A walk in Madrid

Europe » Spain
November 6th 2005

Published: January 17th 2006

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skye820

Mystic in Madrid

My ever faithful travel companion Mystic busily reads my Madrid travel guides.

Place: Madrid, Spain

Hemingway once described Spain as a masculine country. Its beauty is rugged and warm, enfolding you into its embrace, but only if you allow it. The brief time I spent in Madrid revealed a culture that is similar in values to my own. Somewhere a door unlocked and I let the culture run through me. Madrid essentially is an engaging, sexy city. Walking around on the first day, I found myself synchronizing to the pulse of the city, stepping out of Philadelphia time and into Madrid time.

As appealing as this trip sounded to me, I did not want to wander off to Spain alone. I managed to talk 3 friends into joining me in this adventure. The four of us; Max, Joe, Debbie and myself found ourselves planning a trip to into the unknown. The differences of travel styles between the guys and the girls was stark. The guys didn't care where they slept, as long as they had internet access. I can survive without the internet, but not without an in-room coffeemaker! Max brought along a briefcase filled with snacks - I found a great coffee house a block away from the hotel. Walking

Hold Still!!

The artist at work :) Max really captured a side of my personality with this impromtu picture.

for miles on foot around a city is the norm during my vacations -the guys preferred getting around Madrid on tour buses.

One day that typified our differences had Debbie and I strolling around the palace grounds and soaking in the art at the Reina Sofia, the guys spent that same day looking for an open laundromat. I did manage to convince the guys to check out the Prado, although I'm not sure they cared much for the place. I should feel lucky they did not try to convince me to visit their favorite laundromat!

Our opposing ideas of travel made this trip memorable. Everyone felt comfortable going their own way in order to explore the sights of Madrid that interested them. The hallmark of a good trip!

Additional photos below

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