Today, the 3rd, was yet another travel day for me, but by now I have become quite adept with these, and so I was ready to get a move on. I would be entering the hispanophone world today, and I would not be leaving it again until I touched down in the US, so I was busy mentally preparing myself for this new reality. Although I have taken many years of instruction in Spanish, I was still a little apprehensive, especially given the notoriously lispful accent I would be encountering in Madrid.
I woke up a bit early, got my bags completely packed, took a shower, and headed downstairs to check out. Having handed in my room key, I spent the next 20 minutes on the internet (I wasn't going to let my internet card from the night before go to waste). I then walked to Cornavin, with both my bags on my back. I took a bus from there to the Geneva International Airport, which was a free trip thanks to the complimentary transport card which all guests in Geneva are given upon their arrival. This made Geneva just the second city in my travels, after Melbourne, in which transportation was free. At the airport I went through Easy Jet's hoops to check in, first getting my uniquely shaped boarding pass at an automated machine, then checking my bag in for the flight after waiting in a very long line. Why the two couldn't be joined into one process is beyond me. After checking in and passing through security I got some lunch and used the last of my Swiss Francs to buy some Swiss chocolate (which happened to be out of this world tasty, by the way). I then walked to the very end of the airport to find my terminal and gate, in a strange circular building in the same vein as one of the terminals at JFK International Airport in New York City.
Eventually the plane came around and we all boarded. EasyJet being a discount service, there was nothing remarkable to report about the two hour flight to Madrid, except that some of the initial flying and the landing led me to believe that we were under the control of a pilot in training. It was all just a tad too wobbly for my tastes, but I've already admitted to being a somewhat nervous flyer. Once we did touch down in the Spanish capital and I collected my bag from the carousel, I followed the signs to the Aeropuerto Metro station. I took the Metro through three station line changes and about 20 stations before getting off at Anton Martin, at which point I realized that that was where the directions given to me by the hostel stopped. I asked some locals and was soon on my way regardless. I checked into the place, La Posada de Huertas, and had a walk around the neighborhood, which was very old Spain in its appearance.
Once I was all settled in, I went downstairs to the internet lounge. I spent half an hour on the computer checking my emails and corresponding with a few people. Then I walked back out to the local plaza, which was very nice, with restaurants, bars, and cafes flanking it, and a small park in the center for the children to play in. I took my walk in the late afternoon, and even though the sun was in its descent I could still feel the heat of a Madrid summer bearing down on me. It was nothing like India, but it was still quite a bit hotter than the Alps had been. When I got back to the hostel I went out on a tapas tour that they had organized. The tour was very cool and we walked to three nearby tapas bars which each had a different style. The first place was a tapas bar representative of Andalucia, while the second was from Asturias, and the third was more Madrid oriented in its menu. I had some excellent food, including some crazy good murcilla, or blood sausage. After the tour I returned to the hostel and passed out.
Since I was in Madrid on a layover (I was leaving for Peru tomorrow, but I had decided, due to how the flights worked out, that it would be best to arrive a day early) I had no real work to do and so I decided to take Wednesday off to tour around the capital. I had previously been in Spain, but that was in Barcelona, which is very much in Catalonia and not really as Spanish as Madrid. I woke up around 830 in the morning, a little tired from my late night last night (Spaniards eat late, and so my tapas tour had been from 9 'til 11:30) but still eager to begin today's explorations. After walking downstairs and observing that the complimentary breakfast was only complimentary because it was inedible, I walked outside and made my way down the Calle de las Huertas to the Paseo del Prado, a main thoroughfare of Madrid, especially for fans of art. I walked first to the Reina Sofia Museum, but it was closed until later in the day, so I walked elsewhere. My wanderings took me to the Prado Museum, one of the largest and greatest art museums in the world. The Prado is much like the Louvre, in that it has artwork from a similar period of time and has a collection too vast to be visited on one trip. I did my best, however, and really enjoyed some of what I found, including The Garden of Earthly Delights and numerous works by Goya, de la Vasquez, and el Greco. Something political that I found to be interesting was that El Prado is full of Spanish art, but also with Flemish work. I pondered over this for some time until I realized that the Netherlands and Spain were one Kingdom at the time.
After the Prado I went to the Royal Palace, which was opulent from the outside. Unfortunately, I did not get the opportunity to go inside because the line was too long. I took some time exploring the area (and having a calamari sandwich for lunch). I visited the Royal Cathedral, which was grand in scale, but lacked any of the distinguishing features of the cathedrals of Europe's most important cities. After that I went over to the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, home to the Real Madrid Football Club. Before I got there I quickly stopped by the Temple of Debod, which is an Egyptian temple that was rescued from the flooding of the Anwar High Dam and moved to Madrid, where it sits incongruously atop a hill. I then took a self guided tour of the stadium, gazing upon their hundreds of trophies and getting to walk into the locker room and onto the field. It was a cool tour, but my heart will always be with Barcelona when it comes to Spanish soccer. I just couldn't bring myself to cheer for the team that was representative of Franco's Spain. After the stadium I took a bus back to the Prado, where I walked to the Reina Sofia. There I saw a much more modern collection of artwork than I had in the Prado. I saw works by Dali, Picasso, and many others. Of course, chief among these, and the main draw of the museum, was Guernica by Pablo Picasso. It was a stirring tribute to the pain and suffering brought about by war. After the museum I went out and had some tapas for dinner, then packed up in the hostel for my travel tomorrow.
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