Sarahenity: On the Road: Madrid and Toledo

Like Portugal, I had very romantic visions in my head of Spain and what it would be like. As we watched all of the Rick Steves episodes on the country, it became harder and harder to narrow down our destinations. Of course we wanted to visit Madrid and Barcelona, but where else should we go? It was a tough decision as we only had budgeted eight days for touring the country, so we settled on Madrid with a side trip to Toledo, Sevilla, and Barcelona -- we were most sad that we didn't get to include Granada, as it looked beautiful. But when you have a limited amount of time and you're maximizing based on transportation options outside of cars, you have to make some choices...

Madrid: Beautiful, regal

We awoke early in Lisbon for our ride to the airport -- because of the poor infrastructure between countries, it would take almost eleven hours to travel from Lisbon to Madrid -- double the five-and-a-half hour drive and only a bit more than an hour by plane, so it was a simple decision. It was our first experience with a European budget airline in Ryanair. Let me tell you -- budget airlines are a funny business. They are incredibly strict about everything!

Back to those romantic notions -- Madrid, unlike Lisbon, lived up to my picture of it. As the cab wound its way to our hotel, I felt like we were in the wide avenues of Paris, framed by beautiful trees and regal buildings. There was a calm energy to the city that I really appreciated. And any city with a featured dessert of churos con chocolate is just fine by me. Never mind that it was dairy-filled. It was incredible.

Sergio's artsy shot in our hotel

Our hotel was a lovely, artsy little place in a fantastic old building. The decor, was IKEA-modern. Our room came with a nice sitting area and a very large bathroom (without a fan, of course... why is it that no European bathrooms have fans?!) and the hardest mattress imaginable. The hotel was located on the Gran Via (major main thoroughfare) and thankfully our room was on the very quiet back side of the hotel. Side note -- why is it so hard to find a comfortable temperature in hotel rooms? It's boiling or it's freezing. Feather comforter or nothing! It's pretty strange, really.

Bus tour photo -- Toledo souvenirs

We headed out on our first night and started a tapas crawl. I started out our trip as a big fan of tapas -- though I realized it gets a little old after more than a week. We started on a steady diet of jamon iberico and potatoes covered in various sauces. I never felt like I got enough from the little meals, so Sergio instituted a second lunch because I ended up hangry (hungry + angry). I never fully adjusted to the Spanish schedule or manner of meals, and never have I craved oatmeal and eggs so much in my life. Cheers to an American breakfast, friends.

We were both feeling a little off in Madrid, so we didn't get around to seeing as much as we would have liked. We had a chance to go and see the Prado, which was incredible. I kept saying, "This reminds me of the Louvre, Sergio -- you just don't know it yet!" (Spoiler: We enjoyed it much better than the Louvre). I had never been exposed to El Greco or El Bosco -- there are so many artists that you don't know about when you grow up in America -- and outside of the art scene. The museum was lovely, and we had a nice rest in their little cafe. We also had a great time at the Palacio Real, the Royal Palace, especially seeing all of the armor and the royal receiving rooms and the art from around the world. Whenever we feel off, we take time to stop and watch a movie -- so we enjoyed fantastic room service and watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower together.

However, the award for favorite Spanish city goes to beautiful Toledo, a short train ride outside of Madrid. The cathedral is one of the largest in Spain and it just took your breath away! We wandered through the cool interior, audioguides awkwardly held against our ears.

Beautiful, charming Toledo!

My favorite part of the city was simply wandering, whether on foot or on the little touristy train that we took around the outside of the city. We had read about the train in Rick's book, of course, and his tip to sit on the right side of the train was dead-on. The view was much, much better than the other side and I think the people sharing our row were a bit disappointed. It gave us a good perspective of the entire city and made it easier to wander. The street plan was very confusing and I felt that we were constantly consulting our handy street map. We managed to find several small nun-run stores with mazapan, which was a bit of a letdown compared to what I thought it was. I guess it wasn't expecting a "sweet" with so little sugar!

And when you get to go to a touristy city, you also have the chance to observe tourists. I find that the Southern European tourist dress is... different. I could only describe one of the popular styles as "jean underwear." See-through tops were also popular, especially halter tops. Here I was, worrying that I wouldn't be let into the cathedral because my skirt only came to my knees. I think my worry was a bit misplaced.

Toledo!

Beautiful jumble of streets in Toledo

As we left the city and walked to the train station, I found myself wishing that we had stayed a night or two in Toledo so we could experience the city at night, as the crowds left. There is something magical about small European towns that I just love (spoiler: Arles, France, another small town, was my favorite stop of the trip!) so the next time we visit Europe needs to include more time in small, cute places.

Back in Madrid, we did a bit more sightseeing the following day and enjoyed our first attempt at foreign laundry in a stuffy little laundromat, though we were able to find some amazing tacos for dinner while we waited. We did a bus tour on our last night as the sun started setting, and minus the obnoxious Italians seated in front of us, it wasn't as bad or as touristy as I had thought. You get a great view of the city, sitting above the traffic, and we had a chance to see all of the monuments that we missed, always a good reminder that we can come back and have a lot we can see. The city was incredibly pumped because the fate of the 2020 Olympics would be decided that evening. Madrid, unfortunately lost, which was somewhat unremarkable -- what I won't forget, however, was the video of the sweet Japanese man sobbing for joy once he learned that Tokyo had won. I can imagine that it was a significant letdown for the Spanish -- there was a constant buzz and "Madrid 2020" signs and banners and t-shirts and flags everywhere.

Enjoying the train ride

We were sitting down to breakfast on our final morning before heading to the train station to catch our train when we were greeted by the sight of hundreds of young Madrilenos in black with red glasses. The Gran Via was closed for a movie shoot and hundreds of extras milled around, nursing cups of coffee in the early morning light.

Needless to say it was tough to get a cab and because of the street closures we had to take a long, roundabout trip to the train station. We huffed and puffed and ran and managed to make it to the proper level and track with five minutes to spare. There was nothing to do but relax as the train pulled out of the station and started towards Sevilla!

xo,
Sarah