Last days in Spain

After a relaxing four nights in Sevilla, we had three days of traveling before our stop in Madrid. We took a super high speed train out of Sevilla that traveled at 300 km/hr, and after a change in Madrid we were in Toledo, the capitol of the Spanish empire before it was moved to Madrid hundreds of years ago. It is a beautiful old walled city surrounded by a river on three sides. It is also up on a hill, so the walking was difficult, and we stay a little bit out of the old town. The highlight was the army museum, which was in the old royal palace that had been destroyed during the Spanish civil war and then rebuilt. There were exhibits with all kinds of different weapons and armor, and two floors tracing the military history of Spain from 1500 to the present day.

The next day it was onto Àvila, which was about an hour and a half bus ride on the other side of Madrid. It was really cool and we liked it more than Toledo. It wasn't hilly, there was more food, and it has a awesome city wall that they claim is the best preserved medieval wall in Europe. There were free tapas just like in Granada, and they have really good mashed potatoes that have bacon in them.

The following day we traveled to Madrid after a little confusion with the siesta they took at the bus station in Àvila. We stayed in a nice hostel that was kind of like a hotel. We had our own room with a TV and internet, but had to share a bathroom, but only with one other room. The first night we walked on Gran Via, which is kind of like their Broadway, and then went to plaza Puetra del Sol, which is the square in the center of town. There were lots of street performers, so it was a really fun place to walk around at night.

We only had two days to explore Spain's largest city, so we had to pack a lot in. Luckily it wasn't quite as hot, so we were able to use most of the day. We went to the royal palace on the first day, which was built and designed by spanish monarchs over the years. It was very luxurious, and much different from the other palaces we visited in spain because it was entirely european. Some of the highlights were the porcelain room, which had walls lined completely with porcelain, and the Stradivarius violin collection. We also went to the cathedral, which is right next door. It was weird because it was very modern. It was built in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Then we went to the museum of the Americas, which was a collection of artifacts brought back from America during the Spanish conquest. They also added more recent objects from the native tribes, but the coolest things were the gold statues from the Incas and Aztecs. The picture below is us outside the royal palace.

The next day we went to the el Retiro park, which was a big park in the middle of the city that was really beautiful and really well kept. In the evening we went to the Prado Museum, which is kind of like the Spanish version of the Louvre. I thought it was a great museum because there were descriptions of most all the paintings in Spanish and English, and they were organized by artist, which I like because then I can at least get a feel for the style of the painter. It was also free from 6 to 8. We took one more walk around the main streets and plazas before calling it a night.

It was a fantastic time in Madrid, and in Spain in general. Madrid was definitely one of our favorite stops because there was so much going on, and it was very clean. It was challenging because almost no one speaks any English, but we were able to manage. Some of our other favorite stops were Valencia, and Àvila. There were lots of really interesting cities, and they were not nearly as packed with tourists as places in Italy. It was really hot, but it was manageable and better than it being too cold. All in all, we really liked Spain, and I think we both would like to come back. Goodbye for now, and onto Germany.