Madrid Hotels
Shanewilson's travel blogs:
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Last Stop in Europe
Entry 174 of 269 | show all | print this entry |
I´m kind of glad that Madrid marks my final city in Europe because I´m kind of over the continent now and ready to move on to Morocco and South America. I think I´ve done Europe justice, with all the magnificent sights I´ve seen. The continent has been a huge strain on the budget, and I´m hanging out for the lower costs of Morocco and South America.
I´ve made it to Madrid, and have spent today attending to some business including collecting my credit card which was cancelled on me a month ago whilst in Amsterdam due to a security breach. The post office I went to was a sight in itself... beautiful. But I´m a bit frustrated at the moment for every person I´ve met so far doesn´t speak a word of English. Even when I practise my spanish, like ´Donde esta Poste Restante´ (Where is the poste restante?), I get blank looks so I don´t know what´s going on. I don´t think I´ve got a chance at communicating with the locals in South America so thankful for my tour which will shield me a little in my first month in South America.
Last night was interesting and weird... I met a couple of young guys from Australia who are backpacking RTW like I... they´re from Geelong, Victoria and only 20, but managed to save the funds to travel the world for a year. Harrison is a tradesman, lays concrete for a living. Tim and I compared notes on our trip so far... was very interested in China... they broke theres up by spending 5 months working as snow board instructors in North America. They gave me an excellent insight into South America... they are doing their trip in reverse to me and have spent 8 months on the road. Harrison, like myself, is running low on cash so looking to return within the month. Tim, however, has access to credit so is likely to continue. In addition to these guys were two Swedish girls from Stockholm (stunning). The four of them went out on the town... I decided to pass given I´m saving myself up for Madrid... the rest is very predictable! Two Aussie guys, two Swedish girls... recipe for a great night. But the weird part was that both Tim and Swedish girl ended up in the bed next to me having...!!!!!!!!!! They didn´t get back till 6.20am in the morning, and since I woke up at 7am, they resorted to the bathroom. Interesting to see what goes on these dorms. Jenni who I met in China explained that she had the same thing happen to her in a South American hostel.
My train left Barcelona at 9.30am and arrived into Madrid at 2.30pm. A fairly comfortable ride, breakfast was served. The Spanish service was no where as good or friendly as the French or German but the train was great. No English spoken. The scenery through Spain was beautiful... very flat in the middle of the country but mountainous and green on the western coast. A beautiful country, I will prioritise my returns to Europe to Spain, Italy and Germany. Eastern Europe is also raved about amongst backpackers, and Croatia is a must.
I´m staying at Cats Hostel, a hostel with a top rating of 90% on hostelworld.com. And it is truly great... I´m in a 14 bed dorm and from what I´ve seen so far, it is very comfortable with all the modern cons needed. It´s only 17 euro a night. Looking forward to exploring the nightlife here in Madrid which Lonely Planet claims to be the best in the world... we´ll see! There is a pub crawl available which commences at 11pm! The nightlife runs from 11 to 6am. Will be some late nights, probably starting tonight.
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