nos vamos a España: Madrid ~ wide open world

Spain ~ August 14th – 23rd The trip to Spain started off with us crossing the border on a WAY overpriced train from France, but being ecstatic nonetheless to be there. The train dropped us at Irun and we were officially there. Who knew the time changed an hour? Not us, so let’s drink some cold cervezas while waiting for the night bus to Vallencia! Salute! Couple bottles of wine in a plaza nearby the station and we were feeling pretty great come 8:30 for the night bus. Wait, what, it’s really 9:30? Shit. Found the cheapest room we could in town (still not cheap at 30 euros) and drank a bit more while singing along to catchy music, ignoring the knocks of whomever was knocking on our door, presumably asking us to be quiet. This town is a stop on the Camino de Santiago, the famous pilgrimage through Spain, so we may have been the only non-walkers at the hostel. At some point we really were singing along to songs from the movie Sister Act, so hope the pilgrims could appreciate that at least.
Round 2 at the station, bright & early, ready to beg to be able to use our tickets and not have to completely buy new ones. The bus company never opened their window though, and while we knew Spanish people were typically a bit late, this was too much. Found out they were closed the whole day because of a holiday in the nearby St. Sebastian. Lovely…..sure it was just lovely… Asked another company when their next bus leaving that exciting border town was, and we found out there was one 20 minutes later to Madrid. Sooo, to Madrid we went, determined to make the very most of it! Arrive six hours later, found a cheap hostel, threw our bags down & off to explore the charming capital.

Paella & rose

Central Madrid

People are always offering you one free drink if you come into their bar, so we bar hopped that way a bit. Met Ian (San Francisco) & Kane (pro basketball player in Spain) & had a good ol’ time