Spanish Spree - April 2009
Day 9: Madrid and Toledo
I was surprised to see my mom still very tired when the alarm went off in the morning. Apparently, she hadn't gotten to sleep until 5am because of all the noise outside our window! She described it as "New Year's Eve in Times Square" right outside the window...but I hadn't heard a wink! I had slept through the whole thing! No wonder she was tired. She was a trooper and decided to go touring with me, even after I had suggested she continue resting.
the throne room
Today, the first thing on our agenda was the palace. Afterwards, we would take a bus to Toledo, a smaller town about 55 miles south of Madrid.
The palace is much larger than I expected and even seeing the exterior made me want to go inside to see more! The inside was even prettier and very ornate. In most of the rooms, every square inch was decorated. It didn't look very homey, though, so I'm glad I'm not a Spanish royal :)
The palace is much larger than I expected and even seeing the exterior made me want to go inside to see more! The inside was even prettier and very ornate. In most of the rooms, every square inch was decorated. It didn't look very homey, though, so I'm glad I'm not a Spanish royal :)
the exterior of the palace, as seen from sabatini gardens
Just outside the palace are the Sabatini gardens, a picture perfect area.
From here, we took the metro the bus station to catch a bus to Toledo. We couldn't find the bus station ANYWHERE from the metro stop, though, so I asked someone and they told us we were at the wrong metro stop and told us where to go. So off we went to a different stop. This time we lucked out and found the bus station quickly, but when we went to go buy tickets, we were told to go back to the original stop we had gotten off at. Well, we already knew that wouldn't work, so we got back on the metro again and went to the train station. We'd simply pay the extra money to take the train to Toledo...at least we knew where the train station was. As if our luck hadn't been bad enough, we found out the next two trains to Toledo were sold out...so it looked like we would be staying in Madrid for the day. And to think we had the whole trip planned out before we even landed in Spain.
From here, we took the metro the bus station to catch a bus to Toledo. We couldn't find the bus station ANYWHERE from the metro stop, though, so I asked someone and they told us we were at the wrong metro stop and told us where to go. So off we went to a different stop. This time we lucked out and found the bus station quickly, but when we went to go buy tickets, we were told to go back to the original stop we had gotten off at. Well, we already knew that wouldn't work, so we got back on the metro again and went to the train station. We'd simply pay the extra money to take the train to Toledo...at least we knew where the train station was. As if our luck hadn't been bad enough, we found out the next two trains to Toledo were sold out...so it looked like we would be staying in Madrid for the day. And to think we had the whole trip planned out before we even landed in Spain.
Since we had plenty of unexpected time in Madrid, we decided to dine al fresco once again. We found a nice restaurant that offered a menu del dia and decided to take advantage of it. We loved people watching while waiting for our meal and had a nice relaxing afternoon in the sun. We were not expecting the waiter to continually refill our wine glasses, though, and before we knew it, we had each finished four glasses of wine. No wonder we had such a good lunch!
picasso's guernica
Conveniently, the Reina Sofia Museum of modern art is free on Saturday afternoons, perfect for a last-minute decision to visit. I really like modern art, but my mom doesn't, so I knew I had to keep my visit to a reasonable length so she wouldn't get bored. I chose a few exhibits to focus on, and made sure to see Guernica.
Afterwards, we went to the Prado Museum for some more art! Again, the Prado was free for our visit so it ended up being a really cheap day for us. Before our visit, I didn't know much about the art displayed in the Prado, but to my untrained eye, it all appeared of the same style - portraits and landscapes from the 18th century. I can't appreciate this art; it doesn't intrigue me, so I think my mom and I saw the entire Prado in 45 minutes. I can honestly say i won't be returning.
Afterwards, we went to the Prado Museum for some more art! Again, the Prado was free for our visit so it ended up being a really cheap day for us. Before our visit, I didn't know much about the art displayed in the Prado, but to my untrained eye, it all appeared of the same style - portraits and landscapes from the 18th century. I can't appreciate this art; it doesn't intrigue me, so I think my mom and I saw the entire Prado in 45 minutes. I can honestly say i won't be returning.
By this point, there was nothing left in Madrid that we had interest in seeing, which was one of the reasons we had planned day trips from Madrid in the first place. So we decided that we'd just go for dinner and call it an evening. The problem was it was only around 7:30pm, which is much too early for dinner in Spain!
I had a recommendation for a great restaurant from my friend who had just been in Madrid a few months prior. The restaurant was in Chueca, a gay district of Madrid that is off the beaten track of tourists. We headed in its general direction even though it was too early to eat, and sure enough we found a Mexican bar that looked like fun. We ordered a few pre-dinner drinks to pass the time and had a lot of fun. There were no tourists anywhere in sight and the bar had much more atmosphere than the restaurant we had lunch at. Around 9:00, we left for dinner.
The restaurant was busy even at this early hour, but we were able to get a table without much of a wait. The food was incredible and the recommendation was highly deserved. We had a great meal and returned to the hotel.
Our bags had been moved to a new room, as requested, and we hoped that tonight it would be a little quieter so my mom could get some sleep.
I had a recommendation for a great restaurant from my friend who had just been in Madrid a few months prior. The restaurant was in Chueca, a gay district of Madrid that is off the beaten track of tourists. We headed in its general direction even though it was too early to eat, and sure enough we found a Mexican bar that looked like fun. We ordered a few pre-dinner drinks to pass the time and had a lot of fun. There were no tourists anywhere in sight and the bar had much more atmosphere than the restaurant we had lunch at. Around 9:00, we left for dinner.
The restaurant was busy even at this early hour, but we were able to get a table without much of a wait. The food was incredible and the recommendation was highly deserved. We had a great meal and returned to the hotel.
Our bags had been moved to a new room, as requested, and we hoped that tonight it would be a little quieter so my mom could get some sleep.
Continue to Day 10: Madrid and Segovia