Jasmine's 2011 Trip: Madrid

The next day we headed south to Madrid to meet Jenny. We arrived in Estacion de Atocha, which is renowned for its beautiful greenhouse (see below) and took the metro to Puerta del Sol, located in the heart of the city, to check in to our hostel. As we leaving the metro station, we walked through an anti-war demonstration being held in the plaza. It was a bit chaotic, but for the most part, it very civil. The location of our hostel Barbieri Sol, was pretty ideal, as there were lots of restaurants, mercados, panaderias, and clubs within walking distance. One of the things I had heard about Madrid was that it was a big party city in comparison to Barcelona. It seems to be true. I also had an easier time communicating with the locals, in Barcelona, Catalan is spoken and I could not always understand what was being said. In Madrid, I had no problem communicating. We had time for sangria and tapas before we set off to meet Jenny. It took us most of the day, but finally we found each other in time for a walk down Paseo del Prado, which is a street lined with palaces and museums. We finished off with dinner and drinks...it was so great to see her!
We were staying at different hostels, so we arranged to meet up the following day at about noon. We had brunch at a cafe then headed out to a street market held daily called El Rastro, in La Latina at the Calle de de Cortidores, which sells everything from antiques, clothes, jewelry, pets, ect. We spent a few hours shopping for deals and gifts for friends and family back home. Afterwards we all went back to our hostels to get ready for dinner. Since we were celebrating my birthday, I got to pick the restaurant. Eventually, we found a Cuban restaurant (ropa vieja is one of my favorite dishes of all time). We enjoyed fried sweet plantains, black beans, white rice, tostones, pork and beef until we could take no more! After that, we found a small, intimate jazz club called Populart. By US standards the decor seemed a politically incorrect (logo) but there is no doubt the people running establishment appreciate jazz. The Larry Martin Band was performing that night and featured a vocalist, guitarist, stand up bass, pianist, and percussionist. They were very good and we enjoyed the show. A few hours after that, it was time to call it a night. On our way back, Jenny bought me a churro at a panaderia and she and Erin sang happy birthday...they were so sweet! I had been missing my family and friends all day (thanks again for the messages and emails) they really made it a special day...thanks ladies!
Erin left the next morning, and I moved over to Jenny's place, the Way Hostel.
We walked down Calle Atocha to Estacion de Atocha to buy our overnight train tickets to Lisoba, Portugal for the next day. It was the first time I got a really good look at it. The greenhouses's tropical garden is stunning, and there are dozens of freshwater turtles piled up on logs in a pond. Construction is evident everywhere, as Atocha was the site of a series of terrorist bombings back in March 11th, 2004 that killed 191 people.
Jenny had noticed that the station was right across the street from the Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia and we decided to go there after a terrific lunch at El Brillante, an old school sandwich shop.
Reina Sophia is Madrid's modern art museum and was originally a hospital centuries ago. It now features the works of Salvador Dali, Juan Gris, Joan Miro, and Picasso and focuses on Spain's contributions to the Surrealist movement. This was actually the first modern art museum I have visited on this trip, and it was a refreshing change from the hours of viewing more classical works the last few weeks. One of the highlights was viewing Picasso's Guernica.
After making dinner that night, we joined a group of ladies from Australia and went dancing. Jenny is a fantastic dancer and we kept it going... the DJ played a lot of US pop music with some salsa mixed in.
The next day was slow going. We felt like shopping and went out to find a collection of stores, called Fuencarral that Jenny had heard about which carried a lot of local, indy labels. We both bought dresses, (Jenny picked out a beautiful one for me) and after a late lunch began to head back to the hostel. It was about 7 pm and prostitutes were now everywhere to be seen, where only hours earlier the same calle had seemed like an upscale mall.
Later that evening we caught the overnight train out to Lisboa at Estacion de Charmartin.
On the way to Madrid from Barcelona