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August 06, 2006
Madrid
The Bearded Guy Incident
No it wasn't a Frenchman, but an Italian. This was guy who didn't want the air-con because 24 celcius was 'winter in Italy'. I had never seen him not in our dorm room and everytime I saw him he was either reading the metro map, the guidebook or just sitting in the bunk bed. He kept a losing argument where it was 35 outside and 25 inside and it made people sick. None of us bought it. At night I left the argument to the 2 dutchmen and go to bed. They tried to shield his bunk bed with blanket so he stopped complaining about how cold it was. Giving up, he stood up for a good 30 minutes looking at the air-con before declaring that he was going to change room.
The Hostel
The hostel (International Hostel Posada de Huerta) is not too shabby. My dorm room was rather big and the bunk beds are good, personal lockers are provided and they have air-con. The kitchen is larger than most kitchen that I've seen. However the showers and toilet are atrociously small. The breakfast is OK but I hate it when they don't top up the food, meaning you have to come early otherwise they only thing that you get is coffee.
The Crew
I met two really nice and fun Dutch guys on their mid-term college break. We pretty much hang out together and had a good time. On the second day we recruited an Australian girl, from Sydney, St. George to be exact. The world is getting smaller.
Cooked bolognaise and salad for two nights in a row. The second night the food was infinitely better as we learned more about the ingredients and we had a girl to properly make the salad. These crew made the Madrid stay much better than I expected. One of my best experience of hostelling my way around Europe is to meet these people.
Reina Sofia
On the first full day in Madrid we went to Reina Sofia in the Morning. They had a big Picasso exhibition celebrating 25 years the return of Guernica to Spain. The two Dutchmen apparently big fans of Picasso. I love this museum, and I like this kind type of arts better than the classical arts they have in El Prado. It was not too dissimilar with Paris' Louvre and Musee d'Orsay. While Louvre was impressive, I prefer the paintings in Musee d'Orsay.
Palacio Real
After a quick lunch we wandered through the Madrid to make our way to Palacio Real, Spanish monarchs old residence. It was impressive, but then I always like to visit palaces. While we were in one of the room, a tour in English was currently running. We then walked at the same pace with the tour. The Royal Armory is not to be missed, they have an impressive collection of ornately designed swords, armour and shields that don't like they've ever used in battles before.
Across the palace is Madrid's cathedral.Unlike the other cathedral that I've seen in France and Spain it's fairly new and it shows. Didn't do it for me and I wasn't impressed at all.
Toledo
We started a bit late the next day and after a few discussion we decided to go to Toledo. Toledo is an bus ride away from Madrid at a mere EUR4.25. Lonely Planet makes Toledo a must visit place in Spain. Description and photos in the books are very impressive. Yeah ... I don't think so. Toledo is definitely overrated.
It's medieval town alright, with little alleys and it is quiet pretty, but definitely not live up to expectations. Not to mention that it's very touristy. The Alcazar is still closed for renovation, you have to pay EUR6 to go to cathedral, EUR2 for some unknown church, and almost every other place of interest you have to pay a fee, albeit quiet small.
Fortunately for Toledo they do have a good free museum, I think it's called Museo de Santa Cruz. It's a bit funny where they insist of giving us tickets although the museum is free. Actually we went to another church-turned-into-museum where they give us ticket for the free entry. A bit inefficient if their main purpose is to do head count.
Museo del Prado
You can't visit Madrid without paying a visit to del Prado, Supposedly Madrid's answer to The Louvre, this museum do have a very good collection of mostly Spanish classical paintings. As I went through the thousands painting, I learned a lot about a few big names in arts.
Going through Europe and visiting the art galleries, as another traveller pointed out, is like having a crash course in arts.
We were still a bit tired from last night wines and decided to have a quick siesta inside a quiet corner in the museum. I think it's funny.
Last Words on Madrid
It is surprisingly a nice city. I wasn't going to go to Madrid because a lot of people said it's not much, and so maybe I don't have a big expectation in it. However when I got there I was pleasantly surprised at how down to earth the city is. In fact I think it's cleaner and friendlier than Barcelona. Perhaps the fact that the city is fairly new helps.
Posted by vhadiant at August 6, 2006 11:50 PM
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