Good Morning Madrid (Spring Break)

2/24/15

Day 40

Disclaimer: A lot of the pictures I took are on my camera, which I can't upload until I get my computer back, so I'll have to add them later. Sorry. 

I woke up early to catch the sunrise over Madrid from our awesome vantage point. I got a somewhat disappointing time lapse because there were clouds covering the sun. I tried to go back to sleep for a few hours but soon we were leaving to make it to the Palacio Real for the fourth and hopefully final time in four days. Well, it would definitely be the final time because we had to leave before 3. With our student IDs, the 11€ admission was 6€ and we decided to just do it. 

I hadn't really thought through that "Royal Palace" (the translation of Palacio Real) meant there would be a crown and throne inside but to my surprise, there was!

Unlike Italy, you can't take pictures... But I got a few anyway.

And then got yelled at.

It was cool to stand close enough to the Spanish crown to see my reflection. The palace itself reminded me a lot of Palazzo Pitti in Florence, minus the crown and sceptre. 

After we'd seen everything in Palacio Real, we decided we didn't have time to do everything before we had to leave so we went straight back to the apartment and took the elevator to floor 13 one last time. We finished packing and headed out. We took a taxi back to the airport, this time with a much nicer driver, but it still was a little more than the "flat fee" of 30€. And then we waited in the airport until our flight at 9pm. In retrospect, by taking the cheaper night flight, we effectively wasted an entire day of spring break. Lesson learned- sometimes it's worth it to pay a little extra for significantly better quality or a better deal. And I should've gotten food in Madrid because even a Burger King burger was over 10€ at the airport!

We flew into Marrakech after dark so my first impression was just of clusters of lights I could see from the sky. They were clustered in the town and dotted along the outlines of highways. I wasn't expecting our wheels to hit the runway when they did and it was a rough landing but I still couldn't help feeling like this was the greatest moment of my life, even though I always think that as my plane touches down on a new continent. Today marks my 3rd continent- maybe even 4th if you don't count Honduras as part of North America. Now I can say I've been to Africa! Flying in at night, tomorrow feels like a present because I still don't know what Marrakech looks like. I can't wait to unwrap it, even though I'll be exploring with extra caution. 

It only got better after we got picked up by our riad (hotel) and shown to our room, which was light years beyond my expectations. The riad overall is also stunning. It looks like it's straight out of a movie. Every doorway is beautifully shaped and every wall is carved or decorated with complicated patterns. 

I'm still dying to know what the rest of Marrakech looks like. I'm sure there aren't neighborhoods like I'm used to in America, but even Italy doesn't have those. So does it look like I'd imagine from the pictures I've googled, or is it like in Rome, where the pictures online show only the tourist attractions? Tomorrow I'll find out!