La Dolce Vita: Madrid, Spain

Upon arrival at the airport I could tell Madrid was the bustling city I had imagined. After checking into our hostel we all went walking around the city and found a place to have lunch. The waiter spoke very little English so I used the bit of Spanish I know to communicate to him that I am a vegetarian, after which I received a look of bewilderment (Spanish culture and vegetarianism don't mix well together). Of course the only item on the menu that was vegetarian was the mixed salad. After our late lunch we went back to the hostel to take a siesta before going out for the night. FC Barcelona was playing so we went to a pub to watch the football match. All and all it was a great night, other than the annoying smoke in the pub which made my eyes bright red and watering.

The next morning we went to the Royal Palace, although rather simple on the outside, the inside was absolutely grandiose and magnificent. Each room had it's own color scheme and splendid decorations to match. The dining room looked like it came from a Disney princess movie. After the Royal Palace we walked to a cathedral next door, and as always it had beautifully striking stained glass windows. On our way back to the hostel we stopped by the Mercado San Miguel, and this was one of my favorite experiences in Madrid. The market was full of almost any kind of fresh food you could imagine, fish, meat, cheese, fruit. And you could also stop at the bar and get fresh sangria or a glass of wine. Or if you have a sweet tooth, they had fresh yogurt with any topping you could imagine, a display of endless gummies, and a pastry section where you could get hot chocolate with churros. Which reminds me, you MUST get chocolate con churros in Madrid, best dessert ever. It was fun to see the locals grabbing lunch, culturally the way they eat meals is so much different, they get all sorts of food and share with each other and eat off each others plates...much more similar to Asian cultures. We went back to the hostel for our afternoon siesta (hey you gotta do as the locals do). For dinner we went to Casa Botin, which is considered the oldest restaurant in the world. I was happy I got to use my Spanish skills to help us find the restaurant. I was a bit hesitant to eat there because I knew they were infamous for their suckling pig, which is a baby pig they serve whole and put the apple in it's mouth...and it looks kind of like the fetus pig I had to cut open for biology during freshman year of high school (sorry I hope you aren't eating right now). I thought I'd be safe if I ordered garlic soup, a mixed salad, and sauteed mushrooms. But who was I kidding, of course they still put meat bits in vegetable dishes. I had to spend the meal picking meat bits out of my soup and mushrooms which but a small damper on the experience. It was still neat to eat in the oldest restaurant in the world though.

We got an early start the next morning and went to 'Real Jardin Botanico', or the botanical gardens. It was relaxing to walk through and they had a great exhibit with cacti and bonsai trees, however it was little bit monotonous after a while since all of the flowers were dead because of the weather getting colder. I definitely recommend a visit if you are in Madrid in the Spring though. After, we took a trip to Toledo early in the afternoon, about a half hour outside Madrid, on our last day in the area. Toledo was a great escape from the hectic city. All the building were a matching brown clay color, kind of reminded me of the unity created by the "hokie stone" buildings on VT's campus. We walked around the city and found cathedrals, synagogues and mosques. It was interesting to see all three so close in vicinity to one another. Toledo was great but incredibly difficult to navigate. After walking around for a few hours we headed back to Madrid and went to a pub. I went to bed early since I wanted to be rested for our next stop, Barcelona!