Madrid

This week, I was lucky enough to have my friends from ECU come visit! I took the midnight bus out of Murcia to meet them at the airport in Madrid.  From there, we took the metro to the hostel.  We bought a two-day tourist pass for the metro—best decision of the trip.  We were able to take it everywhere; fortunately, there was a stop very close to where we were staying.  The hostel was great: a repurposed palace with a stained glass ceiling and mosaic tiled walls for only 15 Euros a night.  Madrid is a city full of museums.  We went to two of the famous art museums: the more traditional Prado (El Greco, Velázquez, Goya) and the more modern Reina Sofia (Picasso, Dalí, Miró).  We were able to time our visits so that we didn’t have to pay entrance fees.  This meant extra crowds, but it certainly saved us some cash!  Jackie, Allen, and Tyler got to experience the bizarre Spanish eating schedule: lunch at three-ish and dinner at ten-ish.  We found some awesome tapas and cafes, but Madrid is so much more expensive than Murcia.  Food and drinks are generally three times the price! Thanks to gorgeous weather we were able to walk the streets of the city and see some of the famous sites: the cathedral, crypt, and royal palace were beautiful.  We also saw remains of the Arab wall, firefighters protesting, the river, and several parks.  We were certainly exhausted by the time we boarded the bus back to Murcia.  For the most part, we fit right in because there are thousands of tourists in Madrid.  Sometimes I would need to ask someone for directions, and it was hard to find a local! 

See pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/album.php?aid=2070308&id=1401660433