Arrival - 16 July
We had decided to stop by Madrid for a few days on our journey to South America, due to flight arrangements etc. And we actually managed to arrive there on time, with no fuss at all.
Sadly the hostel we were supposed to go didn´t do bookings over phone and was already full when we arrived so we went for a walk and found another one for 30€/night. After getting our luggage stowed at the hotel we went for some tapas and vino tinto in a small corner bar and took a walk around the town. For dinner we were too knackered to eat a multi course meal and did the cultural act of the year and enjoyed the chow in local McD.
Too much Goya, Velazquez etc. culture isn´t fun - 17 July
Today started with a nice walk along the sunny boulevards of Madrid admiring the architecture as we were on our way to Museo De Prado which houses the biggest collection of paintings and sculptures in Spain. On the way there we stopped by a local cafe for some tortilla espanol for breakfast.
The museum was quite nice, but in the end the repetitive themes of the paintings got boring, well atleast we can say that we were there. I must admit that atleast I learned some too, the difference between works from such artists as Goya and Velazquez compared to Rembrant is simply huge, the attention to detail Rembrant paid is amazing.
In the evening we had a walk about the barrios of Lavapies and La Latina, enjoying the atmosphere and the beer, for dinner we had a buffet of local dishes, hint for other visitors, avoid anything touristy if you really wanna enjoy yourself.
Last day in Madrid... ...Almost - 18 July
We were lucky enough that the family running our hostel was nice and they agreed to hold our luggage after check-out so we could wander around the city unhindered.
I think we walked about 7 hours, stopping for lunch by a funky place called FAST GOOD, which offered a selection of traditional fast foods cooked in a healthy way, like hamburgers with whole wheat buns, ofcourse with a bottle of good wine.
The heat wasn´t nice 34 degrees celcius, I was sweating in places I can´t mention in public, I guess we downed 10 liters of water during the 3 days each and some beer too.
