Today marks my last day in Madrid and I wanted to see as much of it as I could. There is a chance that I may be back if I get a flight from here to Dubai next month, but just in case I thought I’d spend as much time as I could walking around. Oh, I really don’t have much of a choice though because I checked out of my hotel about 10 this morning and my bus leaves for Lisbon at 11 tonight, which means that I’m pretty much homeless. Except that I’m writing this from the lounge of my (former) hotel. I really needed a place to just sit and I was worried that the staff wouldn’t let me if I asked, so I snuck past them and have been sitting here now for about 20 minutes. I can’t imagine that they’d kick me out, but for now I’m keeping a low profile.

I started at 10 and according to my gps I’ve walked about 10 miles. The first 6 hours were pretty good, but the last two have been difficult. I wonder what the last 5 are going to be like. I figure I’ll be spending a majority of those hours in the bus station leaning against my backpack, so it won’t be that bad. I wonder if my spot that I had when I arrived five days ago will be free. On the health side, and at the risk of jinxing myself, everything seems to be fine today. No aches or pains, no coughing, runny nose, and best of all I haven’t had any symptoms of food poisoning. I didn’t eat anything until about a half hour ago, so I may be taking back what I said in a little while.

Madrid is really a pretty city, it really is. While I walked around today I was constantly surprised on how clean, how organized, how livable it seemed. I realize that one day doesn’t make for an objective viewpoint, but I really felt comfortable today and that doesn’t happen that often in bigger cities. I never did feel that way in London or Berlin, so Madrid has something going for it. Could it be the weather? It’s been just perfect today, around 80 or so.

One of the places that I saw today was called something like, Parque de Retiro. It was a huge park, lined with trees, dozens of fountains, street performers, and it also had a large manmade lake complete with people rowing boats around. There were couples rowing along at a slow pace and there were families having some fun, it reminded me something straight from a Monét painting.

For as much walking as I did today, I didn’t really take that many photos. I did take a couple dozen, but most were of alleys, statues, and of course, buildings. I’ll probably have a hard time finding anything to put on the blog.

I decided to head to the bus station. I figured since I’d been there twice before that I could walk it if I had enough time, so I left at about 7 for the two-mile walk. I really thought I knew where it was, if anyone were to have asked me, I felt confident I could have given general directions to the station. Unfortunately though, I was completely off on the directions, 180 degrees off. I walked for about 40 miniutes with both my backpacks and at a pretty good pace until I started to feel like I had made a wrong turn. I asked for directions from some firemen, and then from a taxi driver and both told me that I was going in the wrong direction. Ugg! I hate when I do that. So after about an hour I gave in and hired a taxi to take me there. I kept thinking that I was right and all the people giving me directions were wrong, but in the end I was completely turned around and ended up paying more for the taxi than if I had hired it from the hostel and saving me an hour of walking with 25kg strapped to my back. ☺

There really isn’t that much to tell about the bus trip, but there was something that I think happened, but I don’t know for sure. I think I caught someone trying to pick my pocket. This is what happened, I had been waiting in line with a bunch of people trying to get on the bus, that in itself is a long story, which I’ll skip it for your benefit. So, anyway, I’m standing there waiting and I feel something tap my butt, right side, so I move a little. It’s usually pretty common in most countries that people will push or touch you trying to either get you to move or to close a gap between them and you, so the fact that someone touched my butt didn’t really draw my attention. Not much later it happened again, and this time I looked back to see a woman staring past me, she is holding a square item about chest to stomach high, the item similar in size and look to an old record album. I moved a little, and not long after it happened again, I turned and glared at her, she wouldn’t look at me and seemed so engrossed by what was going on with the driver that I dismissed it yet again. It only took me about twenty seconds later though to realize that I was being touched in the same place as my wallet, so I reached back for it, and it was at the top of my pocket, about a quarter to a third out. I put it in my front pocket. I still wasn’t convinced of what I suspected, but I turned and looked at the woman again, but this time I kept staring, she refused to even glance at me. For about a minute I stared at her thinking if I should accuse her, get the police, or do nothing. Remember that I had no proof, and I wasn’t ready to assume this person was the worst of society. I turned back and finally got onto the bus, it was then when I had time to think about it that I was convinced she was trying to steal my wallet. What did it was the package she had been holding on to, both the size and the position made it a perfect item to shield her hands. She also never looked at me, which is strange. I wish I had gotten the police to at least check to see if she had a ticket. For about an hour or so I kept going over what I would have had to do if she had been successful. Fortunately, I’ve got my important things spread out in three different areas, so no one-theft would completely wipe me out, but even still it’s kind of scary to think about the loss of all the things in my wallet and the dent it would have made on the vacation.

It’s been a while since I wrote anything for the blog, and with good reason, I’ve haven’t been feeling well. So last I wrote I was leaving Tangier for Madrid and that happened without any big obstacles.  The bus ride was a night trip so I got to sleep through most of it. It also went past the Rock of Gibraltar so that was a nice thing to see, if only from the seat of my bus. The bus pulled into Madrid about 6am and I was too sleepy to really care. I found a spot in the depot and stretched out hoping to get so more rest before heading to my hostel. It only took about an hour of trying to rest until I realized that I could probably be more comfortable in my hostel, so I headed there.

I’ve been at the hostel now for four days with one more night to go before I leave for Lisbon. I had only planned to be here for three nights, but as I’ve alluded to I really haven’t felt that well. It started with the food poisoning back in Morocco, about 10 days ago… maybe even longer. Since I first got sick I’ve been on a rollercoaster of feeling better only to feel worse. Usually the mornings I feel pretty good, and nights I’m at my low point. I don’t know what I’ve got, but the symptoms are food poisoning (do I need to elaborate) and having a cold or flu. My muscles and joints ache, I get the chills at night, but then wake up covered in sweat, along with runny nose, and sometimes a pretty bad cough. Pretty much almost every part of me is got a problem. I am getting better and without a doubt yesterday was better than the day before, and today I’m feeling okay, but it’s still early. Because I’ve been feeling so poorly I stayed an extra two days here and I have one day left. I didn’t want to do it, but it seemed the smartest thing to do in light of my health. Give myself nothing but free time (and a bathroom all to myself) to heal.

Madrid is really nice. I haven’t spent nearly enough time walking around or going to tourist spots, but what I have seen has been nice. It has what many older cities seem to have, narrow roads, lots of small shops, people moving all the time, and possibly more important, it has a sense of character. For me, Paris is the pinnacle of cities that seem to have worked out how to live and work in such a confined space, and Madrid has some of these qualities. I don’t put it at Paris’ equal, but it really has a good livability feel to it. One of the things that I do like, is that they speak Spanish, the only language after English that I can kind of speak. Although I can’t form sentences, I do know many Spanish words and sometimes that’s all it takes to get a thought across.

Tomorrow night at 2300 I leave Madrid and arrive in Lisbon the next morning at 0600. I don’t know if I’ll get an opportunity to add to the blog, but if I do I’ll post some pictures.