Majestic Madrid and Totally Incredible Toledo
Hola everyone!
This journal entry covers a span of 3 days which I spent in Madrid and Toledo. I loved every bit of Spanish culture and especially loved the awesome town of Toledo. Here is some stories from my travels.
10/27/04
Today began my time in Espana. Right now it is about 1:30 and I am on a train en route to Madrid, Spain. We boarded the train last night at 11:14 p.m. I didn’t see Larry and Nika, so I was hoping that they made it ok as they have the ticket from Irun to Madrid. I was walking to the WC when Larry ran into me. Happy to see one another, we grabbed my bags and moved them to the right train carriage. There was this old French man who was sitting in my reserved train seat. He had to move all his stuff out of it, and then tried to get me to sit in another seat which was open. Right before heading to bed, he himself went over to the 2 free seats and laid down on them, only to be ousted when two young travelers needed the seats. I leaned over and said “Zut” which I think is French for shoot (it was the only vain word I think I know in French…lol). I then fell asleep. I woke up many times throughout the night, just about once every 2 hours. In the morning we landed in Irun around 7:40. We sat down inside the station waiting for our landing place to appear on the board. Once landing voie 2 was listed for Madrid, we went out and waited for the train. It is a small 3 carriage train. We settled into our seats and I passed out pretty quickly til about 10:30. After my short nap, I planned my Madrid and Toledo adventures using the Let’s Go travel book, also listened to music and did some journaling.
Once we made it to Madrid, I got off the train and reserved a seat from Madrid to Barcelona. Then after that I started searching for a hotel. After 3 tries, I found one called Hostal Portugal. Since it had room, I decided to stay for 3 nights. The old lady was very sweet, but loved to talk way too much. I seriously could have been exploring Madrid for about an hour and a half, but instead she kept talking and talking. Oh well, I was just glad that I had a room for the night and praised God for it. Afterwards, I headed out to town to get my bearings. Found the grocery store, and a flamenco place, and the information. Once I was finished exploring, I went back to the hotel, called my parents, then did internet. I also explored Madrid at night time with everything lit up. I went to bed around one o clock so that I would be able to get up in the morning for the Toledo train.
10/28/04
Today was my favorite day in Spain. I explored the city of Toledo, and it was AMAZING! This morning I ended up sleeping in past when the first train to Toledo was supposed to leave, so I took the second one at 10 something. It only ended up costing me 9 euros to take a round trip to Toledo. Definitely the cheapest and most smooth trip I have taken.
Once at the station, I found the train to Toledo and got on. I remember it being like a school bus set up. All the seats facing one direction. There was a nun sitting across from me. I ate my doughnuts and coffee on the train and then before I knew it, we were told to exit the train. We walked across these train tracks and made it to the buses who took us the rest of the way to Toledo. I was freaking out because I didn’t know that my trip to Toledo took buses at all! I just figured they were heading to Toledo…lol. Anyways, about a 20 minute ride later, and we were at the train station in Toledo.
I grabbed a map at the station of Toledo and started heading out to explore. I finally found a bridge with cars on it, and got my bearings on the map. I was so excited to be in Toledo. I had seen pictures on a Rick Steves’ Video and could hardly contain myself…lol.
I then made it up into town, figured out where I was again, and tried to get into Alcazar. The only problem was they were shut down for 3 days for construction…oh well. So I headed to another museum with artwork. I really enjoyed the works of El Greco. After that short half an hour in the museum, I headed out towards O’Briens pub and somewhere to eat.
After getting lost several times, I finally made it to a place to eat. La Albada or something like that. It was supposedly the best place to eat in Toledo. I went in, waited for a few moments, and they seated me downstairs. I was diagonal from this other guy who was eating by himself. I started looking at the menu and realized that it was all in Spanish, so I asked for an English menu. The waiter pointed at the special of the day (which was only 10 euros) and so I tried to decipher what it was. The only problem was that there was no equivalent on the English menu. So when the waitress came around to take my order, I asked what the special was. She didn’t speak English like at all, and looked at the guy across from me. He recommended to order special and so I decided to take it.
This started what would be one of my most memorable conversations while in Europe. I found out he was one of the guys in charge of commerce between the U.S. and Spain and so that is the reason why he spoke English so well. He was also a Toledian. We talked about where I was studying and stuff (the normal subjects strangers usually ask) and then we discussed how much I liked Spain. At the end of our meals, he gave me his business card with his contact info. As he left he told me that he had paid for my meal. This guy was AWESOME! His name was Ignacio. The meal was this awesome meat stuff on bread with sauce (which rocked!) and then the main course was ribs. The dessert was a cheesecake type thing.
After having a delightful time in their with free food, I headed to the big cathedral in town. Unfortunately almost all of it was under construction, but I still managed to get some great shots with my digital camera (even though it was forbidden). A lot of the museums in Spain don’t allow pictures, which is kind of unfortunate because it is so rich in picture opportunities. Afterwards, I headed to the El Greco museums and a church with Goya’s works in it.
After those experiences, I headed to the other side of town for some amazing views. I really loved this part of the day. It was nearing to the end of my stay there, and just reflecting was perfect. The birds always get me. God always places birds in the most beautiful of locations. His love is amazing!
After some more pics, I headed back to my train. Stopping to look at souvenirs, I ended up back where I started. I LOVED TOLEDO!! The ride back showed me how tired I was from traveling. Once back in Madrid, I explored a little bit and took part in Tapeo. This is an amazing Spanish custom where everyone gets rather dressed up (pretty much every day) and from about 5 to 8 pm they go out from café to café grabbing tapas. Tapas are pastry concoctions which are rather cheap and each taste uniquely different and AMAZING!! I really loved taking part in this custom. Afterwards, I pretty much chilled the night away and went to bed. Thank you God for my day in Toledo and Madrid. Amen.
10/29/04
My final full day in Madrid. At this time in my travels, I could not believe how fast the break had flown by and how tired I was!! I am sure many of you have done trips as well and can probably relate to how tired you can be if you pack your days full of adventures.
After starting my day with a bath (which felt sooo good), I then headed out for the real Palacio (the huge Palace in Madrid). I did not realize how elaborate the Palace was going to be! It definitely woke me up and I did some commentary on the Palace. I remember entering the palace and the attendant woman speaking Spanish to me, pointing at my Sunny Delight bottle. I thought she was telling me that I couldn’t bring sunny delight inside the palace. Anyways, so I start chugging this thing right, and then another woman motions to put the lid on the bottle. Ohhhhhhh, so they just wanted me to put a cap on the bottle. I thought it was pretty funny afterwards and just shows how I need to learn how to speak Spanish.
Anyways, I decided to go explore the cathedral. It was amazing in there. Definitely had a Spanish feel to it. After that, I headed towards the big art museums.
Took the metro to the Atocha train station, which is where I had to go for my train the next day, so it was good to know how long it took to get there. After getting off the metro, I went to the Reina Sofia with a couple pretty big art works in it. It was sooo confusing in there. It took me forever to realize how to get upstairs to the second floor where Picasso’s works were. I saw his famous work, and also his others, thinking that he was a pretty crazy artist. All of the artwork was pretty contemporary and symbolic and weird…lol. I did find some that I liked though. After exploring the Reina Sofia, I headed to the Music conservatory to see if there were any recitals that night. There weren’t any going on that night, so I headed to the El Prado Museum of art.
I really really loved the El prado. I think it had the highest concentration of big works and equaled the d’Orsay in scope. Walking amongst paintings by Rafeal, El Greco, Goya, Rubens, etc. It was sooo amazing walking around there. After the El Prado, I decided to go back to my hostel. After searching for concerts for about 2 hours, I ended up heading back to the Cathedral in Toledo to hear an organ concert. He played some famous pieces, so that made it pretty cool. I then went back to my hotel and did some phoning home. I then went to the Inet café and talked to a lot of people online. I stayed until they closed at midnight. I was talking to my sister, CK, Mom, Kiana, and Dan for a lot of the time. It felt great to talk to them again. Afterwards, I chilled on the streets and got some water for the next day. I then went back to my room, packed, and went to bed. Despite my tiredness, it still turned out to be amazing God glorifying great day!!
And now, I will complete my 11 day Fall break in the next entry on my time in Barcelona. I do hope there is some enjoyment to be had by reading about my adventures. Every day is new and fresh and I never know what to expect!! Hopefully you like reading about it just as much as I love writing it down and recording it. Keep in touch everyone!
Kyle Kekai
|  | 
|
