It’s been 2 and a half weeks since Sam and I arrived in Madrid…and I have been awful at updating this. So, I’ll try to remember most of the past few weeks… Madrid is fantastic…It is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been. The history and the extravagant buildings continue throughout the entire 700 kmsq. It is unreal to come out at every metro stop in the city to see more stunning historical buildings, arches, and statues around the city. We spent our first few days just wandering, getting lost in the weekend pace of strolling around the city. We were supposed to have been in London when we first arrived in Europe; however, the ash cloud mixed things up a bit, and we had to decide what we were going to do instead. 
After a couple days in Madrid (all we could really afford when the cheapest hostel is 60€ a night), we took the bus to Salamanca, Spain. Salamanca is a stunning town in the province of Castilla Y Leon, about 2 hours away from Madrid. The hostel was much cheaper there, and the scenery nearly as good. It is a small town, but the historical town is gorgeous…we spent our 3 days wandering around, taking lots of pictures, and eating paella. From there, we decided to catch the train to Lisbon, Portugal. 
The train was at 4 am; we arrived in Lisboa at 11 am exhausted but ready to explore the city. The city of Lisboa is fantastic. There is so much character to every street corner, and the trams that run around the downtown core up and down the impressively steep hills were worth the early train alone. We realized we needed to cut back on our spending hugely if we were going to make it another week in Europe…thankfully, the Portuguese love their bakeries, and sell all kinds of bread with meat and cheese inside for a euro. And of course, as in Spain, the wine…we could buy a half decent bottle for a couple euros. In Lisboa, we stayed in the sweetest guesthouse run by this lovely older Portuguese woman. The room was small, but nice and clean, and the location was great. We spent our time there doing the walking tour and playing on the trams. We also stopped in at the sporting goods store and decided we could really cut costs if we bought one of the 25 € tents and headed down to the Algarve coast for a week of camping.
We set out for Quarteira, a town about 2 hours from Faro, the capital of the Algarve. We had seen the campsite online, and it looked reasonably well located and with nice enough facilities. It was fantastic though. It had a pool, waterslide, wifi internet, washing machines, drinking water, a grocery store nearby, and tons of great beaches within walking distance. We ended up spending a full week there, exploring different areas each day, walking the beach and cooking all our meals on a charcoal pot type thing we bought for 4€. The food and booze was unreal cheap…we could get a 6 pack of beer for 2€, wine for 2€, meat for next to nothing and a huge amount of brie cheese for 1€. Our budget was definitely getting back on track. It was perfect, we could pack a lunch everyday, and come back for a swim in the pool and an hour on the waterslide. There was a wonderful little marina town about 5 km walk away, it was full of million dollar yachts, bmws and English. It was great for strolling around, and for watching football–Man United had an important game on one day during our camping trip, so we headed down there to watch it with all the other holidayers. It was a lot of fun.
The beaches were gorgeous along the coast, but the water was not exactly warm. So chilly in fact, that neither of us got in up to our knees. Thankfully we had that pool. In one direction from town there were huge red cliffs jutting up along the beach, with coves and bays that kept going forever. The other direction was lovely white sandy beaches and harbours. Everyday the weather was sunny and around 30º celcius…perfect weather really. At night however, it was quite cold.
We were unprepared for camping really. We had our little sleeping bags made for very warm temperatures, and two yoga type mats we had picked up for a euro. The mats provided zero comfort; my hips were so bruised by the end, I couldn’t lean against anything or roll over at all. We didn’t have pillows, which after 7 nights starts to affect your back a bit. And it was freezing. Even with two of us in a 4 x 6 tent, and wearing all our warm clothes to bed, it was freezing. So, we started to put a ton of coal on the stove before bed, and once it was all white coal, bring it in to the tent to keep us warm while we fell asleep. A couple hours later we were both tossing and turning due to the cold and hard ground. Aside from our restless sleeps, the Algarve was perfect.
We spent a full day travelling from Faro, Portugal to Toledo, Spain. We had to go to Seville, Spain first and then up to Madrid, and then down to Toledo. It was around 15 hours of buses before we finally arrived at Toledo. We had two days until our flight to Edinburgh from Madrid, and not being able to afford Madrid, we thought we’d check out one of the nearby towns. Toledo was a perfect option.
We had planned on staying at the Hostel International;however, by the time we got up there at 11 pm, they were all full. So, the receptionist there helped us out a bit and found us a place closer to the centro for 20 euro a night for a double room. We set out to walk there, as it was only supposed to take 15 minutes. He failed to tell us, however, that the city didn’t really believe in street signs, and that the streets were winding in every which direction in the most confusing manner. After walking around the area we knew the hostel was (about 5 different streets we just wandered up and down trying to find the hostel), we finally found it. A large, friendly man showed us our room and said goodnight. The room was…quaint…but fine. I took the bloody cross with a crucified Jesus down from above our bed, and we had a great sleep in a comfy bed with pillows and all.
The town is a UNESCO heritage site and full of Christian, Jewish and Muslim buildings. The three religions coexisted in the town peacefully, and Toledo was once the capital of Spain. We would get lost in the winding streets in less than two blocks and no map could help you find your way out. So we’d just keep walking until we would stumble upon something else we recognized. The town was full of castles, and big walls protecting the city. And for some reason, all the shops were full of swords, amour and guns…guns everywhere. Strange.
When we arrived to the Madrid airport to catch our flight, it was still sunny out and we had a couple hours till boarding. We arrived at the gate for boarding; however, 15 minutes after the flight was supposed to leave, we received the first message that the flight had been delayed (yes, we are aware we are supposed to be flying right now…) and informed that we would receive another message in a few minutes. About every half hour we had the same message, “we regret to inform you your flight has been delayed…[blah blah]…you will receive another message in a few minutes…” Finally we found out that that freaking ash cloud had showed up in Madrid just in time for our boarding call, and the airport had cancelled most flights.
After a few hours of waiting at the gate, our flight was confirmed as cancelled and we were asked to go to the EasyJet desk to rebook flights and collect our bags from the carousel. We both immediately wondered where we were going to stay etc…could we afford it…how are we going to get back from UK if we do go. But the wonderful people of Easy Jet solved almost all our problems. I ran to the desk and got in line near the front while Sam grabbed the bags. We were right at the front and only had to wait for 2 and a half hours or so…I can’t imagine the poor people at the back of the line about 200 people back. EasyJet booked us into a 4 star hotel near the airport for 3 days until our flight to Edinburgh on Tuesday. All our meals were included at the hotel as buffet meals, and wine was included for lunches and dinners. Our room has free internet, a bathtub and a king size bed. Our hotel has been wonderful…and for the first time on our trip, I don’t think Sam has been hungry once…(moreover, the poor people that booked at Ryan Air were stuck in the airport, the employees unwilling to help anyone after hours and closing the desk while people were stuck in Madrid airport with no place to stay and unsure when they would get out…Ryan air is pretty awful…) We are spending our time checking out some of the stuff we missed the first time in the city, as the public transport system is so easy to get around and get into town. Hopefully we will be flying out to Edinburgh tomorrow morning, although we are still unsure how we will be getting back…
