Madrid

At the end of February it was the holiday of my town here. This meant that I had a long weekend, both Monday and Tuesday off. I decided to use this time to go to Madrid and explore the Spanish capital. Despite my leaving everything planning-wise till the last minute, I managed to get flights at a time and price that weren’t too bad.

Saturday

I flew out of Barcelona on Saturday morning and arrived at my accommodation at about 1PM. I was staying at an apartment that I found on airbnb. The host was pretty cool, and he showed me around the kitchen because I wanted to make some food for myself so I wouldn’t have to spend so much in the city.

By the time I’d made my food and left for the city it was about 4. I didn’t do too much on the first day, just visited a park and walked around a bit. In the evening I googled English speaking groups and went to one of those so I spent the night speaking English and Spanish, and meeting new people. One thing I’ve noticed about being overseas is that sometimes you’ll meet someone who looks or acts exactly like someone you know at home. That happened to me at the speaking group. I met an old Spanish guy who looks exactly like my Dziadek in Australia and I think that was awesome.

Sunday

On Sunday I got up quite late. I walked around the city a bit and went to an art gallery type thing.

Next I went to a naval museum which was really cool. I took a few photos so I’ll upload them when I figure out how but they’re mostly of swords and guns and stuff so don’t hold your breath.

Sunday night I went to see an Atletico de Madrid game. They were playing Villareal who are currently 4th on the ladder so I was hoping for a good game but as I’ve since been informed by my host brother, Atletico aren’t really an attacking team. The game ended a 0-0 draw and it wasn’t the greatest game, but it was cool to be there and the Atletico fans have a reputation for being super fanatics which is true from what I saw.

I got lost for almost 2 hours on the metro on the way home. I caught a train that wasn’t on my metro map somehow and had no idea where I was. I met a Bolivian guy who was high as a kite on some kind of hallucinogen.

Monday

On Monday I decided to traverse the western side of the city. This included the Plaza de España, an Egyptian temple, the royal palace and a few churches. The Plaza was good and I sat there for a while because the weather was nice. Next I walked to the temple but it was closed. Then I went to the Royal palace which was also closed. After seeing some of the churches I sat down and read for a bit and then went to find something to eat. After eating I went home because I was leaving the next day and wanted to see the Royal palace and the temple before I left.

Tuesday

I got up and packed my stuff. My host had helped me find a baggage checking place in the city so I wouldn’t have to go back to the house before leaving. Unfortunately it took me forever to find it and I wasted so much time going there and back it would have been easier to just go back to the house.

So I went to the palace and saw that and then to the temple again but it was closed again. Then I went to get my bags and get to the airport but for some reason the station where my bags were was poorly connected to the airport so it took ages to get there and I got to the airport later than I would have liked.

I got to Barcelona at about 8 and got home at around midnight.