates in Madrid so after another casual start, I did that in the afternoon. I met a Wisconsinite and a Georgian on the tour and we did our own tour after to see the gardens of the palace, the Egyptian monument on the nearby hill and the Plaza de Toros bull fighting ring.

Back at the hostel
I had a siesta in case anyone was going out but everyone was too tired so we just chatted in the street for a bit before going to bed.

Day 5: Last day
After checking out I cooked myself a steak for lunch, something I've missed while travelling. I went for a walk to see Caxia Forum but it was swarming with cops and they weren't letting anyone in, no idea why, but because there wasn't much else I wanted to see in Madrid, I headed back to the hostel to catch up on the blog and upload some photos. I had kebab for dinner from a local shop but it doesn't measure up to the others so that's all I'll say on that matter.

Madrid Metro
I bought a 10 pass ticket when I first got to Madrid because I expected it to be like all the other cities but it's so small that you really don't need it unless you're super lazy. The metro didn't impress me when I was leaving either because they decided to close the four stations near me, which had been open for the rest of the time I'd been there, so I had to walk for a bit with all my crap. Then, they charge you a premium when you catch the metro to the airport, wtf! It's not that big of a deal but at the time, I wasn't impressed.

Thoughts on Madrid:
-It's hot! Barcelona was too but being near the beach saved it a bit plus you could go for a swim.
-It's small! Well, at least the touristy bit is so don't bother with a 10 trip metro pass, you can walk everywhere.
-It's a bit dirty. I guess most major cities are but I seemed to notice it more here.