Madrid/Naples

When we checked into our hostel in Madrid, we immediately decided we would like to be part of the pub crawl for that evening, mainly due to the fact that the last stop that evening would be at a very popular night club called Kapital. The problem was, the receptionist told us that it would be unacceptable for us to show up in flip flops. Due to Ashley´s previous sprained foot...that was going to be a problem - heels were not included in her packing. Why would they be? We are backpacking six weeks through Europe. So the plan was to find someone who would be willing to lend her some appropriate shoes (all the shops were closed). As we were getting ready in the bathroom, we were lucky to meet two great Aussies, Meg and Ellen, who were more than happy to help. Problem solved, we went down to the hostel bar to begin the night with two VERY large glasses of sangria. While we were waiting for the pub crawl to begin, we met two teachers from Washington state, Keith and Saul, who seemed very friendly and fun. Plus, Ashley had a lot to talk to them about - the whole teacher thing.

First stop - a bar, where we got a "free shot," which we were more convinced was a mixture of juice and grenadine than any alcohol. Second stop - another bar, extremely hot and crowded, topped off with a free shot of the most horrible tequila you might ever imagine. Liana passed on that one, while Ashley unfortunately tried to be a trooper...bad idea. We were so excited when we finally left to make it over to this 7-story dance club. We started off on the first floor, got a taste of the house music fiasco, then made our way up past the second floor (karaoke) to the third floor, which played hip hop spanning between the years 1989 to maybe two years ago. Hours later and a little tipsy, we made it back to the hostel and passed out.

We had decided instead of staying two nights like we previously intended, we would stay one night and cancel the second night. The reason: our flight to Naples left at 6:45am, the subways closed at 1:30am, and the shuttles/taxis would empty our pockets. We figured we would just stay up, jump on a train at 12:30 and wait it out at the airport. The problem with that idea is that we had to check out before 10:00am that morning...so after we got home, we had less than four hours of sleep and needed to be up and ready to go. Needless to say, we checked out and found the nearest couch in our hostel to pass the next few hours with our granola bar and peanut butter breakfast.

We decided to hang out with the guys from Washington, as they had been in Madrid for a while already and knew some places we might be interested in. On the walk to the largest park in Madrid, Ashley stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the pink and orange sign. Dunkin Donuts to the rescue...upon further inspection, we realized it was NOT DD, but rather DC, or Dunkin Coffee. After a little photo shoot, Ashley was yet again disappointed in the coffee...it was still just espresso and water.

We explored the park, which had lots of interestingly shaped shrubbery. We climbed up a grassy knoll, discussed Robert Frost (don´t ask) and even climbed a tree. We had lunch at a hole-in-the-wall, authentic Spanish place, where we ordered from the Menu (in Spain, that´s a three-course meal with a small list of options for each course, including a dessert and glass of wine for a fixed price). Upon finishing our flan, we wandered around the city and ended up at a contemporary art museum.

To be honest, we weren´t very excited about this at first, but as we wandered through the exhibits, we became more and more interested. The first exhibit was called "The Worlds of Islam" and spanned centuries of artifacts and art from the Middle Eastern countries. The second exhibit was an architectural display, showing miniature designed, intricately made, some of which have already been constructed. Last, we saw a photo exhibit of Cambodia. It was eye-opening and troubling all at the same time.


After cleaning up at the hostel, the last stop on our trip to Madrid was a place called Plaza Mayor. It´s a beautiful, large square, lined with restaurants and buzzing with street performers, and of course, tourists. We decided a good place to eat would be "Liana," no joke. We sampled some paella, a traditional Spanish dish, then wandered around the square watching street performers. There were comedic actors, flamenco dancers, and musicians of all kinds. We especially enjoyed the group of youngish musicians singing and playing traditional Spanish music.

Our stay in Madrid was short and sweet, but we had to cut our evening short to make the train. We got to the airport, and unable to check in for a few hours, we found a place and parked our tired selves. We slept on and off, read a little bit, and just...waited. Around 4ish, we checked our bags and went to our gate. Unfortunately, on the way there, we had to part with one of our most cherished items...our peanut butter. Sad, but true. Anyway, we got to the gate and found out our flight was delayed an hour. Great...just the news we wanted to hear - another hour in the airport. We finally got on the plane and were so exhausted, we passed out for most of the flight.


NAPLES! We got off the plane and went to baggage claim, and as we talked about how efficient the in and out baggage process seemed to be, and people were leaving the conveyor belt with their bags in hand all around us, Ashley´s bag showed up...and...Liana´s didn´t. Oh boy. Exhausted and a little horrified, we joined a small line to file a claim for lost baggage, and made our way through the airport minus a bag. Trying to be the optimist, Ashley was saying how it wouldn´t be so bad...she had clothes and they would find it for sure! Liana was moving on to figure out how we would find our hostel when the binder with all of the directions was in that bag.

The bus, or four wrong buses later (actually the first one turned out to be the one we were supposed to be on...go figure), we get to our hostel and decided the only thing we planned to do was sleep for a considerable period of time. We knew the only thing we really wanted to do in Naples was to have dinner at Sorbillo, the best pizza place in Naples. So after our four-hour nap, we got dressed and made our way through the most dangerous streets ever, and by dangerous I mean, they don´t believe in crosswalks...or pedestrians for that matter. We knew we found it when we saw about a hundred people standing in the street in front of the restaurant. We were amazed to a find that for 3.30 Euros (about five bucks) we got the largest and tastiest Margherita pizza we´ve ever had.

Our evening ended quite early. Believe it or not, we were still tired and we had to wake up very early to get onto the ferry to the Isle of Capri.