First Evening in Madrid

posted March 31, 2007 by Holly Hayes part of trip: Mississippi River Road Trip

First Impressions of Spain

The first half of our trip was spent in central and southern Spain, which welcomed us with unseasonably cold weather the entire time. That was such a disappointment, but at least we had sunny Morocco to look forward to. And of course we had a good time anyway.

This was the first time either of us had visited Spain, and as always some things turned out to be different than we expected. One surprising aspect of Spain was the very limited number of people who speak English. It's not that we think everyone in the world should speak our language, but we've recently visited Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland - where people are positively eager to speak English and do it better than we do. But after receiving a negative reply to our fifth habla ingles? we gave up trying and just used a combination of rudimentary Spanish and charades to get our point across.

But even more surprising to us was how orderly traffic generally is in Spain. As a hot-blooded Latin country that is the birthplace of the Formula One world champion, we expected the driving to be fully as chaotic as Mexico or Italy. But remarkably, drivers almost always stayed in between the lines, obeyed traffic signals, and drove even slower and calmer than most Brits! Very interesting. And very pleasant, since we ended up renting a car for some of our later journeys in Spain.

March 31: Madrid

madrid nightlife

Our journey began in Madrid, the capital of Spain that's right smack in the center of the country and has about 3.2 million people. We landed in the early afternoon and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel. Well, almost anyway. The driver spoke no English so communication was difficult and although we knew the name of the hotel and a major road that it was near, he didn't seem to be familiar with it. So when we were close we just said es bueno and got out.

From there we found it on foot in remarkably good time, in part by using a compass! On impulse I had bought us a little plastic compass just before the trip, when I bought my backpack. I got it mainly for use in the maze-like medinas of Morocco, but we ended up using it throughout Spain quite a bit as well. It was rather satisfying to use such a simple tool in the days of digital maps and sat nav.

After briefly settling into our hotel, we set out to do a little sightseeing. We made a general heading for the cathedral and palace, which are next to each other on the west side of the city, but took our time enjoying the sights and sounds along the way.

Our walk took us through the famed Plaza Mayor, which once hosted the Spanish Inquisition and now just hosts overpriced cafes.

plaza mayor, madrid

I tried a grilled sweet potato from a street vendor (pretty good, but half cold); we admired the flags that were put out on balconies all over the city for Semana Santa (Holy Week); we peeked in several small churches that were invariably holding services; and we saw palm branches being readied for Palm Sunday celebrations the following day.

flags for semana santa

next: Day Trip from Madrid to Spectacular Segovia

previous: Dorchester Abbey with the New Tripod

Article Info

Page Title
First Evening in Madrid
Added By
Holly Hayes
Date Published
March 31, 2007
Last Updated
February 1, 2024