What Happens In Madrid...

Stays in Madrid. (but there are still photos on facebook)

And therefore, this post will be lightly censored. I leave it to the reader's imagination to fill in any gaps of further adventures that are not being included in this post. This past weekend I went to Madrid and it was...interesting. It was my first time taking RyanAir, which in itself was an interesting experience. RyanAir flights leaving Marseille have their own terminal, which has the feeling of being in an airplane hanger rather than an actual airport. But the plane was nice enough (737), and the flight was smooth enough with the exception of one thing; when you’re on a RyanAir flight they try to sell you things the whole time. Whether it was food, cigarettes, or cologne, during the entire flight there was someone of the PA system reading off a catalog. But I was able to put my iPod on, tune out, and get some quality sleep.

As we were leaving the airport in Madrid, my friend Marc-Adam realized that he had lost his iPod, so we had to go back to the terminal to try to look for it. As it was already past 10PM, the girls decided to go do their makeup in the airport bathroom, so we could go out as soon as we got to the hostel. After a 30 minute metro ride to the hostel, we showed up around 11:15. Everyone quickly got ready, and we went to meet my friend Alex's friend. As we were waiting around in a plaza, an American (Sam) came over and started talking to us. He was wearing a Chai necklace, and we found out that he's teaching English in Spain for the year, and was meeting his friend, whose birthday was that day. Coincidentally, we were all planning on ending up at the same club, and he asked if we wanted to go to an apartment party. The party was mostly English teachers, which meant either Americans or Anglophile Spaniards. We met a lot of interesting people, and it was nice hearing so much English in a country where none of us speak any of the language.

Eventually we headed for the infamous Kapital night club. This club is 7 stories, with each story being slightly different. The top 2 are lounges, the 4th and 5th are dance floors, and the bottom 3 all center around one massive dance floor. Interesting side note: when we asked Sam if we could buy beer anywhere, he took us to a woman standing on the street corner holding a bag and asked her for beer. She took one out of her bag and sold it to us for a euro. These people are all over the city, waiting to sell you cheap beer. This was good, as drinks were incredibly expensive in Kapital. There was an 18 euro cover charge, which included one drink, but it was well worth the experience. We ended up meeting up with Sam and his friend again, and they had bought a 300 euro private room overlooking the dance floor for his birthday, so we stayed there for a while. It was an absolutely crazy atmosphere...words can't describe it. We didn't get back to the hostel until 6:30 AM.

The next day we got up and headed out to explore the city. I had heard about a company called Sandeman's New Europe, and was excited to try it out. Sandeman's runs free English-speaking tours in most major European cities (as well as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem). The tour guides work entirely on tips, and (I've heard) they're all very relaxed, funny, and knowledgeable. We met at Plaza Mayor, which is a big open square filled with street performers, artists, and people dressed up like Disney characters. Our tour guide was an English guy named Jake, and he was great. We were in a group of about 40 (he said it was the largest he's ever had), but he was loud enough for all of us to hear him. He was funny, and had lots of great historical anecdotes and myths about the places we saw. He definitely knew what people would find interesting and wouldn't. The tour was about 3 hours, and it felt like we hit most of the major tourist sites: churches, castles, theaters, the palace, etc.

One interesting thing I noticed is that despite being a free tour, the tour guides do alright for themselves. There was a tour through the tourism office that was being offered at 4 euros per person. Sandeman's is a "free" tour, but the tour guides mention at the beginning and end that they only get tips for their time. Our tour guide was very good, and at the end people were giving him anywhere from 3-10 euros. I'm sure that despite being a free tour, he made more off of us than he would have anywhere else.

After a much-needed nap at the hostel, we went out for the night. None of us were feeling like repeating the previous night, so we decided to skip any clubs and check out Madrid's famous Tapas bars. These bars are all over the place in Madrid. Tapas is a type of appetizer, and usually you pay one low price for a drink and the appetizer. The type we got were different meats, and you ate them on a baguette. After leaving the tapas bar, we inadvertently walked into what must be THE American pub in Madrid. I don't think I heard a single person in the bar speaking Spanish, and they had NHL hockey on TV. Very weird feeling. Anyone walking in would've thought they were right back in State College. We finished the night at a hookah bar, before heading home for some much needed sleep (but not before being accosted by prostitutes).

Sunday morning we had a few hours before we had to be at the airport, so we decided to check out what our tour guide had told us is the largest flea market in Western Europe. Every Sunday an entire section of Madrid is flooded with vendors setting up booths to sell their goods. Hand-made crafts, art, second-hand goods...anything you can imagine you can find there. We spent over an hour walking around, and it was unlike anything I've ever seen before. Think Chinatown on crack.

The only thing I bought that day wasn't at any of the vendors, it was at a camping/outdoors store. I'd heard it be recommended to get a sleeping bag liner for staying at hostels, and a few of my friends had them. Hostel sheets are almost always kind of gross, but a sleeping bag liner fixes that problem. It's basically a sheet that's been sown up, and intended to line the inside of a sleeping bag. However, it can double up as a buffer layer between you and the sheets of carnal pleasures past. It folds up into a compact carrying case, and fits easily into a backpack. I feel much better having bought one. Next purchase: a micro-fiber quick-dry compact towel!

In comparison with my trip to Cassis, I felt much better prepared for this trip, while still feeling like a rugged traveler. Compared to some of my friends who checked bags, I pulled off a very minimalist approach. Just my backpack, travel-sized toiletries, and a few changes of socks, underwear, and shirts. I wore the same jeans the whole time, and didn't shower, but felt pretty comfortable, and no one complained about the smell. I really like the sense of freedom I get from walking around in a city I've never been to with everything I need in one small bag. I think that's a basic human feeling, as people have been walking the earth for centuries.

"Whatcha mean, walk the earth?

You know, like Caine in Kung Fu, walk from place to place, meet people, get into adventures."