After that we began to walk down the other side of Gran Via, opposite to the direction of all of the museums, looking for the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) and the Egyptian temple that was a gift to Madrid after helping Egypt restore their pyramids. But before we could get there we encountered the Lion King (El Rey Leon) the musical was playing in Madrid, in Spanish of course, and we were interested in going. The cheapest tickets were 38 euros and I knew I had about 40 left so I was a little uneasy and did not want to take money out of the ATM (they charge you an arm and a leg in international fees). We decided to think about it and kept walking around. We then found that Madrid had a TGIFs! We wanted to go there for dinner but it was a bit too pricey for us poor college kids.
Across the street (on the right side of the photo) from TGIFriday's, there was a National Geographic store. We went inside and browsed around for a bit and I was admiring everything elephant themed that they had! I even got a picture with a huge elephant that was made of wood that was for sale for about 20,000 euros! But the picture is on Michael's camera so I have to wait for him to send it to me.
INSERT PICTURE OF ME AND ELEPHANT HERE!
As we were walking some more, a bit confused, we noticed that there was an artisan craft show going on so we decided to stop. Rachael bought a scarf and I bought something for a friend of mine.
At the end of the market there was a statue with water surrounding it. This statue was marking that is was Plaza de Espana. The statue was a monument to the Spanish poet Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.
The bronze statue, much smaller, in front of the taller statue for Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, is of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Don Quixote is a novel written by Cervantes.
After walking around the statue for a bit and admiring the green space we decided to continue on our adventure and try to find the Egyptian temple. The lady at the hotel said that it was not much to see but just a few rocks but we decided to go anyways.
We found the temple quite easily because there were signs all up and down the streets with arrows pointing to where you wanted to go and when to cross the street and such. So here are just a few rocks... the Templo de Debod.
I think that is temple is way more impressive than a bunch of rocks and I feel like there might have been some significance lost in translation between Spanish and English. There was a line to go inside the temple but we did not know enough about the place or have the patience to wait to go inside.
We walked around the temple for a little bit and then found an amazing overlook of the city! The huge castle like building is the Royal Palace, of course. We also could see a roller coaster, which has no significance at all to this blog, but I remember wanting to ride it!
As we continued walking, the area next to the temple turned out to be a park. Everyone seemed to be outside enjoying the fresh air and the green grass, because there is not that much of it in the city. There were couples cuddled up on blankets throughout the park, showing a lot more affection than you would ever see in the USA.. cultural differences. I also saw people practicing Tai Chi, and I recognized it right away. Shout out to taking that random class last semester.
We continued our walking to try to find the Royal palace and we got so close but got side tracked by a garden. There was a sign that said that there are squirrels that live there so Michael was on a mission to find them, but we couldn't come across any. We were also curious as to where the garden went to, which ended up just being some green space.
Finally we made it to the Royal Palace after walking around all morning! At first we weren't even sure what it was but we saw a sign and soon realized that this was the palace. There was also a bunch of people crowding in the area so we assumed it must be something special.
Here is the courtyard that we could have entered after waiting in a line to go through security. We decided that it was not worth it for us when we could see everything through the fence.
Across the way from the Royal Palace was the Cathedral. I don't know much about it but it was a beautiful building.
After seeing the main tourist attractions on this side of town we decided to head on back to the hostal, but making pit stops along the way. Our first stop was not planned but rather something interesting that we happened to come across. It was a window of a restaurant with a bunch of bottle taps and beer bottles, as many as you can imagine. We were interested in it so we took a picture but did not entertain it anymore.
Our next stop was at the first grocery store that we happened to come across, because we had not seen very many of them yet this far. We bought crackers, cheese, salami, chorizo, sweets and breakfast for the morning. A cheap and easy way to eat and save some money at the same time.
From there we walked home and ate lunch. After lunch we decided that we wanted to see El Rey Leon tonight, at the 10:00 pm showing so we went to ticket office to buy ourselves our tickets. They were all sold out.. well not technically but there was only 2 seats left, one in our price range for 38 euros and the other was over 100 euros! No way that we were about to pay for that ticket. It was sad that we couldn't see the show but we moved on and went to find Plaza Mayor.
The first time that we were here, in search of Plaza Mayor, we had no idea that we were actually standing in Plaza Mayor. We decided to continue on to San Miguel market. This market reminded me a lot of the market that is Barcelona right off the La Ramblas, expect this one is inside and a lot more crowded because you are contained by the walls.
On our way back we walked through Plaza Mayor again, but this time we realized that we were actually in Plaza Mayor because we could read the signs. These pictures are from the first time that we were there because it was a cool structure and it reminded Rachael and I of the St. Mark's Basilica in Venice. So here are the pictures from the first time that we were here.
I am pretty sure that this street corner has no special significance to Madrid expect it is pretty and it caught my attention.
We went back to the hotel to rest up for a bit but then we were back it! We walked down to Puerto del Sol to find the toothpicks for Rachael. No such luck! They just aren't anywhere to be found. The street leading to Puerto del Sol is even lined with tourist shops up and down and we still couldn't find them!
We then walked up the street to bring us back to Gran Via, which Rachael's dad calls Hooker Hill. We counted over 15 hookers in less than 2 minutes of walking. What an amazingly high number. Once you learn how to spot one, you spot them all.
From there we went to dinner at El Tigre. If you ever go to Madrid, go here! There are 3 different locations all very close to each other and the food was awesome. They even have the same philosophy of free tapas with every drink you buy! Here is what we all got to eat for under 10 euros. I think the tab was about 8.50 to be exact!
After finishing everything from both of the plates we decided to treat ourselves to some Ben & Jerry's ice cream because we had spotted a shop earlier in the day. I had a one scoop cone of New York Super Fudge Chunk and that was enough for me! We went and sat in the Puerto del Sol and when we were eating, and of course talking in English, a guy who was standing near by asked us where we were from and so on. Turns out he was from Massachusetts and we was studying abroad in Madrid and waiting to meet a friend from U-Conn who is studying in Granada. U-Conn is the same program that our other roommate, Lineth, is in! Small world indeed!
We finished up our ice cream and decided to call it a night! We spent the rest of the night relaxing in the hostal.
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