On our last full day in Madrid, we stayed close to our hotel room. Mrs Ram did not feel well . Was it the water, something she ate, a bug or just days of travel and not enough sleep? Who knows.
It did give us time reflect on our stay here.
Firs, public transportation works well, is clean and seems safe. No crazy people with violent tendencies wandering around.
However do make sure that you wave at that bus as it approaches you. Two 001 busses sped by our stop as we stood waiting. A local woman filled us in on this and she made sure the next bus stopped for us.
Some locals like that woman talked to us continously even though we were not good at Spanish, waving and pointing help us understand better.
There were also patient locals who spoke slowly and, with a little bit of English, allowed us to actually communicate. A pen and paper as well as Google helped as well.
Yet there some that were clealy frustrated that we did not know fluent Spanish. Those cashiers at the market were happy when Mr Ram finally paid with “tarjeta de crédito” and left.
As for our hotel, Espa Hotel at Plaze de Espana, it was OK, reasonably priced, had a small kitchen and was well located. However it was worn with a number loose items like a valet that leaned a towel rack that we thought would fall off with each use.
If we were to come again we would probably stay at a hotel further out and just take public transportation into the city.
We did not get to the Egyptian Temple Debod or the Museum of the Americas. We can see them on our next visit.
