August 4, 2011 - Madrid, Spain

I didn't sleep much on the plane.  I was excited to arrive in Madrid and the plane was a circus, 100 teenagers took up the center section of seats and they didn't understand that the 7 hour flight wasn't a party.

I was tired as trudged down the long blue hallway, upstairs, downstairs, left turn, right turn, long blue hallway, repeat.  Finally arriving at customs, I was so excited to get my first stamp and start my adventure.  I had just renewed my passport and all the visa pages were blank.  One Hola and Gracias later my passport was stamped and I was on my way to Terminal 2 to catch the Metro to Puerta del Sol, the center of Madrid.

I purchase my metro card from a machine, thankful that I have some euro change and that there are huge signs in English leading the way to the number 8 train.  The train was pulling away as I came down the stairs, I found a bench to sit down.  I realized a few things in that moment when the weight was off my feet, one, it was only a little after 8:00am (2:00am at home) and two, I'd only slept 3 hours in the last 24 hours, and three, I needed a nap.

Puerta del Sol

Coming above ground in Puerta del Sol from the metro station, the first thing I noticed was a huge police presence.  Puerta del Sol is a huge cement square in the center of Madrid.  There are no benches or trees.  Everything I read in travel books said there were a lot of pickpockets and scam artists here but with the large police presence I felt at ease.  I was a little anxious because I was traveling on my own.  This trip is the first time I have ever traveled out of the country by myself.   I was prepared with a Google Maps print out of directions and the map with the general direction.  I had also walked through the turn by turn pictures to familiarize myself with what the walk looked like so I would have less of a chance of getting lost on that first morning.



There are a dozen or so roads and alleys that snake off of Puerta del Sol, I knew from my research that I was looking for Calle de Carmen and there was a blue and white diamond awning covering the street to provide shade and a little relief from the suppressing August heat.  I walked from street to street looking for the Calle de Carmen.  The map that I printed out at home was not to small and lacked detail and I was unable to get my bearings.  I found a street with a blue and white diamond awning.  I looked for a street sign and couldn't find one, I looked on my map to see if I could match the shapes of the intersecting roads, of course I couldn't so I decided to start walking and see if I could figure it out.

I walked in circles for the next 45 minutes cutting down narrow alleys and following streets in circles as the sun was creeping up in the sky and the temperature climbing.  My backpack felt like a ton and I am sweating, I remember the last time I was in Europe I had this same experience in Amsterdam, lost, no map, trying to find the hotel to drop my bag. The city has woken up since I got off the Metro, stores are opening, people are heading to work.  Trucks are zooming down the narrow streets to make deliveries.  I finally give up and pull out my phone, I added international data to my plan so I could use my phone in precisely these situations, I didn't expect the need to arise on the first day.  I got turned around several more times, the streets are narrow and make unexpected turns but I finally find my way back to Puerta del Sol.

Hotel Anaco Mural by Hostal Triana Madrid Spain.  From Google Maps images

I arrive back in the square from a different artery than I left from, I wonder how much of Madrid I walked that morning.  I didn't have a map and I only remember where I left the square from and where I came back into the square.  I immediately see another street with a blue and diamond awning and there was a sign.  I was so exhausted and elated that I found it.  Ten minutes, a right and left and finally spotting the mural advertising another hotel in the area, another Google Maps landmark, my body is singing, exhausted and excited and in that moment, the mural is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.  I arrive at my hotel, Hostel Triana. 

I couldn't check in yet but at least I was able to stash my bag with the guy at reception and grab the worlds smallest map of Madrid and headed out to look for a place to grab breakfast.  I picked a small place that reminded me of a 1950s diner.  A Formica countertop with bar stools bolted to the floor.  The daily specials scrawled in Spanish on a paper over the printed menu on the wall next to four sides of dried ham hanging on the  wall.

I experienced some of the strongest feelings of nervousness and anxiety mixed with anticipation and excitement the first two or three days that I was on the road.  The anxiety affected my appetite the first few days.  I ordered a ham and cheese sandwich and a bottle of water but could barely finish half.  I shoved the bottle of water in my daypack, paid my check and set off walking.  With no specific destination the streets were easier to manage.  They still felt like a maze and would start and end in no particular pattern but my I tracked my location on my tiny map and I ended up in front of the Prado.  My body and mind were too tired to explore a museum so I walked up the road and found a bench in the shade and watched the world pass around me.

I walk back to the hotel to take a nap and ended up sleeping for most of the afternoon.  I awoke at around 6pm and headed out to do a walking tour from the Rick Steve's Spain travel book.  The tour starts in Puerta del Sol and by now I knew how to get there without looking at a map.  Puerta del Sol was closed.  I decide to walk around the square to see if there is another way to enter the square.  I walked in a spiral around the square, discovering that every entrance was blocked and the police presence had grown from earlier in the day.  I snaked out continuing to make circles around the square, stopping for postcards to mail home and to snap a few photos.  I ended up at the Royal Palace, without even thinking.

Royal Palace

I took a break from the walking on one of the many benches in front of the palace.  A few moments later an older woman and her daughter (I assume) came and joined me on the bench.  Buenas Tardes, I smiled and said Buenas Tardes in return.  They sat and chatted in rapid fire Spanish.  I couldn't keep up, no matter.  I listened to the sounds of there voices catching a word here and there for a while before starting the backwards walking tour.

The Royal Palace is beautiful.  I decided after not going to the Prado that I was going to take the first few days to experience the city streets and to not take tours of all of the tourist sites.  I wanted to see Madrid like someone who lives in Madrid, as possible as that could be for a tourist.

Plaza Mayor

There is so much open space around the Royal Palace as well as a busy street.  Walking along I walked past the Cathedral and Royal Theatre, heading back towards Puerta del Sol, hoping that it would be open.  I loped along looking down narrow alleyways hoping to find some undiscovered gem of Madrid.  I gave up on finding some of the items on the walking tour and snaked through empty alleys and crowded thoroughfares taking in Madrid.  I didn't want to miss Plaza Mayor and one lucky turn took me in to the burgundy square.  Plaza Mayor is a tourist mecca.  Street performers, hundreds of tables where you can enjoy a bite and a beer.

I grabbed a table at Torre del Oro Bar Andalú, before taking my seat outside I popped inside to see all the photos hanging on the wall in the narrow restaurant.  An amazing collection of bull fighting history complete with gruesome details, you will never forget that the bull dies after visiting this bar.  I ordered a beer and sipped and watched the people as they passed, dropping coins into street performers cups.  The man making huge bubbles, the goat that snapped it's wooden mouth for Euro's with silvery Christmas garland for fur, the silver man, the scary Porky Pig that made balloon animals for the ninos.

Occupy Spain Protesters

I was a little tipsy as I left the square and I spied the best street performer of them all, the Statue of Liberty but instead of a torch she was holding up a huge ham hock.  I wish I had taken a picture.  I headed back to Puerta del Sol and it was still closed but now something was in the air.  People were congregating and chanting.  I hung around feeling the energy of the crowd.  I took a quick look at the map and headed back towards my hotel, the sun had set although the intoxicating heat of the day still hung in the air.  I quickly got lost again, those streets I don't think I will ever get used to them and all of a sudden I was surrounded.  Chanting and whistling, people holding signs, they were all around me.  I was a part of the march.  What I was marching for or against I don't know.  I turned up another street and at the next corner another group of people, much larger than the first had taken over the street.  Passionate in their want to express their opinions.

I made it back to my hotel and passed out, ready to experience another day of what Spain had to offer.