Day 20: In which I assault a local in Madrid

Date: Thursday 17th April
Staying: Camping La Osuna – Madrid, Spain
Distance Travelled: 0 Miles
Song of the day: Beautiful Day - U2

Our 2nd full day in Madrid took shape slowly as we took the metro into town in the morning. We decided to take in the Cathedral de la Almudena at the back of the Palacio Real. In contrast to most of the churches we’ve seen on the trip so far, the cathedral was started in the late 19th century, and not fully completed until 1993, so it came complete with Picasso-esque stained glass windows.

From there, we caved and headed to the Plaza Mayor for more paella, where we sat under an umbrella as it poured with rain, while our waiter (with about 20 words of English) proclaimed “Beautiful day! Beautiful day!” From there we took a stroll to the Monumento a Colon, where a behemoth carving in stone commemorates Columbus discovering America. For a break from the city, we decided to take a (rather wet) stroll through the Parque del Retiro, taking in the Spanish version of the Crystal Palace.

On the way back to the campsite, we decided to take a look at the Estadio del Torres where the Bull Fights are held. Cam was all keen to go (me less so, for obvious reasons), but they’re only on on a Sunday (fortunately). It was at the station that I managed to assault one of the locals who was trying to get into the Metro station through the gate I was leaving it by. I’ve not really got much of an opinion on fare-dodging, but there was only space for one of us, and he was always going to loose. As I barged him out of the way, muttering expletives, he got the sharp end of my elbow on the way past, much to Cam’s amusement. Anyhow, the Estadio del Torres was a great building from the outside. Then it was back to the campsite and a retreat to the campsite bar for a few beers before bed.