¡Viva España!

From Athens, we (Berry & I) traveled to Madrid, Spain, while the rest of our group (except for Molly, who went to Barcelona) returned home. At least for me, there was no way I was going to travel all the way to Europe and not take full advantage of it, so traveling post-Greece was a must.

I am a somewhat seasoned European traveler, having visited the continent on three other occasions, but this was my first time in southern Europe. My first impression (while in Greece) was that southern Europeans do nothing but sit in cafes all day long and stare at American tourists. Madrid was entirely different, probably mostly because it was super-touristy, but the hustle and bustle of the city was hard to get used to after just having left such a relaxed country.

The most regrettable part of the second half of our trip was that we had no personal tour guide to tell us the significance of the things we were seeing. The most we could do was reference my little Rick Steves' book and read the bare-minimum information it had to offer. We did, however, take advantage of the free walking tour our hostel offered:

Plaza Mayor

Luis Candelas = Spanish Robin Hood

Oldest restaurant in the world

It's good luck!

El Oso y el Madroño

Just a pretty fountain

We also did our tourist-y duty and hit up the Prado, where we met up with Berry's friend, who also happened to visiting Madrid, and staying with a friend who is/was studying abroad there.

Before the Prado, though, was our first encounter with sangria. This glorious drink consists of an inexpensive red wine, sliced fruit, sugar, and just a hint of triple sec.... and it is heavenly. Seriously. And, once you've finished the drink, you can enjoy the leftover bits of fruit that have been soaking in wine (or, in Ryan's case, scoop out the leftover sugar) so it's practically a meal in itself. 

While enjoying our sangria, we watched Spain play Switzerland in the World Cup game. Man, they just love David Villa over there (and I don't blame them! hottie fo' sho'). Unfortunately, they lost 0-1, and the Spaniards were not in too great of a mood after that.

After the Prado we tried another Spanish delicacy... chocolate con churros. This might just be one of the greatest inventions man has ever come up with. We went to the famous Chocolatería San Ginés for our churros, just west of Puerta del Sol. This is seriously one sinful dessert. 

Our first day in Madrid was definitely our  most productive. After having a strict schedule for three weeks that called for waking up at 6:30 every morning, we allowed ourself some extra leisure time. We slept in often, which I honestly have no idea how we managed. We shared a room in our hostel with 12 other people, each with their own schedule. At any given time there was someone asleep and someone awake, so it was hard to determine when it was appropriate to have the lights on. 

The reason I mention, this, though, is that we didn't get too much touristy-things accomplished while in Madrid, so I will most likely be combining several days into one post (as opposed to having multiple posts for just one day, like I had for Greece). Just to warn you.