Advertisement
After our first over-night train from Lisbon to Madrid we arrived very tired at 8:30 am in the morning. TWO words for the train ride horrrible and terribble!! first of all trying to sleep in a hard cold old style seat for 10 hours is not ideal and second when the screws kept coming looser and looser from the bottom of the seat - not ideal either espcially when the seat starts to swirl like we were almost on a mini rollercoaster. Also when a train stops every half an hour its impossible to sleep and worst of all the train was full so we were stuck in the rollercoaster seat until we arrived!!!
When we settled into the hostel we recovered a good 5 hours sleep and headed out exploring madird after lunch time. We arrived on a public holiday so everything was closed and there were large tourist groups everywhere. Madrid Square was great and packed with people watching which is my favourite sport to do!! We found a great little pizza joint that kirsty and sam had recomended and had 2 pizzas from there. BEST PIZZA we had ever had and im not just saying that it
generally was. Home made base and truffel sauce with mushrooms was devine and left you wanting more and more.
That evening we went for a lovely walk around the
Buen Retiro Park. The park is entirely surrounded by the present-day city in the middle of Madird which as a lake in the centre where you can row boats. This part is equal with Central park in New York for best parks to visit in the world so far. It was quite busy due to public holiday and there were fathers rowing their kids, young bf and gfs being silly and old people walking at a snail pace enjoying the beautuful trimmed bushes that surrounded the park. It is a little hidden but recomend any one visiting Madrid to check out the park.
The second day we just explored more of the inner city and went to the bull fighting. Now this was not my idea but scotts. I actually had no idea what it consisted of. My idea was 2 bulls fighting with people riding on them and who ever fell off was the looser like mechanical bull riding. Well i was in for a different expereince one
Madrid Ladies who shouted us a cup of coffee
They spoke no english but were soo sweet to us that i dont think ill be seeing again. THESE BULLS DIED!! i was shocked and scott found it entertaining that i had such a different idea of it but i guess i grew up in little old New Zealand....Lets just say i had nightmares the entire night and woke up many times. Main lesson was what other people around the world classify as entertainment. Bull fighting has been going on for centuries and its facinating how its still as popular as it was hundreds of years ago.....
The following day we headed to San Sebastien which wasnt on the intinery but we heard such great things about it we said why not!! So off we went for 3 nights and trained to San Sebastian. Now San Sebastian boasts one of the best in-city beaches in Europe. It is quite unusual feeling that you can sunbathe and swim right next to major historical buildings and churches. Beginner surfers love this place as well. The city is quite small and cozy, featuring many fish restaurants, several beaches, tons of pintxos bars and a choice of designer clothes shops. It was slightly too cold for us to swim in April but we
enjoyed a few beach walks and there were some crazy people taking dips.
Now I loved San Sebastien mainly becasue it was so different to anywhere else. I often thought of Dallas and said she would be right at home here, beautuful beaches, top retaurants, nice cars, wine was cheap and gooooood, designer shops and most of all everyone had a dog. And the babies well they had designer prams and most of them looked like they were dress out of a fashion catalog. Everyone was dressed quite nicely and we could spot other backbackers like ourselves (they tended to wear jandels). Also thought of Bruce (my birth Grandad) and Dad who i knew would love the food here!! Although its all Tapas i knew they both would find enough to fill themselves up on! We stayed in a budget hotel in the middle of San Sebastien, location was great right in the centre of everything we needed. After a relaxing time and eating way too much food we headed to Barcelona.
Next Stop: Barcelona for 3 nights.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.082s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0428s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb