Madrid - The Spanish capital
Trip Start
Feb 15, 2008
1
17
57
Trip End
May 31, 2008
Madrid,
Spain
Thursday, March 27, 2008
The weather was a bit of a shock as I left the metro station, it was sitting on about 6 degrees along with the odd blast of wind and rain and this was supposed to be spring not winter. Madrid is a city exposed to extremes in temperature, it can get as hot as Sydney in summer but drop to bellow zero in winter.
I spent my first afternoon in Madrid wandering around familiarising myself with the city and getting wet and a bit cold. The good thing is that once you get so lost and tied and can't work out how to get back, you see a metro station and for 1 € you can easily find your way back.
After a visit to Madrid's main railway station to organise train tickets for my travel within Spain, I spent the best part of the next day taking Madrid's open-top bus tour
Madrid, Plaza de Armas
. For 16 € it is well worth your while as the city is very large with a lot to see. There is an automated commentary which can be played in 8 languages, there are two loops which cover most of the places of interest across the city and the buses run very frequently so you can get off and back on as much as you like.Even though the area of Madrid has been occupied since prehistoric times the modern area of Madrid was not constructed till the 9th Century and was founded by Muslims when Muhammad I ordered the construction of a small palace in the same place that is today occupied by the Palacio Real. The name 'Madrid' comes from the Arabic word 'Majrit' meaning source of water. Madrid is now home to about 3.2 Million people, they love to smoke and you can smoke just about anywhere you like. They also love motor scooters, even the police ride them. As you may expect, Madrid is full of monuments, fountains, churches, museums, parks and old buildings which look important. They speak Spanish here, which is logical since it is Spain. I didn't have any trouble understanding people and was also able to be understood easily. The only real difference here is the accent, they call it the 'theta'· basically they replace most of the letter 'c' in the words with a 'th' sound which sounds a bit weird at first for those who are more accustomed to Latin American Spanish, though by the second day of hearing it I found myself copying them.
The hostel I stayed at was great; very clean and friendly. The next day I was off to the historic nearby town of Toledo which is just 30 minutes from Madrid by fast train.
