We woke up hungover-less, so I really, really like that yellow stuff now! We headed off to find some breakfast and discovered the large Spanish prostitution population. At first I thought it may have been our area, but it seems that every side street you walk down, there are ladies leaning against walls everywhere. All very non-threatening and they just ignored us totally, but there were all sorts of ladies, and some that I am pretty sure where not actually female ladies either. There were young and old, nicely dressed, trashily dressed, and even a couple of pregnant ones. I wondered if it was as prevalent before the financial crisis here. Needless to say, it was an interesting kind of walk for 10am.
We wandered into a place for brekkie and we have learnt a few more Spanish words, we’ve figured out eggs, coffee, tea and milk too now. I am sure they just roll their eyes when they walk away from us though – both due to our lack of pronounciation as well as our tremendously limited vocabulary. We ended up with fried eggs, Spanish cured ham, and potato chips (French fries), and even though it was a little oily, it was very yummy and got us ready for a big walk.
We walked to the Peurta del Sol (Place of the Sun) which is said to be the centre of Madrid. There was a fountain, and a couple of statues. I had my photo taken with the bronze ‘bear’ statue which is meant to represent Madrid. We wandered from there to the Plaza Mayor, a very old (and large) plaze which had seen Spanish Inquisition trials in the 17th century. There was a fabulous building – the Casa de la Panaderia – which was covered in allegorical paintings. As glorious as this building was, it’s just actually a bakery – but a very splendid bakery at that. There were lots of cafes around the square as well and the best thing was that they have water blowy things. Hmmm, how to explain. Well, it’s bloody hot and the sun beats down much harder than it does in Australia (surely). The cafes have outdoor tables and chairs and they are covered by marquees. The marquees have hoses up in them, that blow sprays of cold water over the tables, very light sprays I should say, and they just cool everything down beautifully.
There were lots of street performers, both in this square and in every square we came across. Lots of Charlie Chaplins and bronzed up frozen statues. It was siesta time while we were walking through though, so things were very quiet except for the tourist traps. We walked and walked, I just loved looking at the buildings. They are all four and five stories high and either pale yellow, or pale orange, with tiny balconies covered in bright flowers. Even the street signs were fabulous. Made of nine tiled squares, with a (I think, relevant) picture along with the street name itself.
We were hot, tired and hungry and found a place that had $12 tapas with free sangria. Our first sangria and tapas in Spain and sheesh was it good. The sangria was sweet and very cold, and the tapas was strange but yummy. After about an hour eating and drinking, we made our way back through the streets to the motel and all the little side shops were starting to open up again. They had shops just totally filled with hanging meats, every type of cured ham you could think of, with absolutely no smell coming from the shop entrance at all. Same with the seafood shops, no smell whatsoever.
We hit the Via Gran, and did a little shopping. Mark has ended up with some trendy new casual clothes as it appears the young men of Spain are around his size. It’s a very trendy and well dressed city in that aspect. All of the women wear highheels, always, and it seems that wedgie shoes are the in things this season. Tight and short seems to be the order of the day, for both male and female.
We thought we’d have a quiet night in, but had a major screw up with our credit card which kept us up for most of the night. Needless to say, Aussie credit cards main word of the year is PANIC with a big red button, and rather than be logical about things, they just shut everything down, which leaves us in a not so good situation with regular scheduled payments back home. Apple iTunes is the same, PANIC, shut everything down, before actually investigating anything or answering the question you asked. Ranting again now, time to go!
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