At the next station we were put off by the conductor, and from signs
and words obtained from a Portuguese-English conversation book, we
learned that we would have to remain in that forsaken spot till 11:30
that night. It was then three o'clock in the afternoon. On discovering
the costly mistake, we both cursed our ill luck. The worst of it was,
we only had between us three hundred rois, thirty cents in Uncle Sam's
coin.
Two days later found us in Madrid, tired, dusty and hungry. We soon
found a suitable hotel and made ourselves comfortable.
It would be utterly impossible for me to write of all the things of
interest which we saw while in Madrid, the capital of Spain. The first
day there we spent in resting, but after that we were on the go from
morning till night, for we were out to see all there was to be seen.
We visited the Royal Palace, which is said to be next in grandeur to
the Czar's Winter Palace at St. Petersburg. This palace is superb
in architecture and is magnificently furnished. The royal stables
contain hundreds of beautiful horses of all description and carriages
of every style. The most interesting part of the palace is the Royal
Armory, in which we saw the old but well preserved armor of Christopher
Columbus and the war implements and armor of Charles V. In this armory
the weapons of all the great Spanish warriors are preserved, always
carefully guarded.
The Art Gallery of Madrid is second to none. There are collected the
masterpieces of the world's greatest artists, not only of Spain, but of
other countries.
The arena for the bull fights is most handsomely constructed, and
there we had the pleasure of witnessing our second bull fight. These
fights are held every Sunday, and quite often on Wednesdays. At this
particular fight there were killed three horses and several bulls. It
was far more cruel than the fight we had witnessed at Lisbon.
We made Madrid our headquarters while in Spain and took excursions out
to Toledo, the Escurial, Bungos and Granada. These places proved of as
much interest to us as did Madrid.
In Madrid the main thoroughfares are kept surprisingly clean, while the
back streets are filthy. Several nights we spent theatre-going and saw
some of Spain's celebrities.
In the day time, between the hours of eleven and four, the streets are
practically deserted, for the sun is so hot that work is impossible.
Later in the afternoons the boulevards and squares are crowded.
The Spaniard, the most courteous of all men, is insanely fond of bull
fights, cigarettes, coffee, wine and women. The drinking taverns are
always crowded in the evening with customers, who sit and sip their
strong black coffees and puff their cigarettes, while they chat of
dancers and matadores.
A thing most peculiar to Spain is the large amount of counterfeit money
which is in circulation. Whenever one purchases any thing and tenders a
coin in payment, the shopkeeper invariably tests the purity of the coin
on a sounding slate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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