We arrived at Birmingham airport on Friday morning for our big trip to Spain. It was quite sad to say goodbye to family and friends. We encountered no problems getting from Birmingham to Charlotte, and from Charlotte to Philly.
Before we boarded plane to go to Madrid, we were writing down Meredith Jordan's phone number and address. Meredith is a close family friend of Alan, and she had agreed to show us around town and help us buy train tickets to Sevilla. We soon realized that we had booked the wrong hotel. As a matter of fact, we were supposed to book Hostal Moncloa, but we booked a 4-star room at Hotel Moncloa. Story to be continued...
Our plane ride from Philly to Madrid was very cramped with our long legs, and the ambien didn't work like we thought it would. Both of us had a hard time getting any rest. We arrived in Madrid to find ourselves in a culture shock. We couldn't talk to anyone and became frustrated quickly.
Our frustration was relieved when we received a called at about 9am local time, 2am Alabama time. Our friend Mike Mayer was apparently having a long night as well. We had no idea that our phones would pick up a signal, so it was nice to hear from our buddy at such an unexpected time. Our taxi driver that took us to the hotel couldn't find Hotel Moncloa, and drove by the entrance more than 3 times. Needless to say, we couldn't ask him questions or help him find the hotel. He continued to try and talk to us about god knows what, and all we could say is "lo siento, no hablo espanol y no entiendo."
Eventually, he asked some fellow Spaniards on the streets where Hotel Moncloa was, and dropped us off at the wrong place. We toted our luggage around until we found the hotel entrance, and the receptionist spoke very little english. He told us that during this month only, there is a promotion to the 5-star hotel next door and our reservation was there. Here we are, supposed to have been staying at a hostel for 50 euro, and we are staying our first night in Spain at a 5-star resort!
It didn't take long to realize that it was hot everywhere we went. In the hotel lobby, hotel rooms, restaurants, apartments, and discotecas. It lead me to question, "Do Spaniards like to sweat?"
We called Meredith to find that she was hungover from the night before. We needed a few hours of sleep ourselves before ventured off and bought train tickets to Sevilla. We napped until about noon.
Meredith walked from her apartment to our hotel - what a blessing she was. Her roommate, Luz, as well. They were more than accommodating and we honestly aren't sure what we would've done without them. Meredith is from Monticello, Georgia so it was nice for her to spend time with some Americans. She took us on the Metro to buy our train tickets to Sevilla. Funny experience....As we're walking through the gates to get on the Metro, there is a security guard and a K-9 German Shepard to patrol the gates. As soon as Alan approached the gate, the K-9 went crazy - growling, barking, and jumping at Alan. The security guard was laughing because Alan didn't do anything to entice the dog, I guess he just simply looked different than everyone else!
Our options for traveling to Sevilla were the bus for 20 Euros and a 13 hours ride, or a 82 euro fast-train ride that took 2.5 hours. Obviously, we chose the train since all of the traveling was beginning to wear us down.
After we got back from buying train tickets, the jet lag caught up to us. We had to take another nap for a few more hours until Luz and Meredith met us at our 5-star hotel at 10pm and we went to dinner at a restaurant called Casa Manolo. Russian salad, calmari, tortilla, patatas bravas, and croquetas. Bread was hard. All bread is hard in Spain apparently.
The four of us pre-gamed at their apartment drinking rum and fanta limon until about 3am. We were pretty shocked to see that its normal to go out at 3am. Went to a club called Pacha and had a great time. Only bad thing was that the cover charge was 16 euro, but it came with a free drink. Each mixed liquor drink thereafter was 14 euro. Incredibly expensive! Felt like we were in Vegas, but even more expensive than that!
After the discoteca, we were trying to find Kebabs but all the stores were closed since it was 7am on a Sunday morning. We found a Churrerias and ate Churros. Tasted like a funnel cake, except you dipped it in hot chocolate sauce. Really tasty, unique, and rich.
Alan and I arrived back at the hotel at about 7:15am and the sun was rising. We were talking about how much we learned in 1 day, it truly felt like we had been here a couple weeks. Check out was at noon, so we had a rough wake-up call at 11:30am.
Our train left at 4pm so we checked out of the hotel and walked our luggage to Merediths apartment to relax until our departure. Alan had 2 duffle bags and a backpack. I had 2 duffle bags, a small suitcase carry-on, and a fully loaded backpack. It was quite a journey especially after we got lost on the way there. It took us about 40 minutes of walking to find her apartment. We were soaking wet with sweat and in desperate need of a shower.
Overall, great time in Madrid. We are so thankful for Meredith and Luz. Below are pictures from our experiences in Madrid.
