This entry was posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 at 12:28 pm and is filed under Madrid. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
04.14.2008
I am a little sad that I am leaving this city tomorrow. More so than any other city I’ve traveled to while in Europe, Madrid has made me feel like I could live here. I’m not sure what it is though. But I do feel very at home here. Let me think about it and I’ll try to return to this subject.
When I arrived in Madrid, I had no set plans for a place to stay. My only focus was the condition or location of my bike. Once that I was relieved of that stress, I drove into the only part of Madrid that I was familiar with, Plaza de Santa Ana. Near the plaza there are quite a few hostels that I have either stayed at already, or knew of their existence as I have done a fair amount of walking in this section. I took a chance, and went to the Hostel Lucense where I had stayed during my last visit to Madrid to inquire about a room. I was greeted by the owner of the hostel, an older Spanish man who lives and works inside the hostel with his wife and son. It’s a small family owned hostel, that makes me feel very welcome.
That evening as I was pretty tired from the earlier stresses and traveling, I decide to just take a small stroll through the area I was in to see about getting something to eat. As I mentioned before, I ended up at a quite popular tapas bar right around the corner from where I was staying. After a few small snacks and some beer, I headed off to bed.
The following day I received an email from a fellow couchsurfer in Madrid who I have been in contact with for a few months. We had tried meeting a few times previously but our schedules never matched up well. We were supposed to miss each other again this time as she had a planned vacation to Amsterdam with her mother for the week I was to be in Madrid. However she had hurt her knee quite badly a week or so earlier, and decided to cancel her plans to visit Amsterdam and invited me to stay with her for the next few days. Excited to not have to spend my time in Madrid at a hostel and a chance to finally meet up with a friend that has been quite elusive previously, I notify my hosts that I will not be staying the full time at their hostel after all and get myself packed up and ready to go. As I am packing up, the son of the hostel owners knocks on my door and asks if I can help him before I leave with some pronunciations as he is preparing for an English exam so he can study in the states. Without any real agenda, I head off with him to the private residence attached to the hostel and spend a nice afternoon with this Spanish family that have plenty of stories and advice to offer me.
After leaving the Hostel Lucense, I decide to drive straight over to Kris’s flat, as I am quite prone to getting lost in this city and didn’t want to arrive too late. Well as predicted, it took me close to an hour to travel the 1.4km to her flat. I’m not sure if it’s me or this city, but I cannot figure it out. It’s like Boston, but with no street signs and more one way streets that always go in the wrong direction. Not to mention that I still haven’t gotten used to the fact that bikes can ride down a lot of the walking streets that most cars are not allowed on. I arrive in a really nice neighborhood right down the street from the Madrid’s opera house.
As Kris (my host in Madrid) had recently hurt her knee, my first night in Madrid was a quiet one. It actually worked out for the better, as we were able to have a nice dinner in and have a chance to get to know each other a bit better. A professional photographer and committed traveler, talking with Kris there was rarely a quiet moment as we had plenty to talk about.
To be continued…
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