So, having waited until 10:30 PM on last Thursday evening (the 24th) to find and confirm my travel arrangements to Madrid, it was a pleasant surprise to receive a text from “Carlos” from BlaBlaCar saying he did, in fact, have a space in his car going to Madrid in the morning. He and his girlfriend even picked me up at my apartment. What nice people. You may be wondering what BlaBlaCar is. To this I respond: BlaBlaCar is a website where people driving from one city to another in Europe post the number of seats available, the time of departure, and the price per passenger. Once you make an account, you can message the driver to confirm the place to meet, and away you go. A few of the people I know have used it before, so I wasn’t too nervous. I suppose I lucked out with the car and people driving; they left me about a block away from Miguel’s apartment in Madrid. So in conclusion, I was driven to Madrid on Friday morning by some strangers and arrived that afternoon to rain and clouds and sadness.
Madrid is a beautiful city even when it is raining. But it was kinda cold and rainy the whole first afternoon. I could not get out of my mind the weather forecast for Barcelona that weekend: high mid 20’s (read: high 70’s) and sunny, i.e. beach weather. Having been smuggled into Miguel’s room successfully (the administration of his residency is not a fan of overnight guests) I followed Miguel around Madrid at a brisk pace. With my raincoat. And hat. And gloves. We hit a lot of the big sites. The plazas. His favorite places to eat. Photos to follow. After walking around and being a tourist for a bunch of hours, Miguel and I reunited with some other BC friends, including Alex and Lorena, for dinner at a cozy little place. After dinner we snuck back into Miguel’s residency to change before going out to Kapital, the coolest club I have ever been to. This is not exactly the greatest of compliments, seeing as clubs aren’t my most favorite things in the world. But Kapital… wow. It has seven different floors, each with different types of music, as well as a big central dance floor on the first floor. Highlight of the night was a 50+ year-old dude’s saxophone cameo, for sure. Before we got home, I got a burrito at a Tex-Mex place that Miguel (who is part Mexican and from Texas) approved of. Approval is high praise, indeed. It was yummy.
Saturday we slept in a little late (~2:00 PM) and walked towards Sol, one of the main plazas in Madrid. On the way, we found a random Andalucían restaurant. I had some delicious garlic chicken and Miguel had this small fish dish that was amazing. Let’s see. What happened after this. Hmm. Oh! El clásico. Of course. The Barcelona – Real Madrid game. Biggest game in Spain. The advertisements in Spanish (and Catalan) roughly translates to “The battle between the greatest players in the galaxy is played on earth”. There is no direct translation of “galacticos”, which is a term coined by the Real Madrid fans of the early 2000’s to describe their players – the best in the galaxy – which included David Beckham, Ronaldo, Zidane, Raul, Figo, Roberto Carlos, etc. Miguel and I went to the official Madrid bar, run by La Marca, a newspaper. Each big team has their own newspaper, and the really big ones have their own semi-specific bars. It was a great game (sometimes the big games do not entertain) although Miguel would tell you otherwise. He loves Real, and they lost 2-1. After the game, we walked around a street with some restaurants which were all doing this special tapa night called "Tapapies" (a play on the streets name, Lavapies). Tapas are little dishes that aren’t meals, but aren’t exactly appetizers. At this point, we had been joined by Lorena, Susan, Paige, a guy from Germany, and three Dutch girls. The first three girls left early, and we continued on into the night with witty banter and yummy tapas.
We arose the next morning (Sunday the 27th, now) earlier than we expected, and more rested as well. We then remembered that it was Europe’s “fall back” – we got an extra hour of sleep thanks to daylight saving. So, around 11:00 AM Miguel and I headed out to the enormous open-air flea market, “El Rastro” to meet up with Lorena, Susan, and Paige (who left earlier last night in order to arrive earlier to this market in the morning, which they did). I bought this:
Believe it.
After getting lunch {I say “lunch”… it was just a plate of croquetas [double parentheticals here: to imagine croquetas, think of mozzarella sticks… but with creamy delicious meat mixtures inside] and a Fanta (triple parentheticals I LOVE FANTA)} Miguel, another German friend, and I all went to the train station to buy my ticket home. I planned on taking the overnight train. Unfortunately we actually had to go to the station, because the power was out in Miguel’s residency, and thus the WiFi as well. We no could buy online. We was sad. So we got to the first station, but the guy said he couldn’t sell me the ticket because the train left from the other station on the north side of Madrid. We were in the south side. Miguel and I took a long subway ride, and our German companion abandoned us in search of food, drink, and any form of sedentary leisure. Having walked around Madrid for three days with Miguel, I was looking forward to some sedentary leisure, too. Miguel is a fast walker. He’d be above average in New York City. So after two hours of walking and subways and train station attendants, I secured my spot on a train back to the beautiful Barcelona. It left at 10:30 PM and arrived at 7:00 AM – my first class on Monday was at 11:00 AM, so no worries there.
We headed off to get food, because Miguel had not eaten all day. He was grumpy. We watched the second half of the Chelsea – Manchester City game and got some food. I just got croquetas (so. darn. addicting.) and the usual Fanta. My penultimate activity in Madrid was a trip to Café Gijón for an overpriced cup of coffee. It is known as a meeting place for famous Spanish writers in the past. In the present, too, for all I know. My ultimate activity was a walk through Retiro, Madrid’s biggest and bestest central park.
The train was… long. I read some of Lazarillo de Tormes for my lit class, and then passed out and got some uncomfortable sleep.
Carlos III in Puerta del Sol, or just Sol, as it is colloquially known. This plaza is home to Km 0, the spot from which distances were measured along major roads. Oh, and it's not actually Carlos III; it's a statue.
Government building from the tour around town on Saturday. It was nice and sunny out.
Spanish equivalent of the White House, I think.
Can't forget about our friends in the Spanish Communist party, marching down the street to Sol. That one guy's face looks funny.
Main street of El Rastro, the flea market. I was taller than 98.45% of the people there (most of the 1.55% were tourists like me, actually) so I could see for days from the top of the street, which was on a slope.
A smaller side street selling mostly antiques.
Beleza.
=The Following Week=
Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain
The sky here randomly bursts into color when the sun starts to set. It's usually a blend of pink and purple clouds surrounded by sunlight. Sometimes the change in color happens in about 15 seconds - it really grabs your attention. It's like putting on a pair of mildly color-tinted sunglasses. Or maybe even like one of the many instagram filters I know nothing about.
Wow.
More Barcelona skies. This is my walk to class at the international business school. This is also why I take my iPhone everywhere in the afternoons... photos.
A frenchman and a disco dude, for Halloween. Yes, they celebrate Halloween here. Although the public opinion polls suggested I say "love guru" instead. I love my white pants (but don't worry, I don't get unhealthily attached to material things).
At the Barcelona derby match in Camp Nou, just a few hours ago.
FC Barcelona vs. RCD Espanyol.
Força Barça, Visca Barça!
Field of dreams
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