Madrid, minus the Bullfights

We navigated our way from the train station to our hostel in Madrid, one of the better (and cheaper) ones we´ve stayed in. We have all been internet-starved and this place is no different. Their three computers are always occupied and the internet is very slow, so I´m in an internet café down the street. We saw advertised a free walking tour of the city and went with a few of our new roommates to check it out. Unfortunately, it seems that Madrid´s official tourism people have been protesting the free tours, and when things got violent at the protests this group decided to stop doing the tours. Our tourgide was very nice, though, and drew on our map the tour that he would typically give, as well as gave us information on some of the major landmarks. We took the tour by ourselfves to avoid angry Spanish officials, and it was actually pretty fun. The next day we went on a tapas tour with the same guy and got to taste some of the traditional flavors of Madrid as well as learn the history of the tapas.

Long story short, there was a Spanish king a long time ago who had digestive problems and was perscribed by his doctor to have several small meals in a day, and now we have tapas bars. We tried some very tasty stuff including a spanish omelette of eggs, potatoes, and onions. And, you probably won´t believe it, but I tried a bite of grilled pig´s ear. It was another one of those i´ll-never-have-the-chance-again moments, so I went for it. It was even more unpleasant than the French sausage, but a few in our tourgroup actually liked it. We topped off our night with a visit to Madrid´s donated Egyptian Temple to watch the sunset and hang out with our new friends.

So far I am enjoying Madrid. Its a smaller city that it pretty easily navigable and easy to walk, which is a pleasant change from gigantic Paris´Metro system. The buildings are Spanish if I ever saw it, and I havent had to watch a bullfight yet. It is a city rich in history and I cant wait to see our last spot in Spain, Barcelona!