We´re now well into our second day here and looking forward to Valencia and the beach tomorrow. Madrid has brought with it some culture that I didn’t expect to enjoy but somehow really did!
The first day brought with it laundry and ´recovery’ and from my POV a lot of frustration as it seemed we didn´t have a focus here and we were wasting time doing nothing...I think Lizzie and Andrew´s postcard got the brunt of that negativity (sorry). However to sum everything up as just that is unfair.
We went on an awesome tapas tour through the hostel for 10 euro which bought us a sample of authenticity away from tourist hotspots and 3 sangrias and a beer. The tour was ´personal´ with only Phil and I, a Chinese girl called Judy (now living in Liverpool) and the effervescent tour guide Jenny - an ex political campaigner from New York. We got on very well, me more than most, with Jenny and decided to meet up later in the evening :)
Skipping past the boring we met up later that night and she took us on what started out almost like a guided tour of Madrid. We found ourselves supping sangria in what Jenny coined ´the ´Gayborhood¨of Madrid, one of the nicer areas, and then on from there we went to La Latina the value-for-money bar region...but that was quite a bit of time later. Sangria, a trip to a fantastic vegetarian restaurant on the way for falafel , and a wrong turn or two took us up towards the monuments of Madrid (the Royal Palace, the National Institute etc) with their beautiful night time lighting and vistas of the city. I can´t say I took too much of it in...Jenny and I let Phil be the sites-photographer...
The humble Daffodil has overtaken the fields of Madrid and uprooting one from the VERY off limits Palatial gardens to present to our tour guide on the way proved an ideal romantic gesture.....
The night pressed on and after another drink at one of Jenny´s other hostels, and meeting her other tour guide friend Michelle, we said our fond goodbyes at 1.30am...
Today has brought with it both the Prado and the Reina Sofia museums as well as the Botanical Gardens and a trip to Artocha train station to see their tropical gardens complete with tens of turtles dumped right in the middle of the station! The Reina far outweighs the Prado in my uncultured mind as it was full of colours and shapes pleasing to my bovine eye. It was also FILLED with Dali and Picasso paintings, by far my favourite artists.
Thank God for GCSE Spanish as I almost got thrown out! The gallery operates a no video policy but its fine to take no-flash photos...I plead the innocence of a rogue here as I was guilty playing ´Blue Peter presenter´ in the middle of the gallery when I was first approached on my way round. Opting to take still photos with a camera that looks like a video camera thereafter meant I was the centre of every attendant´s attention and radio call thereafter...good job I remembered enough Spanish not to resort to elaborate charades to prove my following innocence.
Written FROM Valencia: The night also brought with it a surprise or two. We ventured to through Madrid´s night life taking advantage of every promoter´s free drink offers as we went by. Before long we found ourselves in the centre of a whopping mass of (sexy) Irish on tour, on a bar crawl and became honorary Irish for the night...I guess luck of the Irish is a true phrase here as I found I got on VERY well with a blonde, blue eyed Irish girl called ´Deidra´ on the way round.
Unfortunately, hitting too many sangrias means getting between bars and clubs eventually becomes too much of a task and Phil and I found ourselves talking pleasantly with some tourists NOT on the tour between the penultimate and final venue and headed the wrong way. An exchanged telephone number earlier in the night MAY mean we´ll find each other in Barcelona, but I doubt it as I´m sure Phil´s taken too many digits......
PS: The video blog will have to wait until my return. There´s no easy way to upload footage, and there´s no programs (including open source) to edit with en route. But it will be epic and up VERY quickly post my travels.
The first day brought with it laundry and ´recovery’ and from my POV a lot of frustration as it seemed we didn´t have a focus here and we were wasting time doing nothing...I think Lizzie and Andrew´s postcard got the brunt of that negativity (sorry). However to sum everything up as just that is unfair.
We went on an awesome tapas tour through the hostel for 10 euro which bought us a sample of authenticity away from tourist hotspots and 3 sangrias and a beer. The tour was ´personal´ with only Phil and I, a Chinese girl called Judy (now living in Liverpool) and the effervescent tour guide Jenny - an ex political campaigner from New York. We got on very well, me more than most, with Jenny and decided to meet up later in the evening :)
Skipping past the boring we met up later that night and she took us on what started out almost like a guided tour of Madrid. We found ourselves supping sangria in what Jenny coined ´the ´Gayborhood¨of Madrid, one of the nicer areas, and then on from there we went to La Latina the value-for-money bar region...but that was quite a bit of time later. Sangria, a trip to a fantastic vegetarian restaurant on the way for falafel , and a wrong turn or two took us up towards the monuments of Madrid (the Royal Palace, the National Institute etc) with their beautiful night time lighting and vistas of the city. I can´t say I took too much of it in...Jenny and I let Phil be the sites-photographer...
The humble Daffodil has overtaken the fields of Madrid and uprooting one from the VERY off limits Palatial gardens to present to our tour guide on the way proved an ideal romantic gesture.....
The night pressed on and after another drink at one of Jenny´s other hostels, and meeting her other tour guide friend Michelle, we said our fond goodbyes at 1.30am...
Today has brought with it both the Prado and the Reina Sofia museums as well as the Botanical Gardens and a trip to Artocha train station to see their tropical gardens complete with tens of turtles dumped right in the middle of the station! The Reina far outweighs the Prado in my uncultured mind as it was full of colours and shapes pleasing to my bovine eye. It was also FILLED with Dali and Picasso paintings, by far my favourite artists.
Thank God for GCSE Spanish as I almost got thrown out! The gallery operates a no video policy but its fine to take no-flash photos...I plead the innocence of a rogue here as I was guilty playing ´Blue Peter presenter´ in the middle of the gallery when I was first approached on my way round. Opting to take still photos with a camera that looks like a video camera thereafter meant I was the centre of every attendant´s attention and radio call thereafter...good job I remembered enough Spanish not to resort to elaborate charades to prove my following innocence.
Written FROM Valencia: The night also brought with it a surprise or two. We ventured to through Madrid´s night life taking advantage of every promoter´s free drink offers as we went by. Before long we found ourselves in the centre of a whopping mass of (sexy) Irish on tour, on a bar crawl and became honorary Irish for the night...I guess luck of the Irish is a true phrase here as I found I got on VERY well with a blonde, blue eyed Irish girl called ´Deidra´ on the way round.
Unfortunately, hitting too many sangrias means getting between bars and clubs eventually becomes too much of a task and Phil and I found ourselves talking pleasantly with some tourists NOT on the tour between the penultimate and final venue and headed the wrong way. An exchanged telephone number earlier in the night MAY mean we´ll find each other in Barcelona, but I doubt it as I´m sure Phil´s taken too many digits......
PS: The video blog will have to wait until my return. There´s no easy way to upload footage, and there´s no programs (including open source) to edit with en route. But it will be epic and up VERY quickly post my travels.
No comments:
Post a Comment