Madrid

Trip Start Apr 12, 2008
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Trip End Jul 20, 2008


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Flag of Spain  , Madrid,
Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Wow! 3 nights in Madrid - what a vibrant, bustling town.  Our hostal was slap bang in the centre of all the action - Puerto del Sol.  Thank goodness for the double glazed glass on the french doors and the rolla-shutter.  Or we would have been awake ALL night as opposed to just 4am!
Our friend from the hospitality club - Goyo was great and spent a couple of days walking us around all the sights and took us to a Sideria which was like another world.  The only description I can come up with is like a scene from a Dickensian novel.  From outside. . .nothing.  Inside the smoke-filled bar a noisy, joyful crowd, talking ten-to-the-dozen, drinking eating and celebrating each others company.  Tapas came with the cider, and the tradition is to pour into the glass from a great height and strange angle!  Anyway - lots of fun.
Madrid is incredibly well organised in Barrajas Airport & the Metro, trains are always on time, clean and efficient.  Great to be able to get to and from the airport for 2 Euros with no dramas, rather than pay huge amounts for cabs.
On the first night in town we went to Corral de la Morreria Flamenco show - booked at home on the advice of Goyo Flamenco
Flamenco
 .  We scammed our way to the front table, (or rather our French friends did for us), touching the stage and so feeling the pulse.  The show was fabulous - passionate and dramatic, dancers almost trance-like.  The flamenco guitars were excellent as well.
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Absolute credit to Brenda on her organisation for this leg of the journey. She booked the perfect location in a newly renovated room in the historical (and nightclub) quarter of Madrid months back - did the same with the Flamenco show, both without a hitch. Better than a travel agent. Then Madrid also turned on the flawless airport and Metro. Even though it ¨rained in Spain¨ on our first day, it fined up to make it a great experience. We got to see the Picasso exhibit at the Reina Sofia including Guernica. Brenda also went to the Prado but as we have found with a lot of things here, a reluctance to signpost in English had her in the wrong line for the Goya exhibition.
Walking walking walking......... we must be fit. I reckon we must be walking 6-10 hours a day. But there is not much we miss by walking. Lucky we are only 35 years old and not 65!
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