What a shock! No need to put toilet paper in a bin rather than down the toilet (or hole), really decent coffee, room service with nice towels (and we were in a hostel too!), nightlife and it didn’t get dark until after 2230. Euans Mum and Sister came across from England to meet us and it was so lovely to see them. We had three days in Madrid and but unfortunately these were not without incident. Katrina had her wallet nicked from her bag in a store and we got caught out (eating a meal al fresco) by very violent thunder storm that moved in so quickly.
Half the diners scampered without paying and the rain was so heavy it was coming through the umbrellas (which were pretty crap anyway). The thunder was like nothing I’ve ever heard before and when it was right above us, it was frighteningly loud and went on for hours and hours.
We did quite a bit of walking around the City so saw a lot of the sights and also did a lot talking, eating and drinking. The food is so different to what we’ve been eating over the past few months but tapas is a great way to eat and the coffee was very very good.
We came across this living wall that looked like a mural from a distance. The plants on it were quite mature and seemed to be held there by pockets of felt that was very very damp. The weight must have been immense but the effect was brilliant. Katrina and Euan are standing at the bottom of it.
We also visited the Palace (which seemed so new and sparkling after the Middle East), the Prado and Thyssen art galleries. The galleries were amazing and I was stoked that we saw the famous Salvador Dali painting with the wasp flying round a pomegranate with the elephants with the long long spindly legs and tigers jumping out of the mouth of a fish. A brilliant painting with a very very long title and I didn’t know it was there. The Prado was also hosting a Goya exhibition so we had a look but I far preferred the many massive Rubens that were on display. Its well worth spending a few hours there if you like art and are in Madrid.
We made the most of the time in one place and stocked up on various bits and pieces. I replaced all my ruined shirts, repacked the packs, got rid of some stuff that we hadn’t used (my pack was 3.5kg lighter as a result) and stashed away the goodies that Margaret had brought us from England – we were so lucky to be able to look at our mail, sort out tax forms etc and even luckier to be able to hand over items that we didn't need and have them taken back to England.
I have to be honest and say that we weren’t sorry to leave Madrid but we were very sorry to say goodbye to Margaret and Katrina. We might all look happy and while we were really looking forward to our trip through Africa, Euan and I weren’t that happy to be saying goodbye.
Half the diners scampered without paying and the rain was so heavy it was coming through the umbrellas (which were pretty crap anyway). The thunder was like nothing I’ve ever heard before and when it was right above us, it was frighteningly loud and went on for hours and hours.
We did quite a bit of walking around the City so saw a lot of the sights and also did a lot talking, eating and drinking. The food is so different to what we’ve been eating over the past few months but tapas is a great way to eat and the coffee was very very good.
We came across this living wall that looked like a mural from a distance. The plants on it were quite mature and seemed to be held there by pockets of felt that was very very damp. The weight must have been immense but the effect was brilliant. Katrina and Euan are standing at the bottom of it.
We also visited the Palace (which seemed so new and sparkling after the Middle East), the Prado and Thyssen art galleries. The galleries were amazing and I was stoked that we saw the famous Salvador Dali painting with the wasp flying round a pomegranate with the elephants with the long long spindly legs and tigers jumping out of the mouth of a fish. A brilliant painting with a very very long title and I didn’t know it was there. The Prado was also hosting a Goya exhibition so we had a look but I far preferred the many massive Rubens that were on display. Its well worth spending a few hours there if you like art and are in Madrid.
We made the most of the time in one place and stocked up on various bits and pieces. I replaced all my ruined shirts, repacked the packs, got rid of some stuff that we hadn’t used (my pack was 3.5kg lighter as a result) and stashed away the goodies that Margaret had brought us from England – we were so lucky to be able to look at our mail, sort out tax forms etc and even luckier to be able to hand over items that we didn't need and have them taken back to England.
I have to be honest and say that we weren’t sorry to leave Madrid but we were very sorry to say goodbye to Margaret and Katrina. We might all look happy and while we were really looking forward to our trip through Africa, Euan and I weren’t that happy to be saying goodbye.
1 comment:
Very interested to read about your time in Madrid, and did enjoy the photos of Euan's family. We went to Madrid almost 2 years ago and saw some of the places you visited Loved the art gallery,but didn't see the living wall, which looked amazing.
Margaret.
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