Madrid & Valencia

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Hola!

Coming to you live from Barcelona. This week has been hectic and insane, but heaps of fun.

My last blog was in Granada. So I took the train from Granada on the 9th to Madrid. The train took 4 hours. I was up again at 6.00am, and by the time I got to Madrid I had devolped a nasty headache. I think it was half because I was exhausted and half because I probably hadnt drunk enough water in the hot weather. Either way I wasnt feeling the best. Once I got off the train, I couldnt be bothered to navigate the public transport so I took a taxi to my hostel. Lucky I did because I probably wouldnt have found it in a hurry, The sign and building was covered in scaffolding. The hostel itself was in a great location, everything in Madrid was in walking distance. I was in a 10 bed mixed dorm. The room was clean, but there was a few negative aspects to the hostel. One was the bathrooms. They were female only but there was limited privacy. Two there were no powerpoints in the room. You had to go and sit in the bar to charge anything, which was a bit annoying as my ipod, phone and camera all needed charging. And three there was limited wifi. But overall not a bad hostel!

After I had checked into my dorm, I went and found somewhere for lunch. I didnt really know what there was to see in Madrid, or where anything was, so I took a tourist bus around the city. There were two lines, one that went to modern Madrid and the other historic madrid. It was a great way to see everything and work out which parts I wanted to go back to. The bus took us past the Real Madrid football stadium which was cool.

I walked to the Plaza Mayor for tea, which was only 15 mins from the hostel. Was a great and lively plaza and I had fun people watching whilst I was eating.

Went back to the hostel hoping for an early night, but then had to spend 3 hours charging everything so didnt make it to bed before midnight.

I actually had a really good nights sleep which was fantastisçc, and woke up feeling heaps better. By the time I was up and ready I had missed breakfast, so I walked for about an hour to the Placaio Real (Royal Palace) and had breakfast there. Before i came to Madrid, I wasnt even aware there was a Royal family!! I spent the next 2 and a half hours wondering through the 50 rooms of the Palace. The Palace is only used for Royal ceremonies these days. It is pretty impressive. Interesting fact: Throughout the 50 rooms that I visited there was 215 clocks on display, and 5 violins still used for concerts and balls. You can also view the armoury whcih has the armour used for the Kings and Princes (plus horses) in the 17 and 18 century. I had heaps of fun there.

After the palace I attempted to go shopping. That was short lived! I found two shopping centres to visit and both were rubbish.

Gave up on that idea and walked down to the Museo Del Prado, which is apparently one of the worlds top museums. There are more than 7000 paintings held in the museum with only half currently on display. Up until now I had not been into an Art Museum the whole time I had been away. Thought I should atleast see one.

The building itself was completed in 1785 and served as a cavalry barracks for Napoleon. I actually spent 2 hours in there, before getting overwhelmed with history and information for one day. Had a quick tea and came back to the hostel. Absolutely buggered after a day of walking and history.

Had a terrible nights sleep, the girl on the bunk above me was sick the whole night, so kept jumping down and running to the toilets and then jumped back up.

I spent the morning in Madrid, and went to Parque Del Buen Retiro ( a park!) and stayed there for over 3 hours. The park itself was massive, and in the middle was a lake which you could hire boats on. I sat on the grass area at the lake and read my book. It was great.

Took the 3.40pm AVE fast train to Valencia. Arrived at 5.30pm. The hostel was in the old section of town. If Im being honest Valencia was a bit of a let down. It has nothing on Madrid (which I loved) or Barcelona (where I am now). Most tourist attractions are not in walking distance, and the city didnt have the same Vibe as the rest of Spain. I took the bus to the beach, which took half an hour, and walked around there for an hour or so. Had a really nice meal and had an early night.

Everyone in my dorm checked out in the morning (12.5) so I had the room to myslef which was fantastic. I was staying in a 4 bed female room. There was no bunk beds which was fantastic. Left the hostel at 11am and walked to the Oceanografic. Now Valencia did have two things going for it, the beach and the Arts and Science buildings including the Oceanografic. It took about 2 hours to walk there, mainly because I took a wrong turn somewhere along the way!

The Oceanografic is like seaworld but without the rides. I had so much fun. It has a number of different aquariums, with one having a tunnel that was 70 meters long. It had a polar zone, a dolphinarium, a red sea aquarium and a mdeiterranean seascape4. Spent the whole day there. Went to a dolphin show which was great, apart from the fact I cant understand Spanish so the commentary was pretty useless.

When I got back to my room 2 Aussie girls had checked in. They were going on the Hosteks organized pub crawel and wanted me to go with them - which I did. Had a great time, it cost 10 euros, which included drinks in every pub, plus entry into the night club. The drinks outside this deal only cost 2 euros. Didnt get back to the hostel until 4.30am!

Yesterday (13.5) was a non-event. Lets just say I was a little hungover....well now thats a lie I had a massive hangover! After finally getting out of bed and showering at 1pm, I took the bus back to the beach. I could even be bothered drying my hair of putting makeup on so I looked attractive! I spent the rest of the afternoon lying on the beach listening to music, it was a great way to fill my day.

On the way back to the hostel, I had to buy myself another suitcase. I brought a small carry on case, because my backpack had become so heavy it was actually painful to lift. So after repacking my bag and filling my suitcase I went down to the common area to relax. ended up talking to some other people staying at the hostel and didnt get to bed until 12am.

Because of exhaustion I stupidly set my alarm for an hour earlier than I wanted!! I was up and ready to leave the hostel in half an hour. Was going to hang around th hostel for a bit, but decided to make my way to the train station. It was a 20 min walk from the hostel (thankgod I had brought the suitcase). Got to the train station and was sitting around waiting, when I suddenly realised I was at the wrong station!!! There was no need to panic as I still had an hour and half before my train arrived. So I jumped on the shuttle bus and finally made it to the right station with an hour to go. So yeah I was then happy I had set my alarm wrong.

I took the train from Valencia to Barcelona, which took 3 hours. I arrived at Barcelona at 2pm. I took the metro from the station to my hostel. The hostel is alright, not the worst but not the best. Im in a 6 bed mixed dorm, and I have a top bunk which I hate! This hostel I didnt realise dowçesnt include breakfast, so thats just another meal I have to pay for now.

Barcelona is massive. first impression is.....I love it! I took a hop onhop off bus around the city to get an idea on what I actually want to see. Its a little colder today, so I only lasted half the tour on the top level of the bus outside in the wind. I gave up half way through the ride and went downstairs. Worst idea, once I got warm again I feel asleep!!! didnt wake up till I was back at the beginning.

Oh well the ticket is for tomorrow as well, so I will jump back on in the morning. There is so much I want to see and do here, and its a little overwhelming. I have written myself a little list of 7 things I really want to see in Barcelona.

Will be getting up early tomorrow to start working through my list. I wont tell you know what is on the list, cause that will ruin future blogs.

I have 3 nights at this hostel, and then I am going down the coast for two nights. I am actually staying in hotel (first one for this whole trip), just so I can have a room and bathroom to myself for a little bit. Then I am back to Barcelona for one night., before I fly to Portugal to meet my Uncle and his family.

I will fill you in on what I got up to in Barcelona before I head to Portugal. Right now I am thinking sleep is in order. Hope you all had a fantastic weekend.

Write soon. B

p.s. just spent the last half hour trying to upload photos and nothing happened so I give up 😊

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