Photo: Ralphs Bike at Madrid Contemporary Art Museum
Feb 16, 1979 Staying at the Madrid Youth Hostel was quite an experience. During the day an older man books people in and without fail assigns two people to the same bed. A younger man who works the evening shift then must straighten out the mess. Neither can speak English which further complicates things. On my first night (Feb 14) a Spaniard challenged me for my bed. We took our receipts to the manager who then reassigned the Spaniard to another bed. Unfortunately for him the new bed was already assigned to someone else.
Yesterday an Australian, Curly, had exchanged his receipt for his hostel card since he would be leaving early the next morning when no staff would be on duty. As luck would have it someone else then was assigned to Curly s bed for the night. Curly, without the receipt did not have proof that the bed belonged to him for the night. It took much talking, gesturing, and efforts of a bilingual hosteller to convince the hostel warden Curly was not freeloading.
Photo: Roman aquaduct in Segovia
In the morning Australians Julie and Jenny and myself decided to take a day trip to Segovia. We were told that we could not stay at the Madrid hostel any longer because a large group was coming that night. We left our baggage at the hostel and took the 11:15 AM train over the mountains north of Madrid to Segovia. The train was stranded for an hour in the mountains due to engine trouble and a snowstorm. We finally arrived in Segovia at 2:30 PM. Cold and starving, we bought bread and cheese at a shop then went to a caf restaurant for coffee. After getting the coffee we sat down and began to eat the bread and cheese. The manager initially objected, but eventually he relented and said it was OK.
The tour of scenic Segovia was extremely enjoyable. The large Roman aquaduct was in very good shape and still being used. A short distance away the old town cathedral stands in the midst of a maze of meandering street and houses. Despite its immense size it is surprisingly well lighted inside. Finally we saw the Alcazar Castle which is built on a cliff edge away from the downtown area.
We took the 7:15 PM train back to Madrid, arriving at the hostel at 10 PM. Since the manager was gone, our only alternative was to get our things and find a hotel. However Jennys gear was in room 16 which was locked. A little later the manager appeared, started booking in a group of Chilean's who were standing around, and then booked the three of us in for the night. Apparently the large group did not show up.
Photo: Downtown Madrid
Map of North Eastern Spain
