Madread

---

By the way, check back on previous entries for pictures when I get them developed. If they'll put them on CD instead of prints, I'll add them to the right blog.

We had a great time in Barcelona. The hostel, despite the initial boar encounter, was great, set in what I think was a wildlife reserve on the edge of the city. It was a three-building compound on the top of the hill in the woods. They served olive loaf sandwiches and warm milk for breakfast, which I wasn't expecting, but we could buy a huge hot Spanish meal for €6 in the afternoon.

The old Gothic part of Barcelona is beautiful. It boasts a couple very old cathedrals. One, the Cathedral of St. Mary was built in the 1300s and is still in use today. They were saying Mass when we wandered in. There are also twists and runs of old medieval alleys with shops and restaurants throughout the area. We also walked down Las Ramblas, a wide street that is the main shopping area in the city. A broad sidewalk runs through through the middle of the road where people set up kiosks, many of which sold animals. Birds, chinchillas, mice, turtles, you name it and a wagon was selling it. Street performers in makeup or with puppets also danced and played next to the wagons.

Las Ramblas ends at the sea at a huge ornate statue of Christopher Columbus... facing east. Admittedly you couldn't have a statue of Columbus facing west over the sea in Barcelona -- and there aren't large enough cities in the west of Spain to put such a statue in -- but it was a little odd he wasn't looking toward the discovery that prompted people to immortalize him. Our guess is he is looking across the Mediterranean Sea toward his native Italy.

When I first moved to Boston almost five years ago, I went to Provincetown for an afternoon. In one of the shops, I found a little red jade travel Buddha. I'm not particularly religious or supersitious, but I thought since I like to travel, he'd be good to have. He was an obvious candidate to come on this trip with me. Well, Monday, as we were planning to hop a train for Pamplona, the famous town of bullfights and the running of the bulls through the streets, I realized I couldn't find the Buddha, who Jay named Pacman the Sackman because of the large sack he has slung over his back.

We missed our 1230 train, though, and changed our plans, deciding to head to Madrid instead, and got there by about 8 pm. Since we didn't have a hostel booked there, we followed a couple Canadians to their place, called Cats Hostel, to see if there was room. There wasn't, but the clerk sent us to another nearby associated with Cats called Mad Hostel. We checked in there, and went back to Cats to meet the Canadians for a couple drinks.

After a few hours out, Jay and I got separated accidentally. While he was on his way back to Mad Hostel, a couple Spanish guys came up behind him. One put him in a sleeper hold while the other went through his pockets. He lost his passport, his iPod and €100. Another man came up to him while he was getting up, took him to the police station and gave him €20. The police couldn't help much, though.

At the same time, I was going back to Mad with a group of people. Not looking up the street very well, I stepped out in front of a taxi cab that was stopping at an intersection. He clipped me on the left shin. The injury wasn't bad, just a bruise and a fairly large goose egg.

Not a good night, hence Madread.

So Tuesday we searched around for the American Embassy so Jay could get a replacement passport. It was about 2 by the time we found it, though, and, in classic Spanish fashion, it had closed at 1. We went back to Mad Hostel to nurse our wounds and wait the night. Wednesday morning, we got up early, had some breakfast in the hostel and caught the metro back to the embassy. Security wasn't bad, we left our bags there and went to the main waiting room. Surprisingly, it only took about 90 minutes -- and $100! -- to get a new passport. It's temporary -- only good for a year -- but he can get a perminant one for free when we get home.

After that ordeal, it was decided to beat it the hell out of Madrid as soon as possible. We had dinner in a Middle Eastern place near the hostel and stayed in for the night. We looked for trains to Lisbon, but could only find one overnight train we thought we'd have to pay extra for. So we settled on a longer route through Salamanca to Lisbon.

In the morning we checked out and went to the train station for a 145 train to Salamanca. We got here at about 4 and checked out the city a bit. There was an international fair going on near the station, and first thing we did was to look for a new Buddha. We found the only travel Buddha in the two dozen or so stalls. We definitely need this trip back on track.

So we're in the station waiting for a 5 am train to Lisbon. There's an all night cafe we can have coffee until it leaves, then sleep on the way through Portugal.

---