Madrid, Toledo and Segovia
Day 10
Madrid, the capital city of Spain, apparently 3.4 million people live in the centre of the city alone!
I arrived via train and found it relatively easy to get to my pre-booked hostel - Las Musas Residence in Tirso de Molina. The Metro here reminds me of the Matrix with rolling blue symbols down a large screen wall. I think it must be fairly new as the carts are roomy and really clean.
Once bedded and showered, and now with no idea of where to go, I manage to find a few architectural buildings such as 'Puerto del Sol', 'Plaza Mayor' and 'De La Villa', before stumbling across the beautiful 'Palacio Real' (a mahooosive palace).
Spain is going through some changes at the moment, and the streets are filled with protesters, tents and their signs all over the place. I think there is another election coming up.
In order to meet a few new people, I head along to the flamenco night that my hostel is organising. There are about 15 of us going, and we fit comfortably in this random underground bar.
Flamenco dancing is gorgeous, the dancer was immaculate and controlled the band perfectly. It consists of a singer (a girl with an amazingly husky voice), guitarist, flute player and the dancer.
That nights sleep was possibly one of the worst nights sleep in a hostel ever. I was not a happy girl. At around 12 I start to get into bed, my bed being the top of a swaying bunk, which starts to make me nauseas, and at 2 a.m people are still coming back making the loudest noises, flicking on lights, spraying perfume and heading out again? They also think that packing their bags is a good idea at 2.30am. Disrespectful or what!
Day 11
One of the reasons I came to Madrid is to go to Toledo, a small city about 50mins south west of Madrid.
I managed to find 4 friends at last nights Flamenco, that were all keen to check it out.
Tom and Dave from USA, and Kasia and Basia from Canada.
Conversation flowed as we all got to know each other on the tube ride to our bus stop.
Toledo is lovely, a fortress surrounds the old city that holds many intertwining streets. A Spanish-Moorish monument, the 10th century Mosque called 'Mezquita Cristo De La Luz' was our first stop. It is famous for the legend it holds: 'When King Alfonso IV entered Toledo in triumph after the reconquest, the horse kneeled down before the mosque and refused to move, as an act of worship to the Christ that was behind a partition in the wall, lit by a lamp'. Apparently the lamp had been lit for many, many a year.
Right smack bang in the centre is high Gothic cathedral built back in 1226.So we check that out for a bit.
We then make a pit stop for some lemon beer and Spanish omelette. You could spend days in Toledo, its really pretty, the streets go on forever.
Toledo is famous for its metal works, all the swords and metal wear used on Lord of the Rings was made here.
Day 12
So a nice early rise of 7.30am, seems to be common here. Way better sleep last night, only 1 girl snoring and I managed to shut her up after 'coughing' my arse off! Ha I got her!!
I was stood up by the girl I met last night, she was from London and was 'soooo keen' to go on a day trip that she didn't turn up. So I left her sorry ass behind, and went to find the tubes myself. Eventually, after being told the wrong stop, I did find the right bus, and then the bus was over sold and 2 older ladies had to get off which caused so much commotion I thought I was about to get robbed again!
I didn't check the weather forecast before leaving, as I thought every day in Madrid was perfect and way too hot to even move. I was wrong. When the bus pulled up in Segovia, it was pissing down.
I was only wearing shorts, teeshirt, and jandels (or for those in England – Flip flops). It's a higher altitude in Segovia too, and was actually quite chilly.
I randomly met some Americans in the same situation, well the lady was, and we ended up buying 2 ponchos to wear around while sightseeing. They invited me to join them, and me being the lonely sod who was stood up earlier, accepted! They were really lovely people, in Madrid for business, their jobs something to do with aero-dynamics? Claire was pretty much unimpressed with Madrid, she was also pick pocketed but they took her whole bag. Luckily she got her passports and credit cards back, but lost out on a lot of cash and some diamond earrings worth a fortune.
Anyway, we carried on through the town, John leading the way as he had been there previously. This group I was tagging along with were all in the 40's and 50's, and had some interesting stories and different perspectives on things. I was keen to chill out and listen in.
The Viaduct kind of appears from nowhere, it is so beautifully made, and is why I decided to make the hour long trip out there. Worth it, and the rain that came with it!
It is from Roman times, and leads quite the distance through the town.
We walked up to the top, and along the walls of the city.
We were all craving food now, and even after seeing the dead piglet bodies in the restaurant windows (its a delicacy and is well known to eat piglet in Segovia) we take a seat in a small restaurant.
Claire tells me about this weird diet she’s on, it takes forever as is everything she says. She is a classic American lady, very loud. We both order a chicken salad which is so good and I eat mine and half of hers!
Walking through the skinny streets we make our way to the 'Alcazar' castle (from the 13th and 14th centuries), where we buy tickets to see the castle and the tower. It's really raining now and annoying the hell out of me and my poncho.
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