I started from the Hostel (obviously) and then walked west to the Prado, where I turned north (I didn't go into the Prado, I just walked by it - I went in it on Friday) and walked along the Paseo del Prado, where I basked in the sun and basically loved everything haha. It was such a beautiful day (it was a little colder than I expected, but that's ok, because I saw the SUN!) I need to put a map up.. that way you can follow along haha... Anyways, walked along the Paseo del Prado and saw this beautiful building. I'm not actually sure what it is... my map says the "Palacio de communicaciones" so I'm assuming its the Palace of communication? lol that makes sense to me anyways. In the pics its the big white building that looks pretty and has a spanish flag on top and I should probably go and label it... sorry for the tangents in this post - I'm really tired, but I want to get all this down before I forget it! so it could end up being a novel... lol :) so back to Madrid: I walked along the Paseo del Prado until I got to Plaza de Cibeles, which is where the pretty building is, and also a really cool fountain. There was also a building that said "Casa de America" so I took pictures of that too, because it said America ;) From there I turned west and walked along Gran Via, which is one of the main streets in Madrid and had TONS of shops and sales and it was truly dangerous because if I couldn't fit anymore in my backpack to go home... but I managed to control myself (even when they had cute boots! boots are apparently my downfall...) and walked along Gran Via until I got to Plaza de Espana and that was cool. It was just a little park within the city and it had a big fountain. From there I went a little north to the Templo Debod, which was awesome! It this old Egyptian temple that Egypt gave to Spain because Spain helped save another old Egyptian temple. Or something liek that. but its so cool, it has legit Egyptian hieroglyphs from 200 BC and you can walk in and walk all around it and look at them. It's incredible how well preserved it is. Its also situated in a beautiful park with great views of Madrid. check out the pics :)
From there I walked back south to Jardines Sabatini. It was really pretty there too, right by Palacio Real. and there were dogs... I miss dogs so much.. they were playing in the park and were all cute and I wanted to kidnap them. But I didn't. I just took pictures of them instead. Then it was just a quick walk over to Palacio Real, where apparently, the king doesn't actually live. But oh well, its huge and awesome and really cool with a bunch of little alcove type things in front of it with statues and benches and fountains, etc. Basically attached to Palacio Real is the Catedral Nuesta Senora de la Almudena. It's a beautiful cathedral and its relatively new. I think it was built in the 1800s. And you can tell its new because its lighter inside, the walls are all white, and the stained glass windows are different. It was really interesting, because the style of architecture is more gothic (I think), but the strained glass windows are more contemporary and abstract. I actually didn't like it was much as the older churches I've been in. I think it just felt less authentic. I'm not saying I didn't like it, because was gorgeous and amazing, but it just didn't astound me as much as other cathedrals did, because it's newer I suppose. Also, they basically forced you to donate money upon entrance, which irked me. I think you should be free to visit churches for free everywhere. (Although, Spain is in a huge recession so I guess I can see why they'd want to suck the tourists dry). There's lots of pics of the cathedral also. Hmm. What did I do after that... Oh I went up to the dome! That was really cool, the cathedral has a museum and as part of it, you can go up to the dome and take pictures of the city! Madrid is a very red city... like lots of red roofs. I'm not sure why though. Oh well, moving on. then I walked down Calle de Mayor to Plaza de Mayor, where I sat in the sun (amazing!) and people watched. There was a fat spiderman smoking. Some kind of rocking clam thing and I'm assuming there was a person inside it. A guy with his face painted that was kneeling so it looked like his face was sitting on a table. Like there was a table with a hole for his neck and his head was resting on the table and then there were two other actual masks right next to him and he would jump out at people. I met up with David in PLaza Mayor and we walked around more (I must've walked like 7 miles on Thursday). We went to the mercardo, where they have different booth type things selling different kinds of things: fish, other fish, traditional, wine, beer, chocolate, pastries, fresh fruits and veggies, fresh meat, etc. It was pretty neat. We didn't eat anything, but it was cool to look at. We also walked around Retiro park, which is a HUGE park with a glass castle inside! The glass castle houses "art" as in, weird layouts of household objects with string attached to them. it was different... not my idea of art, but I guess everyone is different... then we walked back through Plaza de Cibeles and back down Gran Via towards my hostel and got a cup of coffee (cafe con leche is my love in spain). From there I got my things and headed to meet Olivia so I could stay at her house. I got to her house, set up my stuff and hung out with her for a little bit. Then I had dinner with her family and they were so nice! We had Spanish tortilla, which is like an omelette with egg, cheese and potato - it was good, and bread and tomatoes and flan for dessert. Then Olivia took a nap and I chilled and then we went out to a bar. I had my first mojito and it was pretty good! Although, the Madrid nightlife is definitely not my scene... they go out till 6 am and then seep till 2 pm. I can't do that... lol. Also, I hated how forward the men where. They would just come up to me and touch me or grab at my scarf or whisper creepy things in my ear. I've never been hit on so many times in an hour, but I wouldn't want to go through that again. It was just creepy.
So then Friday we slept late (obviously, because we were out till 6 am) then Olivia had class so I went to the Prado. The Prado was really cool! I really liked walking through there and looking at the different styles of painting different painters had. Like the difference between Spanish and Flemish. I didn't like the Flemish painters that much actually... I'm not sure why, I just didn't like them as much as the Spanish painters. I really liked Goya and Vasquez. However, I did not enjoy El Greco's paintings. I think he must've been the original Emo. All of his paintings were dark and grim and the people had long (literally) faces with dark shadows under their eyes. Everyone was tall and thin, it was like he took a normal person and stretched them length wise. Maybe I'm just too happy to enjoy or appreciate them. Whatever it was, they were too desolate and hopeless looking with too many malnourished people. But anyways, I made it through most of the 1st floor of the Prado before I got "museum-ed-out" (usually happens in about 2-3 hours for me) so then I went and got a cup of coffee and a pastry and read my book in the cafe for a bit. I really like doing that - just getting a cup of coffee and reading my book or journalling. but so then Olivia said she was going home so I left the Prado. As I was leaving, though, there was this really pretty church right next to the exit of the museum, so I went and took a look. It was a really pretty, little church. My map says its the Iglesia de San Jeronimo del Real. So I went in and took pictures, I think I might've liked it better than the cathedral actually. Then I met Olivia back at her house and I don't think we did anything... we had dinner with her family again (meatballs - I felt bad not eating them :( ) and then basically passed out.
Saturday we woke up early to go to Toledo. I actually wasn't supposed to go, I think, but I just kind of tagged along (it was a BC trip and I'm a BC student so its fine, right? lol) Toledo was really cool. It's the city where Muslims, Jews and Christians all lived at one point or another, sometimes in peace, sometimes one group was prosecuted by another. Now I think the Christians are the majority. We visited the Cathedral, which was really impressive, but again, I didn't like it as much as the French cathedrals I've visited because it was so ornate it was almost ostentatious. I wish I could show you, but I wasn't allowed to take pictures :( But I'll try to describe parts of it. It was built where a mosque used to be (the Christians razed the mosque and built the cathedral - that was not during a time of peace lol) and the cathedral is huge! It gorgeous inside, but in the middle, there are 2 squares that are sectioned off by a high fence (if you look on the floor plan, its number 7 and 8) and 8 is where the Alter is, while 7 is where the choir sit. Also, the other pictures are known as the "Transparente" which I'm assuming has to do with the transformation of the bread and wine to the body and blood of Christ. Which is cool, but it was too oppulent for me, I love awe-inspiring churches (and this definitely fits the bill there) but it was just too ornate for me to think about God. I was distracted by all the unnecessary pomp and decorations. But, that's just my opinion.
floor plan of the cathedral:
picture of the hole in the roof:
picture of inner sculptures:
After the cathedral, we got lunch (Olivia's madre (= host mom) made us lunch! it was really nice of her!) and got some souvenirs and postcards, etc (I got a really cute pair of earrings). Then we went back to the cathedral and from there
went to a few other places: we looked at a painting of El Greco (and I wandered off and explored the church it was housed in). We saw a synagogue, another small church, and the monastery of the cathedral. It was kind of funny, because the outting was run by two teachers at the Madrid university, so everything was in Spanish and I could only pick up on random words. But it was neat just seeing Toledo, I probably would've never gone if I hadn't tagged along to that trip. Oh and Toledo is apparently known for marzipan (not sure why...) so we got some of that - it was pretty good! Although, it was heavy. But that makes sense since its made out of exactly three ingredients: sugar, almonds and water. And I'm pretty sure the main ingredient is the sugar lol.
So then we finished the tour and got back on the bus to go back to Madrid. Olivia and I decided to go to this bar called El Tigre for dinner (if you order a drink they give you a free plate of tapas) but it was sooo crowded, so we wandered around and went to another place and got tapas and Sangria. They were both realllyyy good! Sangria is a dangerous drink too, because its so sweet and you have no idea how much they put in it haha. But that was fun, then we wandered around a little bit and saw some crazy outfits - it was Carnivale! So there were lots of cross dressers, lots of medieval outfits and lots of other random costumes... a different place... but really interesting! Then we went home.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday coming... eventually...
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