The hostal is in a great location – just a few blocks away from Puerte del Sol and right on top of a Metro station. It looks great. Clean, quaint, a little bit funky. It also doesn’t have room for us. The owner/manager explains to us that he e-mailed me immediately after receiving my reservation request from Hostels.com to refute any claims of vacancy. He refunds the 5 or 6 Euro down payment usually due to Hostels.com and calls a hostal down the street which, he assures us, has much lower rates.
All goes (almost...) well: we end up getting to our NEW hostal , and discover too much quaint, not enough clean, and a heavy dose of funk best personified by the sagging mattress and musty bed cover that immediately begins to bother Mel’s allergies. Welcome to Madrid! Hey, it’s only one night. We toss our bags in a corner and start a-walking...right?
Of COURSE not! This is Spain, dummy! We settle in for a couple hour siesta in an effort to develop a better feel for the culture and THEN set off for Madrid’s famous modern art museum