I am going to skip writing a complete blog post over our day in Valencia. We arrived at around 10 AM and spent most of the day at the beach. Since we were there on August 15, everything was shut down due to the holiday, Feast of the Assumption Feast of the Assumption. It has something to do with the Virgin Mary. Robin and I basically roasted on the beach for a while, had dinner, and then took the train to Madrid. It was a relaxing day, and we enjoyed hanging out the beach.
Let me preface by saying I feel really bad about Madrid. Robin and I barely planned out our days in advance, we couldn't figure out what to pack for our days there, and we had no desire to buy souveniers from the city, wanting to buy gifts from the rest of the cities we visited. For some reason, Madrid did not live up to our standards before we even got there. And to be completely honest, I don't think it lived up to our standards after we visited as well. Before arriving in Madrid, we heard from a few people that it was a lot like New York City. "Great" we thought. "We traveled across the world to end up in a city just like New York". And the first night we arrived, we weren't proven wrong. As we exited the metro, the first thing we saw was a KFC, just what everyone wants to eat when visiting a foreign country. To add to the excitment of the KFC, our directions to the hostel told us to keep walking until we saw a Starbucks. Yes you read that correctly. Our hostel was right next door to a Starbucks. It took a lot of will power, but I kept myself from buying a carmel frappacino.
While we were in Madrid, there was a huge event called "World Youth Day". It is a big event celebrated every three years. The people who go on this pilgrimage celebrate Jesus and get to encounter the Pope. Over 1 million people were expected to attend. The city was CRAWLING with these people. Most were under the age of 18, chanting and making music. It would have been fine if they didn't literally invade Madrid. Every where we went, we saw JMJ shirts, and heard their singing. It was hard to walk anywhere. Since it was so crazy, our first day was spent hanging out at the large park. It is kind of like their Central Park. There are little places to get ice cream all over the place. There is also a pond near the front of the park. You can rent paddle boats and go around the pond for a little while. That was fun, but it was so hot! When we were done, Robin and I got ice cream and sat near a stream. We were able to put our feet in the water, and cool off a bit.
After hanging out at the park for a bit, we decided to start walking back to the Hostel. We wanted to relax a little before getting ready for dinner and a flamenco show. On our way back to the Hostel, we tried to go into a few different souvenier stores. It was kind of impossible because there were so many people stuffed in!!! We still managed to get a few gifts.
For dinner, Robin and I went to this place called Museo de Jamon. It's basically a big meat place, but they also serve food. For 2 Euros, we got a sandwich, place of paella and a glass of wine. Not going to lie, after that meal both Robin and I were a little tired of paella and sandwichs. That's all we were really eating while away. When we were done with dinner, we decided to walk around a little bit, wanting to get dessert. We managed to find a large square filled with restaurants. We walked around until we found a place that served cheesecake, which is what I really wanted.
Done with dessert, we went to go watch our Flamenco dance. Let me tell you how awsome the show was!! The dancing was so amazing, and the music they make with their hands and feet. It felt like I was watching the Spanish version of an Alvin Ailey show. Each dance had a story to it. I also really loved how the music was performed live, on stage. I wonder if they have any flamenco shows in NYC. I would love to see one.
That was our first day in Madrid. I still can't believe I've been home for almost a week already. I am ready to go away again. Now I just have to figure out where to!
Sammy xoxo
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