Spain - Parte Dos - Madrid

Now for this week, back to our 2 part of our Spain vacation in Madrid! Our train ride to back to Madrid was decidedly less hurried than the one to Sevilla. A short 2 hr journey later, we were plopped into the Atocha Station, which by the way was connected conveniently to Madrid's subway system. Spent a total of 4 nights in Madrid, so we had plenty of time to see the major sights like the Prado Museum, the Renia Sofia, and even a bullfight too! In general, Madrid was more of a bustling metropolitan city to us, compared to Sevilla which was more of a laid back walking town. Here's a shot of Madrid at 9.30pm, note the huge traffic jam at the bottom of the shot, stark contrast of downtown KC!






First day up, we went for a stroll in the Royal Palace. Its actually still being used for Royal functions today, much like Buckingham Palace in London... But fortunately for us, the Spanish Royal Family wasn't using it that day, so we got to walk around inside and admire their century old future and a weirdly huge collection of clocks and old & large self-portraits of previous kings. No cameras inside the Royal palace, so the best we could do was an outside shot!





We were the fortunate beneficiaries of a hotel date mix up with our travel agent. After a minor inconvenience of having to pay for our hotel room with a separate credit card, we did in fact score the a suite on the highest floor! It came with a patio overlooking the streets below us too! Here's a quick shot from the rooftop patio. During the day and night we could see people walking on the streets below. BTW, we also saw a couple of "working ladies" on the streets too, which unfortunately is part of any large metropolitan city in the world these days. Interestingly though, it is apparently illegal to pimp in Spain, so all of the ladies down below were private contractors publicly working out the arrangements with their clients in clear view....




A wonderful snack that we discovered over in Madrid was Churros! For those of you that are familiar with the Costco sold Churros with sugar and cinnamon, its kinda like that except without the sweet part. For the Malaysians, its like a less greasy Yau-Cha-Guai. It goes REALLY -REALLY well with melted chocolate (as depicted here), or alternatively you can also dip it into Coffee + Sugar in the morning Malaysian Style MMMMHHHMMMMM.... :) BTW, best place to eat Churros con Chocolate in Madrid is at Chocolatería Valor in Downtown. Also, don't plan on sleeping anytime soon for the next 4-5 hrs with all that sugar!

Continuing on with food, Paella is something that you shouldn't miss as well in Spain. It tastes a bit like Asian fried rice except its slightly more yellowish and a lot more watery. Probably not as appetizing any more after that description, but I assure everyone, it tastes better that it sounds! Here's a shot of Yeesin about to attack our Seafood Paella. BTW, Patio dining was amazing out there, with weather in the low 70s most of the time we were there, so plenty of opportunity to sit outside, grab a bite, and people watch for hours!

We didn't forget to scratch the shopping itch over in Madrid either. One morning we made a pilgrimage to the shopping gods by taking a subway ride over to El Rastro, probably the largest flea market in Spain! Don't expect any rare or priceless hand made art here. El Rastro only carries mass produced cheap T-shirts, CDs, belts, shoes, etc! At prices from 2-10 Euros, its a bargain shoppers paradise! Also known for its pickpockets, we kept our hands on our wallets, and shopped to our hearts delight! Yeesin bought a few Pashminas from a kind Spain stall owner that kinda looked like your neighborhood friendly uncle. Didn't really know much what he said, but he was constantly draping the pashminas over Yeesin, telling them how largo (long), grande (big), and how barato (cheap) they were!

Will close out this edition with a parting photo of a bullfight that we managed to catch over in Madrid. Bullfighting is probably the only thing that we didn't really care for in Spain. We went there trying not to judge the local culture and ways of life, but in our minds, bullfighting seemed to be more a of tourist thing that a local sport. I'll walk everyone through the sequence of a fight. Part one, the bull is led out into the ring, and 6-8 guys in matador outfits take turns to bait it, make it mad, and tire it out. Part two, the picadores, guys on horses and with spears come out and plunge spear points into the neck of the bull to enrage it even more. Finally part three is when the main matador of the event comes out on stage with the red flag and his sword. By then the bull is REALLY mad, tired, and bleeding as it tries to gore the matador. The matador does his red flag thing with the bull that most of us already seen on TV, and when the moment is right (this part rarely shows up on ESPN), plunges the sword into top part of the bull's neck, if he is good, the bull dies immediately. If not, as in our 2nd bullfight, the it gets really really messy, cos he has to try and try again. So in short, not as entertaining as we expected, we left after the 2nd fight, and frankly a little unfair to the bulls, as they don't have any way to fight back!!!

Next time.... Barcelona!