Last day in Madrid
We really had a fantastic day.
Lots of walking, saw the whole city. They have tonnes of parks here with waterfalls and statues, plus plazas etc. We walked through Jeronimo Park and Parc del Retiro, which had a lake with rowboats aside a waterfall and a scene that reminded me of the Jungle book, with a wall (not a whole building) with pillars and steps of stone. It was gorgeous. We had a small picnic in the park and later headed for a tapas lunch at a place called Lateral. It was a little classier than we were prepared for, showing up sweaty and in shorts and tank tops, but the food was OUT OF THIS WORLD. When you order the Lateral salad it´s tomatoes with mozzerella cheese and a kind of ham\proccuito\bacon thing on top; to die for. Then we had two other appetizers, both kinds of stuffed peppers, one with goat cheese and another with a meat but both with incredible sauces. Lunch came with a really really sweet wine and only cost us 10.50 euro each.
We also saw 2 art museums today, which were free for students (BONUSSS!) There were tonnes of cool paintings. The Reina de Sophia museum we went to first was modern art, so some of it was more difficult for us to appreciate, but they did have a really large collection of Picasso. Most of the museum you were allowed cameras but no flash, so I took photos of the picasso until someone came up to me saying I wasn´t allowed a camera in that area at all... but I still snuck away with a photo or two ;)
The Museum del Prado was more religious paintings but very very detailed and impressive. Much like the paintings we saw in the Palacio Real (Royal Palace Museum) yesterday, but more vibrant because I suppose the colours have been preserved better? but many of the paintings were from 1500s!
We lastly went to see a Flamenco Ballet called ¨Carmen¨. It was my favourite thing so far. The live spanish guitar and singing, better than Santana (well... than Santana´s CD, I think I was excited to see it live) and the show was 1.5 hours of pure incredible. The dancers were so good, and the story wasn´t to difficult to follow. They were all in sync and their feet lead the music. It was priceless (on top of the 20 euro we paid, that is..).
Had a cheap dinner in our hostel, but first we went to the grocery store to pick up the pasta stuff. On the way to the store there were protests outside Plaza del Sol, the first plaza we went to, where I presume is the government building although I can´t understand what´s written on the buildings. HUGE protests outside, people in groups with giant banners and signs, all matchign red and white, and lines and lines of police busses with baracades infront of one building with spanish flags... we cut through as fast as we could as to avoid getting in the middle of anything messy (at the time it was still peaceful protesting, just chanting and standing, nobody moving) but we didn´t wait around to find out what happened. Further up the road police officers were closing it off so that no more vehicles could go through.
Safely back at the hostel, leaving for Toledo early tomorrow. There was supposed to be beer games for free in our hostel tonight, turned out it was at a hostel nearby and we missed it :(
We´ve had our hostel to ourselves the whole time, which at first was a blessing to have so much space and quiet, but it is a little difficult to socialize in the main areas and the only downfall of an empty room is no new friends. Hopefully we meet some more cool people in Toledo and Madrid!!
Miss you all
xoxo
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