Madrid

Standing in front of the Bear of Madrid

Madrid is a lovely city.  It's got a small and intimate feeling, which is nice for a capital city.  Everything is in easy walking distance from everything else, so unlike places like Paris, it's not necessary to jump on the metro every time you want to see the next sight.  I really only got to see Madrid for one day, but one day was quite enough to get a feel for the city. 

Fleur and I started our day in Alcala, where her University was. We took the bus to the metro station, and the train in to the city.  Like the buses in Ibiza, this one had to be flagged down.  Apparently hitting curbs and things are all part of the normal bus ride adventures, too.  And Fleur said that one day she walked out of her dorm and discovered (after waiting for quite some time) that her normal bus stop had been taken off of the scheduled route, and from then on she would have to catch the bus from a different location.  Too bad nobody was informed of this except for the bus drivers.  Oh Spain.

In addition to the exciting bus drive, we were assaulted by a crazy lady in the train station, trying to sell us a weed (rather aggressively, too) by claiming that it was some herb from her garden.  I've encountered beggars before, but this lady was much more persistent and crazy than most.  We managed to dodge her as quickly as possible, and boarded the train for our 45 minute journey into the city.  Unfortunately, the trip in isn't scenic at all - all of the views are of industrial junk, with the occasional poppy growing out of a junkyard.  Not quite the stunning mountain views that Fleur had on her journey from Bischofshofen into Salzburg each time! 

We arrived in Madrid and immediately popped into a tourist shop for a crappy umbrella, since I'd forgotten mine and it started to rain the second we got off the train.  Our next stop was a Starbucks for some breakfast and a warm drink, and for a little taste of home.  Then we were off, on a whirlwind tour of Madrid.  Mostly we walked from sight to sight, stopping for pictures or for a brief jaunt through the markets.  Everything was normal and fun until we stopped in the garden by the palace.  There we made our way to the very back to try and get the nice view of the city without paying for the palace entry fee.  The park was fairly empty except for this guy walking his dog.  All of a sudden we turn around and notice that he's unbuttoning his pants, so naturally we look away, expecting that he has to pee.  Then we discover that he's unzipped his jacket and has nothing on underneath - not only that, but he's taken OFF his pants completely.  A little strange, we think, but nothing compared to the fact that the next time we look he has started masturbating in the park, stark naked, pants around his ankles, staring straight at us as he's doing it.  Needless to say, Fleur and I bolted, laughing uncontrollably (as we do) because, well, what else is there to do in a situation like that??

The rest of the day was less eventful.  More sightseeing, a little shopping (hello, Sephora!) and a lot of walking.  Eventually we made our way to Retiro Park, the central park of Madrid.  The sky cleared, the sun came out, and we took some very good advice and rented a rowboat for an hour, which provided more laughter and entertainment (as documented by the pictures below).  Finally, we ended the day with another fabulous meal of tapas/ Spanish fusion (thanks to more of Shannon's great advice) and a promise to have more adventures like these in the future....though perhaps without the naked man in the park.

Fleur!

I found this amusing in the center of Puerta del Sol

Madrid

Fleur in the market

 

 

The palace

Our sneaky peek through the palace gates

Cathedral.  I like Salzburg's better

View of the palace over the garden

Flowers in the rain

The two of us after seeing the unmentionable thing in the garden

The offender, letting people pet his dog. Gross.

Mmmm, home of delicious liquid chocolate and churros

My chocolate and churros

Poor knockoff of the Arc de Triomphe. Okay, not actually a knockoff. but still, in comparison it's a little lame.

...but I still wanted to have a picture with it.

Fleur and I stared at these for about 10 seconds before deciding to take some advice I was given and grab a boat for ourselves.

The park.

Fleur and I had a lot of fun on the rowboats

The macaroons really added to the rowing experience

Fleur tried to be all proper for her rowing picture, but ended up rowing so aggressively that she launched herself out of her seat.

The result of Fleur's aggressive rowing

 

Pretending like nothing happened

More aggressive rowing

   

 

More of the park

The center of Madrid after the sun came out

Wouldn't be a Keri/Fleur adventure without sampling a little of the regional wine.  Fleur's a) French and b) the granddaughter of a vineyard-owner, so I'd say that wine appreciation is in her blood.

Cool building in Alcala.  I took this picture on the way to the train station.

End of Ibiza

Photo courtesy of Fleur

 After our gorgeous beach day in Ibiza the weather turned cold.  Well, not that cold, but too cold for sitting on a breezy beach.  Instead, Fleur and I took the bus to the far side of the island (again) to see Ibiza town.  Apparently it's a UNESCO world heritage site, just like Salzburg, so I was excited to see what it had to offer.  Though it was gorgeous, I'm a little sad to say that the clubbing atmosphere kind of overshadowed the culture of it all.  There would be gorgeous old parts of the town that, upon closer examination, housed night clubs.  Still, Ibiza town is like nowhere I've ever been before.  There is a fortress (much like Salzburg's) that overlooks the city's red tile roofs and whitewashed houses.  It reminded me of a mixture of Mexico/the American Southwest and Santorini.  

Fleur and I had to take the local bus to get to the other side of the island.  In Ibiza (and Spain in general?) you have to flag down the bus, otherwise it will drive away without you.  And once you're on the bus it is highly likely that you will miss your stop.  Thank goodness our stop was the last one on the line, otherwise we would have just ridden around forever and not known where to get off.  But we figured it out just fine.  We wandered the lower part of the city, for a while, then hiked up to the fortress at the top after a very Spanish lunch of pizza.  When the weather turned cold and drizzly, Fleur and I walked back down to the lower part of the city and explored the shop-lined streets until we found a cozy place to sit outside under a heat lamp and enjoy a pitcher of sangria. 

Fisherman statue that reminded me of the one in Gloucester

Ibiza harbor

Fleur really likes the ocean

Ibiza streets

Waiting for our pizza lunch

The gate to the fortress

        

View on the way up to the fortress

Fleur, enjoying the ocean view

View of the city from the fortress

Cannon!

Old city walls

Fleur and I played on a playground like little kids for a significant amount of time on our way down from the fortress

Enjoying our sangria

 

Our last day dawned bright and beautiful.  Too bad we had to spend it traveling back to Madrid. 

Boats on the beach at Sant Antonio's port

Admittedly not Ibiza.  Fleur and I got back to Alcala (just outside of Madrid, where she was studying) and stumbled upon a Good Friday procession, complete with people carrying this kind of thing.  Lots of these had my-size-barbie-type figures of the Virgin Mary.  And people wore purple pointed hood/masks and long robes.  Google 'Good Friday Spain' to see why I felt a little uncomfortable.