Madrid! Week 1: Saturday and Sunday

Our hostel

Saturday morning we slept in, then walked to the train station and met Jon and Zou to go to Madrid.  It was a high speed train, and got up to 300 km/hr (186 MPH), but when we were looking out the windows it didn't seem like it was going that fast.  It took about 50 minutes to get to Madrid.  From the train station we took the metro to get to our hostel.

Banco de Madrid

Our hostel was very nice, much better than I imagined a hostel to be.  It was just like a hotel except that the rooms had three bunk beds each.  There were two other Spanish speakers in the room with us.  They seemed nice but didn't say much.  The hostel also had a computer lab, a billiards room, and included breakfast in the morning.  To see more pictures than I have, go to the website ajmadrid.es.  All of the other people staying there seemed to be our age.  When we were waiting to check in, another couple there said they were from Vancouver and had been backpacking for the last three months (WOW!)  The people working there were all very nice, gave directions and maps, and also spoke English.

Palacio del Cristal

After checking in at the hostel and leaving some things in the lockers there, we walked down a main street in Madrid that had huge, beautiful buildings until we reached El Parque del Retiro, a massive park that included a lake that people could rent paddle boats on.  In the park, we went in el Palacio de Velásquez and el Palacio del Cristal, which both had art inside.

Next we made our way to El Prado, a world famous art museum that contained the works of Goya, Velásquez, Rembrandt, and many, many more.  It was really exciting to see paintings that I had learned about back home at UNK.

El Palacio Real

Next we walked (and walked, and walked, I calculated we walked 7-10 miles in Madrid) to Puerta del Sol, a famous, super crowded plaza that includes kilometer 0, the point from which all the major roads in Spain originate.  Nearby was La Plaza Mayor, and we found a couple tapas places for supper.

Templo de Debod

After eating, we went to El Palacio Real (the royal palace), and then a park where an Egyptian temple had been reconstructed, called Templo de Debod.  We went back to the hostel to change, and Jon, Bailey, and I went to a nearby club.  We wanted to check out the seven story club, but it was a long way from our hostel and we didn't want to walk that far.  The one we found was really awesome though.  It was kind of small, but the music was good and some people were dancing, so we hung out there.

Sunday morning, after we checked out of the hostel, we took the metro to la Plaza de Toros de las Ventas, where the bullfights are.  We couldn't see a bullfight (and I'm still not sure I'd want to) but we went in the bullfighting museum there.  Afterward, we went back to the train station and returned to Valladolid.

To see more pictures, go to: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3553695803896.2132207.1317690207&type=1&l=6a42a74eb4

Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas