Madrid, Spain
After a really awful night sleep on the train, we entered Madrid. We got off the train and got freshened up in the bathroom. We were hungry, so we grabbed breakfast at the train terminal which we found is a very easy way to grab food without breaking the bank. Britt got a pepperoni sandwich and Derek had a croissant. Of course, we each had a cafe.
We made our way to the metro, bought a day pass and headed to the city. Our initial reaction was that Madrid is very clean. However, we felt it lacked the charm that Lisbon had and was very much a NYC of Europe.
We weren't really sure what to do in Madrid so we decided to take the city site seeing tour bus. This was a great decision because we could hop on and off at any of the site seeing spots. We got a pair of headphones and could plug in and chose which language we wanted to hear the tour in. It was 39€ for the two of us and it was worth every penny.
We got off at a few stops along the way including the Roman temples and the art museum ( we didn't go in). We stopped to grab a beer at a little cafe which was decent. Then, We decided to grab food. It took a while to find somewhere for Derek to eat but we finally found a place with seafood paella for Brittany and French fries for Derek. It was delicious! We also had a sangria each. There were local street artists who sang and played accordion. We were among the few that tipped them.
We were feeling a little tipsy after the wine and tired from our trip and lack of hotel for two nights so we ended up getting back on the bus and took turns taking naps. We recommend not traveling overnight 2 nights in a row....we were exhausted!!!!
After we both came back to life, we got off the bus and went out for a chocolate cherro and cafe. We then stopped at a bar and grabbed a lemon beer and a currant beer.
We decided to make our way to the bus station, and there got a beer each, a sandwich for Brittany and a crossaint.
When the bus arrived Brittany was mortified to discover that there was no bathroom and it was an 8 hr trip. It ended up being okay, as we stopped 3 times at sketchy bus stops to pee.
Overall, we were excited to move on to Barcelona. Madrid was very pretty, had some great places and great sights, but it wasn't our type of city. It could've been the lack of sleep or time with Madrid but it will not be at the top of our list.
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