Madrid

I love Madrid. I wasn't sure what to expect, since I had heard mixed things about it... but I was definitely pleasantly surprised. The city was bustling with people and I loved that. It was prettier than I had expected too.

Standing in the very center of España!

We arrived in Madrid in the evening, and hopped on the metro to find our hostel, called Way Hostel. This was my favorite hostel mostly because of the location, the French reception guy, our enormous room (& proximity to the bathroom), and the kitchen where we had our first "homecooked" dinner! First thing we did once we had arrived: grocery shop. I think we went a little nuts (by this time in our trip, we were pretty fruit & veggie deprived). We made a huge stir fry dinner (with too much broccoli, my bad, hehe). We then met our roommate, Dave. He was a weird one. Nice I guess... but did not get the hint at all that we didn't want to hang out with him. In the end, we basically had to tell him we wanted a "girls night out" so he would leave us alone and not tag along. hahaaha, sorry MP for having to be the bearer of bad news.

But we did have a fun girls night out! We walked over to Calle Huertas, only a few blocks from our hostel, which was crackin' at night! Tons of bars and things open late, with recruiters who kept trying to get us to go with them to their respective bars/clubs. We then realized that we were being a bit too close-minded and that, honestly, we didn't want to spend money. So, we gave in, with one catch--we wanted free drinks! This is when we met the funniest guy I think we met all trip: Manuel. I don't think I can accurately describe him here. Should've taken a video. But needless to say, we got free drinks! And met another cute bartender and DJ. Oh Madrid, how you treated us well.

Free sangria! Thats whats up.

The next day was VERY full. We went to the Royal Palace, El Reina Sofia museum, and El Prado museum. We also took our lovely "homemade" sandwiches to the park to have lunch. The park was gorgeous. Filled with runners, bikers, kids, and picnic-ers. The weather was absolutely flawless too. After the Barcelona humidity, and the heat in southern Spain, Madrid was perfect. Felt like bay area weather.

Royal Palace, Reina Sofia & El Prado Museums

We made sure to have a nice last meal in Spain at El Caldero, where we had amazing and legit Paella, and were entertained by 3 older Italian men who kept making funny comments to us, had us take a picture with their paella, and take a shot of that end-of-the-dinner sweet dark thick liquor thing with them. Funny times. And can't forget our waiter who would walk by singing Beautiful Girls by Sean Kingston. LOL.

We went out that night, for our last night in Spain. We returned to Sunset bar and later ended up at Kapital, a big club, with 2 new Chilean friends who we decided to go with on their hostel's pub crawl. Funny and fun night is all I have to say. I love meeting people from different parts of the world. I must go to Chile now! They taught us some Chilean Spanish, which is too inappropriate to write in this blog. hahaha. :)

I can't tell you how sad I was to leave Spain. Leaving Barcelona was one thing, but leaving Spain was... a bit terrifying. I came to be so comfortable there, with the culture, people, way of life. And of course, speaking Spanish! I went from being very capable and comfortable getting around, to being plunked down in France, with absolutely no knowledge of French. Scary. Guess I got a bit spoiled... but a day and a half in Madrid was FAR too short. Definitely on my list of places to return to! <3

Sevilla.

We arrived in Sevilla at the Prado Station after a 4 hour bus ride from Granada. We made our way to our hostel, called The Garden Backpacker hostel, via the bus. Again, I regretfully forgot to take pictures of our hostel. It comes in close second to my favorite hostel though... the staff was amazing--SO friendly. There was a nice kitchen with marble countertops, and a patio outside where you could eat. There was also a garden on the roof, which we foolishly never went to see... We stayed in a room on the second floor with 4 beds (seemed to be all Ikea furniture, even the light!). Our fourth roommate was a korean girl who was not friendly at all. Barely said two words to us the whole time! Then she has the nerve to hog the toaster with a zillion pieces of toast the next day. Rude.

Anyway, we had very little time to spend in Sevilla (about 24 hrs).. So our first day, after dropping our things off at our hostel, we went immediately to the Alcázar palace. But of course, we had to get lunch first, and ended up getting bocadillos from a little store with the nicest woman who owned the place. Seriously, she was the friendliest woman (her mom hung out at the store too, sitting in a little chair by the door)! MP and I spoke to her in Spanish and she made us fresh bocadillos! Needless to say, we returned to get bocadillos the next day before leaving for Madrid :)

The Alcázar was amazing. We followed yet another one of Rick Steve's self-guided tours of the palace (which is still in use as a royal palace!). It was so confusing. We got lost several times but eventually got through it. While I was standing in front of the central courtyard, I thought it looked awfully familiar.. And then I found out why in Rick Steve's book: King Pedro had hired Muslim workers from Granada to "recreate the romance of the Alhambra" in Sevilla's Alcázar! And we were just there the day before! I realized then what an adventurous and fast-paced trip we were having. One day, Granada's Alhambra, the next day, Sevilla's Alcázar. Crazy.

My favorite parts were all the ornate details in the walls and the garden.

Later, we struggled to find a restaurant to eat dinner at (so many places were closed! I think because it was August and prettty early to have dinner on Spanish standards). We eventually found a place and Stella tried paella for the first time. Disappointing experience...sry Stells!

After dinner, we rushed back to the hostel to get ready to go to a Flamenco show! It was an unforgettable experience. The dancers' outfits were gorgeous and fun, the music was played/sung live, and the dancers were just incredible. I don't know how they move their legs that fast. I remember in my 3rd year of high school, we learned the Sevillana, a type of Flamenco dance, and had to perform it on stage (my group won!). So it was especially special when we the dancers did the Sevillana! MP and I were thrilled :) Of course, there were a couple of really good looking dancers who definitely caught our eyes. hahaha. always. Got some good pics of them too!

In the morning, we went to see the cathedral (3rd largest in Europe, and largest Gothic church anywhere!) and the Giralda bell tower. Christopher Columbus is buried there! Very cool. After looking around (with the help of Rick Steves. Again), we climbed the bell tower to the very top! It seemed like a never ending spiral of stairs. You just keep going up and up and hope that the top is getting near. But the view was spectacular.

We rushed to grab out stuff from the hostel, get some snacks, our bocadillos for lunch, and head to the Plaza de las Armas bus station and catch our Socibus to Madrid! Sevilla, check :)