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Published: June 15th 2008
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I had two days left in Sevilla before moving onto the capital of Spain. Since food is so cheap in the south, I ate like a king. In fact, if one showed up, I think he would have been comfortable. This two week long feasting meant that I had alot of food left over, and so my last two days were filled with experimentating and creating new dishes from lentils, couscous, auburgine, asparagus, tomato and (vegos look away) chorizo. About three frying pans full of my concoctions were consumed by my housemates and (mainly) me in that short period of time.
On the morning of May 14th, I woke at eight am. That my not sound early, but after getting used to the Spanish way, it was. With my bags packed I walked to Plaza De Armas bus station where I got the bus to Madrid. I wasn't expecting much in the way of comfort for 12€, but was pleasantly suprised when a luxury coach rolled up bearing the sign 'Madrid'. Once I had to go to the toilet on board however, I was instantly reminded that I had only paid as much as I did. I'll leave that up to
your imagination, just in case any of dedicated readers are presently eating.
Once I arrived in Madrid I tried to work out where exactly I was, and how to get where I wanted to go. Only with the aid of three seperate maps was I able to deduce that information. Down to the metro I went, where got a train to Alsonso Martinez. I know he sounds very Spanish, and probably is, but the Alonso Martinez I acquainted myself with was just a metro station. Two blocks away from there lived Nick, an English teacher, guitarist and my couch surfing host for my stay in Madrid. He had class that night, so I went for a walk into the bustling city centre, and the geographical centre of Spain. Coming from Sevilla, Madrid was a bit full on as I quite enjoyed the peaceful and laid back life of the south. That night Nick and I went out for tapas, and were joined by a few other Britons and a Scot. Again, no idea what their names are! After a 5€ pint at Anytown, Europe (Irish pub), we headed home. The next morning I wanted to visit the Sofia, but being
a public holiday in Madrid, it was closed. The Prado hoever was open, and I spent a good four hours there, where there was also a Goya exhibition.
Nick being the music fan that he is, had heard a rumor of a street name AC/DC somewhere near Madrid. After a bit of googling we located it and set course for the suburbs of Leganes. Since we technically were no longer in Madrid, shops were open and life went on as normal, which meant one thing; kebab. That was just the sustanacne we needed when we found out that we got off the train one stop too early, and so had to walk about 2km to the general area of Calle AC/DC. We knew it was near the bullring, but that was it. Nick eventually spotted it and we did the obligotory air guitar photos beneath it.
Public holiday also meant no classes, so that night the whole town was out, or so it seemed. The main square had live opera, which we took in for a while, and then headed for a street party elsewhere in the city. The weather was perfect and so people were spilling out of bars
onto the nearly packed streets. There we met some of Nick's friends. We got drinks from the nearest bar which was serving through the window to party goers on the footpath, and went for a wander, unfortunatley into the heart of the sleazy Spaniard territory. Luckily they were drunk enough to be confuesd by a flight of stairs, and so were of no bother after they realised they couldn't get near either of Nick's (female) friends without at least braeking a leg in the processs. It stated to rain so we hailed a taxi with no real destinatino in mind, and ended up at a rock club. Of all possible artists, Christina Aguleria was eminating from the midgeet sized speakers. That was short lived, and service soon returned to normal. Sometime around twilight we made a move, and started the 25min walk back to Nick's joint. After literally some hours of sleep, I was up and packing as I had a flight to Marseille to catch. It is not adios Espana, is it hasta luego.
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