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amorousodiousWe began the next morning with breakfast courtesy of the hostel. There was toast, butter, strawberry jelly, cornflakes, milk, orange juice, coffee and cola cao (which is like our hot chocolate mix, they put it in milk, coffee and over their cereal). The shower situation was interesting, the showerheads were broken so that the water came out in a little stream and they were the kind that you had to push and then would stay on for about 10 seconds. It reminded me of being back at the Village, where we used to take turns showering with one person holding the shower button down and the other washing and then switching. We headed out around 10am to meet the tour group (it was free! sponsored by our hostel) in the Puente del Sol. We passed through the Plaza Mayor on the way there, which I was able to recognize from my textbooks before we confirmed that it was, in fact the Plaza Mayor from the sign. It was incredible to see something that is so representative of Spain that you've been learning about since Freshman year of high school.
We found the Puente del Sol and met our tour group around the Oso (bear) statue, which is also representative of Madrid. The bear in the statue is eating a fruit from the madroño árbol, which at the time used to be all over Madrid. The fruit actually ferments on the tree, so the bears would eat a bunch of the fruit and then fall asleep beneath the trees, as the story goes. From there we headed over to the west end of the city, passing by a man drawing a replica of Picasso's Guernica painting in chalk (the Guernica is on exhibit in Madrid right now in the Reina Sofía). We saw the teatro real, which was built for Queen Isabel II who could actually see the theatre from her window of the Palacio Real. Isabel was also responsible for the statues of past kings being taken off the roof of the Palacio Real and placed around the courtyard because she had a nightmare one night that they had fallen over onto the Palacio and crushed her.
From there we passed a famous chocolatería that was popular with the theatergoers, and that the lady on the discovery channel had visited. We headed toward the town hall building, heard some interesting stories about how the black plague spread through the lack of sanitary conditions, and the lack of plumbing. We passed by the oldest restaurant in the world, where the last king of Spain, the man responsible for handing his power off to a democracy, Rey Juan Carlos II, likes to make an occasional stop. Apparently he's an extremely humble and popular person, and if you met him on the street and didn't realize who he was, he would just seem like another nice person. We passed next by an old convent, where some nuns who are very good cocineras (chefs) will sell you sweets if you knock on the door and say "Y yo os digo: Pedid, y se os dará; buscad, y hallaréis; llamad, y os será abierto" (Lucas 11:9, or Luke 11:9 for those of you who want to look up the translation).
We were about to stop at a museo de jamón (museum of ham, i know, weird name, but they're all over Madrid) for some refreshment when Alicia realized that she had become the victim of a petty theft. She and I ran around the city, but we couldn't find a bancaja. She called her mom who was able to cancel her credit card and after numerous tries and a half an hour of frustrated phone calls her bank card was also canceled, and her account was declared intact, and on hold until she got back to Valencia. Except for her cash and wallet, the crisis was averted.
We met back up with the group at the puente de neptuno where there's a big fountain of Neptune (the god, not the planet) north of the prado. We headed to a bar called "el Tigre" which the tour guide had told us was a local favorite. It was an amazingly cultural experience, to say the least, we were served tapas, cervezas, and soft drinks in a room absolutely packed with people, most of whom were standing clustered around tables and the bar. We ate patatas bravas, croquetas, pan con jamón y queso, calamari, and paella de mariscos which is a rice and seafood plate with some vegetables as well. Everything was delicious and it was nice to experience the completely non-touristy atmosphere of the place.
After leaving el Tigre we headed toward the Palacio Real, but the tours inside it had closed until the next day so we headed instead to the famous chocolatería and got some chocolate and churros. That was a treat. Just like the lady on the discovery channel did, we could lay our spoons on top of the cups of chocolate, and it was so thick that the spoon just sat on top. We dipped the churros into the chocolate and savored the amazing goodness of Spanish tradition. To add to our cultural experience, we sat at the café for a long time, just chatting and in no particular hurry. We left finally, dwadling back to the hostel, stopping in several stores searching for souveniers, gifts, cheap clothing and whatnot. When we finally did get back we sat around in the room and talked with Paula and the other group of girls (we had split after the end of the tour) to see how their day had went. They had gone to the Palacio, and recomended that we head there the next day. We pondered over where to go for la cena for a long time before heading out to find a place. We ended up at the café y té which is kind of like their version of a caribou or starbuck's except with more food here in Spain. We ate small amounts of food, since most of us were still full from the chocolate, and then headed back to the hostel. A few of the girls went out but most of us went to bed because we wanted to hit the Palacio and Museo de Reina Sofia before we left.
We found the Puente del Sol and met our tour group around the Oso (bear) statue, which is also representative of Madrid. The bear in the statue is eating a fruit from the madroño árbol, which at the time used to be all over Madrid. The fruit actually ferments on the tree, so the bears would eat a bunch of the fruit and then fall asleep beneath the trees, as the story goes. From there we headed over to the west end of the city, passing by a man drawing a replica of Picasso's Guernica painting in chalk (the Guernica is on exhibit in Madrid right now in the Reina Sofía). We saw the teatro real, which was built for Queen Isabel II who could actually see the theatre from her window of the Palacio Real. Isabel was also responsible for the statues of past kings being taken off the roof of the Palacio Real and placed around the courtyard because she had a nightmare one night that they had fallen over onto the Palacio and crushed her.
From there we passed a famous chocolatería that was popular with the theatergoers, and that the lady on the discovery channel had visited. We headed toward the town hall building, heard some interesting stories about how the black plague spread through the lack of sanitary conditions, and the lack of plumbing. We passed by the oldest restaurant in the world, where the last king of Spain, the man responsible for handing his power off to a democracy, Rey Juan Carlos II, likes to make an occasional stop. Apparently he's an extremely humble and popular person, and if you met him on the street and didn't realize who he was, he would just seem like another nice person. We passed next by an old convent, where some nuns who are very good cocineras (chefs) will sell you sweets if you knock on the door and say "Y yo os digo: Pedid, y se os dará; buscad, y hallaréis; llamad, y os será abierto" (Lucas 11:9, or Luke 11:9 for those of you who want to look up the translation).
We were about to stop at a museo de jamón (museum of ham, i know, weird name, but they're all over Madrid) for some refreshment when Alicia realized that she had become the victim of a petty theft. She and I ran around the city, but we couldn't find a bancaja. She called her mom who was able to cancel her credit card and after numerous tries and a half an hour of frustrated phone calls her bank card was also canceled, and her account was declared intact, and on hold until she got back to Valencia. Except for her cash and wallet, the crisis was averted.
We met back up with the group at the puente de neptuno where there's a big fountain of Neptune (the god, not the planet) north of the prado. We headed to a bar called "el Tigre" which the tour guide had told us was a local favorite. It was an amazingly cultural experience, to say the least, we were served tapas, cervezas, and soft drinks in a room absolutely packed with people, most of whom were standing clustered around tables and the bar. We ate patatas bravas, croquetas, pan con jamón y queso, calamari, and paella de mariscos which is a rice and seafood plate with some vegetables as well. Everything was delicious and it was nice to experience the completely non-touristy atmosphere of the place.
After leaving el Tigre we headed toward the Palacio Real, but the tours inside it had closed until the next day so we headed instead to the famous chocolatería and got some chocolate and churros. That was a treat. Just like the lady on the discovery channel did, we could lay our spoons on top of the cups of chocolate, and it was so thick that the spoon just sat on top. We dipped the churros into the chocolate and savored the amazing goodness of Spanish tradition. To add to our cultural experience, we sat at the café for a long time, just chatting and in no particular hurry. We left finally, dwadling back to the hostel, stopping in several stores searching for souveniers, gifts, cheap clothing and whatnot. When we finally did get back we sat around in the room and talked with Paula and the other group of girls (we had split after the end of the tour) to see how their day had went. They had gone to the Palacio, and recomended that we head there the next day. We pondered over where to go for la cena for a long time before heading out to find a place. We ended up at the café y té which is kind of like their version of a caribou or starbuck's except with more food here in Spain. We ate small amounts of food, since most of us were still full from the chocolate, and then headed back to the hostel. A few of the girls went out but most of us went to bed because we wanted to hit the Palacio and Museo de Reina Sofia before we left.
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Guernica
Date: 2008-02-14 11:20 pm (UTC)