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Published: December 19th 2008
Calle Gran Via
This is the main artery running through Madrid. A view from my hostelI have decided that I will post a blog of each section of my journey (that is each new city) and categorize them as "chapters" I feel as though this will give a certain structure to the blogging. This way i can also simply write one as soon as im done with a city and not have to think about keeping up to date. Any other post will be supplementary. Also, i should not that my entries will lack necessary coherence or organization and will mainly consist of stream of conscience... enjoy getting lost
Chapter 1 - Mucho Madrid & Hella Jamon
(the following has been written retroactively and combines present and past descriptions)
My trip has officialy begun. After an extravagantly long voyage (1 car ride, 2 bustrips, 2 flights, and a metro ride) I find myself in downtown Madrid on calle Gran Via, Madrid´s main thoroughfare. The hostel is aptly name Mucho Madrid and is quite pleasant. It is run by a very simple old spanish couple and is therefore amazingly clean as they live there as well. Sort of a hostel bed and breakfast in a way.
This city of Madrid does a good job
Tapas y Cava
little Spanish tapas and the Spanish version of champagne called "cava" living up to its title as capital of Spain. It is adorned with old architecture and has more plazas than an american city has starbucks (although sadly enough it does have a buttload of starbucks.. haha) The plazas are very cool and each pays tribute to some old king or other significant figure. They make for a very open plan of the city and do a nice job of breaking up the verticality of the city that is reminiscent of New York although not nearly as tall obviously.
The culture and general feel here is pretty damn cool. One can really notice how much more laid back the city is relative to any american city where the hustle and bustle can at times be overwhelming. At this point Im out to prove my current generalization that, "Europeans live a much more pleasure oriented lifestyle where family and friends truly come first and foremost. People seem to go out every night and although i was initially admonished to watch out for the burglars, I have never seen an American city in which a couple of over 50 would be walking around casually at3am. This definitely has alot to do with
Carneceria
Jamon, Jamon, y mas Jamon. Jamon everywhere. Theres one of these on every block. This is deserved as the sliced meats from these places are absolutely amazing. their schedule though, as they don't start their dinners until around 10pm and an early night is calling it at 2am.
This brings me to the food. The three days in Madrid i subsisted purely off of Jamon and bread. I'm surprised that the Spanish decided to switch to the Euro as their currency of choice as opposed to possibly units of jamon. I can imagine a traveler trading in his dollar bills for slices of Jamon Iberico (Iberico denotes a pig fed with acorns) only to head to the nearest tourist shop to swap the slices for a postcard or a tshirt. I guess that wouldnt be very hygienic... I can also imagine their streets paved not in cobblestones, but rather in blocks of cured jamon. That would make for a gentle ride i imagine, but surely has its own problems.... Keeping on the topic of Jamon I am a. Let's finish by saying that i wake up here every morning thankful that I wasn't a pig born in Spain. What a horrible fate... i guess the only cool part is that your severed leg that has been cured for a year gets to hang for some odd
Disturbing Jamon Photo
This girl clearly wanted a pony for christmas... instead she got a cured pig leg. Only the Spanish would subject their children to such butchery and call it a present months above the heads of some of the most beautiful women in the world in a tapas bar. Local hooligans even tag "JAMON" as graffiti. Maybe its like a gang of cold hard killer spanish metrosexuals with fauxhawks or something.... Im just playing on a stereotype there... there style is actually pretty interesting.
Back to the culture. I am amazed about how alive the streets are and how social/gregarious the people are here. I almost dont believe that TVs exist as no one seems to be inside after 10pm. There are numerous cervezerias around Madrid. The funny part is that apparently calling yourself a "beerhouse" doesnt mean you have to offer more than one beer. On my first night, I randomly walked into a cervezeria only to check it out, only to have the waiter talk me into sitting down and grabbing a beer. I guess i folded to the fact that i had no idea what he was saying and so just obliged to follow him. He poured me the spanish budweiser Mahou, and I pounded the poor thing. it wasnt very good. I was then talked into eating tapas, which i enjoyed, and i eventually ordered another
beer which turned out to be free. I thought the waiter was trying to get a tip out of me so i gave him a extra fatty tip. Ironically i found out the next day from some fellow hostelers that you dont keave tips in spain.... well there goes about 5 meals of generous charity..
What is really amazing to me is how unpicky the people here are and how content they are with so little choice and such homogeniety. not only was the beer selection bad, but i feel like there is the same jamoneria (actually a carneceria but they really only have jamon) and similar cervezeria on every block. whatever though, as everyone is happy and they are incredibly romantic. Everywhere i go, people are making out. From what the bros tell me, spanish women are difficult to conquer and so many of the couples date for a long time. also hear that they live with their parents until they are about 30 so the streets, parks, and tapas bars seem to be the best place for them to "get their freakon." I'd like to make a sweeping generalization about the contents of the typical night of
Royal Palace
This is the Roya Palace of Spain. It has 2,800 rooms and a magnificent gardens. Yet it is almost never used, save diplomatic purposes and royal weddings. It looks pretty damn amazing tho. a spaniard. 1. Go out to tapas bar with friends and significant other. 2. purchase a series of tapas, a glass or two of red wine, and smoke numerous cigarettes. 3. make out quite passionately with significant other 4. continue to laugh and joke with friends and significant other. 5. move the party to the street 6. take your signifacnt other to the local park for some late night "cuddling"
Lastly, i wanted to describe the metro, my jogging idea, and my night out with the boys. The metro is amazing and very clean. It really puts the New York subway to shame in terms of both innovation and cleanliness. As for jogging, i have brought along some spandex, some shorts, some long-sleeve under armour, and was sure to make sure i could go running in my main pair of walking shoes (a Troy late evening run proved they were just fine). I want to maintain some level of exercise while I'm out here, and more importantly, I see it as a way to explore the city in a different way. My first run through Madrid took me through the Retiro which is the equivalent of central park. It
Leon
Lion looking Epic was quite nice. Lastly, I met a cool guy named Dave from New York city in my hostel room, and him and I went out on my last night with two friends i made on the airplane ride over. These two friends were both local Spaniards who knew the local terrain well. To make a long story short, we enjoyed a sampler platter of none other than jamon, ordered many cervezas, and somehow made it home from an overpriced Irish pub at about 4 in the morning.
brief Chronolgy of what i actually did
Dec 14th - arrived in the afternoon in a sleepless-flight blur and took a nap until 6pm. woke up with enough time to run over to the Prado museum before it closed at 8pm. Afterwards i explored the Paseo de Prado, hit up a tapas bar while ordering the spanish equivalent of champagne called "Cava" and had my first jamon encounter. went to a cervezeria for a bit, walked through town, and headed home for the night.
Dec 15th - Woke up at 2pm (i suck at being a hyper efficient go gettter traveler) hit some internet, and went on my run through
Angel
dont even know where this is the retiro. when i got back, i went out with Dave to meet up with Sergio and his friend at which point the jamon and cerveza began. 4 am sleepy
Dec 16th - 10 am wakey. quick breakfast and then a walk around the Royal Palace as I hadn't seen it during the day yet. I was lucky enough to make it for a royal procession of some sort as my pictures describe. After this i grabbed my pack and headed for Caixa Forum to see Patrick LeBlanc's living green wall. Next to Reina Sofia to see Picasso and other modern art but turns out its closed on tuesdays. SWEET!! Train to Sevilla at 4pm.
More on Sevilla later mis amigos.
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