Traveling To and Fro

Saturday, July 30

You have your choice of ways to travel in Spain.

As a foreigner, I am still able to rent a car, take a train, ride a bus, or really use any form of transportation.

So in heading back to Madrid I had two main choices (cars are out for me, scary enough when I’m regularly driving, let alone in a foreign country). I took the train up to Oviedo, so ultimately I decided to try out the bus since it was a new experience and it was cheaper.

It was a toss up either way.

Luckily I turned out pretty well. The bus right was supposed to be 5 hours, with a stop half way at a small gas station with a café for both the bus and the patrons to refill.

For the first half of the trip, I was one of only two people who got to sit by themselves. I don’t know how that happened, but I made the most of my two seats, stretching out, leaning against the window, falling asleep for a bit, reading, and generally enjoying the ride.

It was actually much more pleasant than the train, and I would recommend bus travel (in Spain, no guarantees on Greyhound in the US).

We got out halfway, and although I didn’t realize it was a bus station, apparently it was enough of one that my ride-buddy joined us for the second half. He was nice enough, but a little odd and talkative (Talkative Spaniards are an interesting blessing/curse. You learn a lot, you get overwhelmed quickly.). Overall, he was not a bad partner, I just longed for my double seat back.

And then, in typical Spanish fashion, our bus that was supposed to arrive at 1:15 in Madrid arrived at 3p.m. instead. Typical, but annoying.

And then, because I couldn’t figure out the metro system at the bus station because it’s on a separate line, I ended up paying for a taxi.

Traveling from Oviedo to Madrid wasn’t quite like the trip before. This time, I recognized some of the landmarks, I was more awake for the ride, and I could tell as we approached the city.

It got even more exciting in the cab ride, as I started recognizing landmarks: a church we had been too, a park we had walked in, the train station we had thought we were going to until we caught our mistake only a few hours before. It all was familiar to me.

How surreal is that? How can I be familiar with Madrid?

But then, this trip has made me familiar with Oviedo like the back of my hand, is it really absurd to think I might develop some of that with Madrid as well? When I’m done, I will have been in Madrid for 8 total days of this trip, and that’s a lot of time to get familiar with a city.

And while I certainly won’t know the whole thing, I’m looking forward to being familiar with the area around Puerta del Sol. 

It’s nice to be back.