| Erin's Madrid Journals 6-14-02 Friday morning was our planned trip to Madrid, our last major city of the trip. We had booked an early train so we'd get into town in time to find lodging, which meant getting up pretty early in Granada. We were up at 6:30, showered and packed and out by 7:15. We went to pay the hotel guy, who had said he'd accept credit cards, but the night watch guy was there and he insisted that they didn't have a card reader and could only take cash! He moved slower than molasses too, and we were anxious to get out of there to get to the train station. Finally he gave us our change and we rushed out and grabbed a cab. I thought it was pretty far to the station when we'd walked there the day before, and didn't want to be worn out first thing in the morning by hefting my pack all that way. Glenn laughed at me and told me I was spoiled, since there won't be cabs in many of the places we go to in the next trip. I don't care - if they're there, why not use them while you can??? What's wrong with not being tired!!! So we got on the train on time, and had a very quiet ride to Madrid. It was about 6 hours, and we talked a bit with the ladies sitting behind us, who were from Sarasota (where Glenn was made). They were fun, and had lots of travel disaster stories to share, so we chatted a little and typed a little and read a little. We arrived in Madrid's Atocha station first, and were meant to go all the way up to Chemartin, but we got off at Atocha instead as it was closer to city center and where we wanted to stay. We promptly found the information booths, one for train info on the way to San Sebastian and Milano - they were useless, and we had a very grumpy lady to deal with who only grudgingly looked up only exactly what we asked her for. So we left, thinking we'd come back and hopefully get someone else next time. Then we went for tourist info, but got a very crappy map there and once again, only the info we directly asked for. We did get a list of low budget hotels though, which was a start. We stopped at a bank of pay phones, and I made the calls to ask for availability and price, as I speak a little more Spanish. We called a few that were full (worrying me), then a few that wanted a credit card number to reserve a spot (no way), and finally a couple of rooms in our price range that were available. We hustled off to one in Plaza de Santa Ana, figuring it would be less noisy than the popular Plaza Mayor. We thought it would be a quick little walk, but hadn't known about the 95+ heat and the uphill incline of the street. I was reduced to a puddle of jello by the time we got to our room and checked in, so we both just dropped the packs and took some time out to cool off. The couple staying in the next room came by, and we got to chatting about Spain (they had just arrived here). The guy knew of a place to get a cheap beer nearby which sounded great to me, so we went off to find those while Glenn relaxed in the room. Then Glenn & I sipped drinks and snacked on chips until almost 7:30pm before finally having the impetus to get up and out. We walked over to Plaza Mayor first, but found a movie theater with original language films on the way. We looked up the start times, and agreed to come back for the 10:40pm show of Infiel (Infidelity). Plaza Mayor was a large square with some very old buildings around it (one dedication was dated 1614), and lots of cafes to choose from. We knew it would be more expensive there, but weren't too starved after our chips and went for a few tapas & some sangria while we sat and people-watched there. Suddenly it was 10:30 and we had to rush off to the theater. We made it just as it was getting started, and enjoyed the movie. It was gut-wrenching but well-acted, I thought. Glenn didn't fall asleep either, so he must have liked it a little too. It got out around 1am, so we walked back and explored the area around our hotel, dismayed at how noisy it was (and it was just getting started!). We saw 3 discos within a half block area of our room, one practically in our basement! I could feel the music as I lay in bed. So we didn't sleep much that night, as the partiers didn't head home till after 5am, and the birds started singing soon after that, right before the construction in the square got going. Oh well, Madrid is known to be an all-nighter town! |
| Erin & Glenn in Madrid's Plaza Mayor |
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