We arrived in Madrid on Thursday afternoon after a gruelling 16 hour journey from Paris. We arrived in a small town called Irun on the border of France and Spain, however we had no idea which side! Irun didn´t make our map but we managed to buy some breakfast and hop onto the right train towards Madrid.
We spent our first two nights in Los Amigos Hostel in the Opera area of central Madrid. Our initial thoughts on Madrid weren´t that great. Most of the city is under construction and nearly every road ripped up. It makes it hard because the streets are congested and Puerto Del Sol, the supposed heart of Madrid, is full of dodgy loiterers and a strong police presence. Not quite what we were lead to believe before our arrival.
Los Amigos was nice and clean and we shared a six bed dorm with a couple of cool Aussies and Germans. There´s a big festival on tonight called La Noche en Blanco (the white night) and all of the shops, bars, museums etc. are open all night. It has created havoc for all the travelers finding accommodation. We have been lucky to find Hostal Luz, just around the corner, and for only 2 euros more each (a total of 18 euros each) we have a double room in a pretty nice place.
Yesterday we went to the Prado Museum which was ok, but not that impressive after going to the Louvre in Paris. In the afternoon we went for a stroll through El Retiro park and had lunch. It was bloody huge and the nicest we´ve seen of Madrid so far.
We´re still planning on getting out of Madrid and going to a small city called Toledo for a day or a night. Unfortunately the slack hostels haven´t gotten back to us in over two days now so we haven´t managed to book accommodation. We´ll see what happens.
Also on the cards is a trip to see Real Madrid play in the Champions League on Tuesday night, depending on the price of the tickets. A Flamenco show whilst in Spain is also a must.
The weather hasn´t been as hot as it was last week on the forecast we checked. How typical. It´s still in the mid 20s (celsius), compared to the mid 30s like we were expecting. Hopefully it´ll get better.
Unfortunately we don´t have the facility to upload photos in this Hostel, but if we get the chance elsewhere we will slap some on for your viewing pleasure!
Over & Out.
Dale & Sheryl.
1 comment:
If you do make your way to Toledo and get a chance to stop off at some of the smaller villages, try some of the food/tapas-normally very cheap in their local bars.
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