Arrived Madrid at 3 today, almost 24 hours after leaving my house. There was free wifi at airport and I made the mistake of emailing the apt manager that I was at airport waiting for my luggage. Seems there is no Raul, that this is more of an established business than their AirBnB profile lets on. They wrote back ok let us know when you’re on the train to Sol. But I no longer had wifi so I didn’t receive it. I had told them in an earlier msg that I won’t have a phone and not be able to contact them. “Raul” said no problem that he’d be at Sol at 4.

I had paid online for a tourist metro card. 34.50€ for a week. Was to pick up the card at the booth at the airport subway station. When I got there, six people were in line and one girl was behind the counter. The problem was no one knew what they wanted and the girl was explaining every package such as a ticket to see all the museums, etc., over and over. So it took a while to get the card.

Once I did it was a quick trip to Sol, with one transfer from the subway to a commuter train. However I selected the exit with the least amount of escalators, that station has to be at least 100 feet down, and the furthest from where I was suppose to meet Raul. By the time I got to the rendezvous point it was 4:15. Not too late. But I didn’t know Raul was waiting for my email. At 4:30 and no Raul I figured I should try to call. Two women, a 20 something and a 40 something had been standing next to me for all that time, both holding mobile phones, so I tried to ask them if they could call this number for me. By the way my iPod was almost out of battery and kept switching off when I tried to show them the number. Once they figured out what I was asking them to do they said no. And the younger girl was miffed that I would even ask.

Waited another 15 minutes then asked a security guard if there was a pay phone near by, holding some coins in my open hand to get the point across. He directed me to some not too far away. Then I had to ask a kid for help on how many numbers to dial. I doubted I needed the country code but how many numbers is that? Took him two tries because he didn’t know what numbers were required but I got ahold of someone at the property management company and a young girl was there in ten minutes.

We walked two blocks to the building. It’s at the intersection of two pedestrian only alleys, both with lots of restaurants with outdoor seating. Then up three flights of stairs to a very nice but spartan studio apartment. I’m sure all these buildings are 80 years old. Perhaps much older. The stairs are well worn but the studio is recently remodeled with standard ikea laminated flooring and kitchenette.

I showered and then headed out. I had spent a lot of time on street view on google maps so it was easy to navigate to Plaza Major where I tried taking some pics including some 360 panoramas but it was too late in the day and the sun was too low. May try again later.

Nearby is a tapas market, with many small shops where you can buy things to eat and drink there or to take home. In addition to what we think of tapas there were pastry shops, fresh produce and lots of sea food. And of course lots of alcohol. I tried a few things. Nothing too exotic, although the presentation of the sea urchin was amazing but not enough to get me to try it. I bought three empanadas, really too much for one person but they looked so good and I wanted to try many types. But I was disappointed. Not like the ones at good South American restaurants in LA. It was almost all bread with little filling and I really couldn’t taste the difference between the three types. I left most of the crust.

I then headed home, stopping at a market to buy a few things like milk and yogurt. I get hungry at night. The clerk got mad at me when I gave him a 50. He had just refused to take a hundred from the lady in front of me (so she left without her groceries). I only had a 5 and a 50 in my hand. And I did not hear the total but assumed it was going to be more than 5. Once he started cursing me out I saw the total was 4.90 so I gave him the 5.

After that I came home and was very tired so laid down. Big mistake. Three hours later I woke up. Walked around a bit. Now it is after 2 am and I’m wide awake. the shops below are just now closing up.