Yesterday, I left Portugal. This was a little bit sad, as I loved Sintra, and I loved the Portugese language, although I can only say thank you. (Obrigado). It sounds like a combination of Spanish and Italian, and has a bit of a Romantic Sound.
I never really fell in love with Lisbon, though. It has a lot of great attributes, as a great system of old streetcars, and a beautiful setting on a river that opens up to the ocean, but the people never seemed overly friendly. It may also have to do hotel I stayed in, which wasn't great. I had a nice time there, and I certainly don't regret going there, but I was ready to leave.
So yesterday, I took the one hour flight on Easy Jet to Madrid. First of all, the Madrid airport is huge-taxiing around after landing must have taken the same amount of time as the flight. Upon getting my bag and taking a long walk to the Metro-I went downtown and found the hostel I rather easily. (for a change-many times I walk around in circles, looking confused). A older fella pointed the street out to me on a map in the metro station. This hostel is ok-I am sharing a room with 7 others, but there is a locker for my valuables, so I don't have to keep everything on my bed. Also the a/c isn't working-which can be a problem considering it was 90 degrees when the plane landed, but there are fans everywhere. And asked about laundry service-they have a washing machine-but no dryer. So for about 6 Euros or so they will wash your clothes, and leave them on hangers to dry.
After checking in, I realized I don't know where I am, or where I was going-I stopped at a Chipolte-like place for dinner, and figured I would inquire back at the hostel about a way to integrate myself into the culture of the town-yes another pub crawl (In the hostel-there we're fliers everywhere)
I took the long walk to a meeting point in Plaza Major-I real happening place-there we're thousands of people around, folks selling things, acrobats-it was pretty cool. Then the pub crawl started-I met the others-just 3 other guys-two Indidan guys who we're here for work, and one Argentian guy. Nice guys, and one of the Indian guys even bought a round of drinks for the group. But it was only guys-and we went to the bars, which we're ok, but not much different then clubs back home (I think-I don't go to that many). But they didn't look different on the inside, and the music was the same-Pitbull and Taylor Swift sound pretty much the same in Spain as they do at home. Three main differences-(1) The bartenders aren't used to accepting tips it seems. As part of the pubcrawl, a round of free drinks was offered-I gave the bartender 1 Euro-she didn't seem to know what to do with it (2) They give away some free stuff-I got a free shot and a free shot glass.(3) As at home, Spanish is the main language, but here it is much slower (4) Even blonds/fair-skinned people speak Spanish.
I left early, I had a few drinks, but singing Shake It Off with three guys got old quick. (But I did enjoy a few drinks/shots). I also had enough glasses of water so I am ok today.
So about 1:45 am I walked back to the hotel-after eating some Rice at a Pakisani place so I could use the bathroom (there have been numerous Pakastani places in just about every city I have been to). Nobody offered me drugs here-It was just the usual big-city stuff of guys with flyers to strip clubs-and hookers offering their services. Oh yes-I found a use for the shot glass- I can use it to rinse after brushing my teeth.
