Sweet Odyssey: Madrid

We took bus from Segovia to Madrid. One of us was quite sick and when we reached Madrid bus terminal, we decided to take cabs to our accomodation. I thought the distance was not too far from the terminal and therefore we would get there in no time. But I did not consider the traffic jam. We split into two cabs. The one with me inside reached in about half hour to forty five minutes (I think it's supposed to be about fifteen minutes ride). The other cab was lost, literary. When my friend told the address to the cab driver, he nodded right away and seemed to understand where to go. He even put the address into his GPS. After escaping from traffic jam and into the highway, it was already almost an hour. My friend came to realise that the driver was lost because the road sign on the highway was showing they were on the way back to Segovia. After debating and arguing with the driver, he finally brought them back to the correct address and was still charging triple the price of what my cab was charging me (even though he reset the meter somewhere in the middle of the trip). As far as I remember, they were in the cab for about two hours. My friends on that cab were tired, hungry, angry, felt ripped off and regretted the decision of taking the cab. All of us were very hungry. So we had quite a big dinner somewhere near where we stayed.

In the morning, my sick friend was looking worse. So I let the rest go on with our schedules and I stayed back with her. I needed the free time of not having things to do anyway so it worked fine for me. My friends visited the Royal Palace and had a very fine Paella lunch. They said the palace looked similar to Versailles but better, but Versailles had a much better garden. The Paella lunch, they said, was the best and the most expensive they had ever tried. I, on the other hand, walked around the area where we stayed, near to Tirso de Molina metro station. I have to say though that the area was a bit rough and scary. I don't know whether it was just me because a friend told me to be very careful in Madrid so I became very conscious of my surroundings. To make matters worse, I got lost. So I went into a four star hotel hoping for a direction and a map but the person in the reception was not friendly and I was out of the hotel with nothing. Luckily, I found my way back to Tirso de Molina station. Phew!

All of us met up for a dinner and a little bit of shopping in Puerta del Sol (metro: Sol). This is the heart of Madrid. It was quite a busy night, full of people out and about. I enjoyed the atmosphere. It did feel like somewhere in Granada but I wasn't sure where exactly. But it was good. And I did some shopping myself.

The next morning, we went to Museo del Prado, which was full of fine art collections. This was where I was first introduced to Goya's collections. I spent quite a while looking at them and trying to understand and appreciate them. There were many things to look at in this museum so you have to be prepared and know what to see before you go inside. We spent about half a day there, just in time for lunch. It's just not possible to look at everything in one day, let alone half a day. After lunch we got back to our hotel, packed our things up and got ready to the train station (Atocha station) where we took a night train to Sevilla.

As the capital city of and the largest city in Spain, Madrid was big, modern, busy and full of energy. Like other big cities, it was also rough and unfriendly. I was actually quite dissapointed with it. I guess I was expecting something more than what I saw. Or maybe two days were not enough to feel the city. I don't know, really. I think I should give it a second chance and come back to this city. Let's see if I change my mind.