September 12th, 2021

After 24 hours of travel from Texas to Chicago we \240finally planted in Madrid, Spain. We decided to try hitchhiking 8 miles to our hostel from the airport, but as soon as we reached a toll road about 2 miles later we were stopped by the Spanish policia. They were very kind and communicated as best as they could that although hitchhiking is legal, it is only not allowed on the toll roads. We showed them where we were trying to go and they responded with “oh no that’s way to far, way to far, we will take you to the subway” so within our first hour in Spain we hoped in the police car and shook hands goodbye when dropped off at the subway. Luckily the metro system, although in Spanish, worked just like the one we had previously learned in Chicago. We stayed at the cheapest hostel we could find which was about $17 per person. (Not very cheap for a hostel, but we were in the capital after all). The hostel was called “Safestay Madrid”. It was extremely clean, had a cinema room which we slept in more than our actual room. This was because we got there at 11 am but couldn’t check in until 2, and the next day after we checked out and were killing time before we had to leave for our bus. Safestay also offered meals but they were not complimentary. There was a balcony to each room, we shared a 6 bed room with a private bathroom. Although most of Europe does not have AC, there were no worries because the balcony doors were kept open so the beautiful outdoor weather could shine through. The showers had hot and cold water, and there was a bar on the rooftop with cute decorations! The hostel also suggested a free walking tour in la Latina part of Madrid. On a whim we decided to check it out the day after check out. The hostel graciously held our luggage for us for free until midnight the next day in exchange for some well deserved positive reviews. The first day in Madrid we had tried to find a food market but failed, it was already late and we had been on such little sleep we decided to eat at a Asian street food restaurant, although 35 euros is out of our current backpacker budget for a meal… the food was unlike anything we’ve had before! Bean ordered the coconut curry soup (our favorite) and I tried an orange chicken, peanut salad which was largely portioned and deliscious. We learned very quickly however to not ask for water at a restaurant because they will give you bottled water worth .35 euros and charge you 3 euros for it. The tap water is completely safe to drink here and actually quite deliscious because the aquifers are bellow the ground, they have spouts every other corner. So bring a thermos and fill it with refreshing water as you walk around the city. The morning of the tour we found our first “supermarket”. Here that means something very different than the US. A supermarket here means there is some meat, some dairy, some fruit, veggies, bread, and a few other FOOD items. We had seen many individual markets for strictly fruit or meat. In the US a supermarket means all the food you can think of, plus clothes, appliances, plants, electronics… anything you can think of. We grabbed bread, cheese, ham, a 6 pack of yogurt, peanut butter and rice cakes, a rotisserie chicken and large salad for a total of 17 euros. This lasted us both breakfast, lunch, dinner and we still have the salad and rice cakes and peanut butter for tomorrow as I type. Much better deal. The yogurt here is very very inexpensive and extremely deliscious, you can tell how real the ingredients are, you can taste the mashed banana in the yogurt, and there were 6 of them for 1 euro. The rice cakes are thinner than back home but I think I prefer that. The peanut butter is a lighter color than back home amd has a much for faint peanut butter taste. Still yummy! After breakfast we took a metro to La Latina which was the closest stop to our meeting place for the tour in “ la plaza de mayor”. We had cut our time fairly close so when we reached the Main Street we asked a local Spanish man where we could find la plaza de mayor. He couldn’t help but laugh at us and point us down the street. Come to find out we would have laughed at us too. La plaza de mayor is the main square of Madrid, probably the largest, most obvious place in the city and we assumed it was a hotel or somthing. That being said we hustled up steep stairs into the square and saw our tour just in time! “Sandemans new Europe English free walking tour” a must do if you find yourself in Madrid! Our tour guide was a charismatic, practical, funny, history buff who was young and spoke great English. It felt good to hear some English. Our tour consisted of people from France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Portugal and a few other places! We learned about the history of the square and saw pictures of what it looked like during different time periods and after they rebuilt each time after it would burn down. It took them three fires that burned the entire place down before deciding to build everything in stone. Except for the area the king lived in of course was built with stone after the second time. They were shooting a movie while we were there which is apparently very common. The statue in the center of the court is of king Philippe the third or fourth- whichever one was king when the court was completed. The story behind the statue is quite comical. It use to be hollow and the horse had an open mouth. Well for years the statue was originally kept in the park and it was swallowing birds the entire time, they were living and dying inside of it. So when they moved the statue to the center court and it sat I got the sun there was a stench of these dead rotting birds but no one knew. They believed that the smell was because the court was haunted after years of public executions and deaths. But one day when there were riots and protests, someone put a bomb in the mouth of the horse and blew its head off. What did they find inside? Oh yes….. the source of the stench, a massive load of rotting birds. So today the statue still stands just with a closed mouth. Next we saw the longest continued restaurant in the world. They had records of them selling food every year since 1725. The wood and place itself just has a dark wood timless beauty to it. Next we saw the alleyway where you had to go in order to be married back in the day, so there’s a saying that unless you’ve walked there you’re not married, then he picked Bean and I out of the group and told us we’re married now by the power in him and of the street lol, sorry mom! We walked a few other interesting places and made our way to a beautiful park that looked over the royal palace and the cathedral. In the background were mountains and one of the largest parks in all of Europe. From the outside the cathedral didnt look as beautiful as we had made it look in our heads, but we decided to go in anyways seeing that it is free so why not. As soon as you are a few steps in the door prepare for your jaw to drop. Every inch is a symbolic, rich in color, vivacious tribute to to God. It is so large, and each column/arche is completely different. There are private prayer rooms covered in gold and so much more, it is a must see! Bean and I sat in one of the booths and prayed out loud. He prayed one of the most beautiful prayers I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to and it felt so special as we reflected on the hundreds of years of thousands of prayers heard in that place. It was definitely a highlight. Afterwards we had a picnic by the park and fed some birds and eventually made our way back to the hostel where we booked our first bus tickets. We slept in the cinema room until it was time to go, and we are currently on that bus (ALSA bus), on an overnight ride so we can cut out the cost of a hostel, headed to Barcelona!

Until next time <3