We decided to tackle Madrid this past weekend. We spent hours picking a good hotel, finding a bike tour on the web, teaching ourselves the metro system via the internet, and reading up in books and blogs all about the city. We took the metro to the bus to the airplane to the metro to FINALLY arrive. And Madrid was awesome!! We saw the Prado Art Museum (world renown) and botanical gardens on Friday. We also walked to the Fountain of Neptune, Retiro Park and along several plazas and boulevards. We carried our guidebook, sandwiches and maps with us so that we never missed a beat. By the time we got to the evening we were EXHAUSTED but restaurants don't even open for dinner until 9 or 9:30pm (the locals won't eat food until about 11) so we rested in the hotel and then found a nice restaurant in a small cobblestone street nestled in the La Latina neighborhood.
Saturday also went as planned. We got up early and did a 3 hour bike tour to see every highlight and major building! Our guide explained the history behind parks, the Royal Palace, Plaza Mayor, the city hall, National Bank and several other well-known landmarks. We even stopped for a drink with the tour group and we got a lot of good pictures! Afterwards we found some frozen yogurt in the shade and walked to find the Temple Debod and San Francisco Basilica. By then it was late afternoon and we rested in the hotel for the evening before dinner.
Madrid was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit on both days we visited. Not only was it hot but the sun shone like there was no tomorrow. The heat was inescapable and everyone walked around pouring sweat. People seemed edgy, tense and irritable because of the heat. To add to this atmosphere, an annual, national gay pride event had taken over the town for the weekend. Monj and I had no idea until we arrived that we would be greeted with THRONGS of drunk people, ready to riot. Both supporters and opponents flooded the streets. Police shut down major roads (like Gran Via!) and wouldn't allow any cars. People carried flags and shouted all day and all night. There was beer and loud music everywhere. It was an unbelievable sight and probably could be likened to a football Saturday at an American university.
We tried to do our best to see historic Madrid and enjoy the city despite these obstacles (and honestly we succeeded) but we also reached a breaking point. On Saturday night, after we had been out and about all day, sweating and sightseeing, we sat down to eat dinner around 10pm in a nice restaurant that we found in the center of town. Service was slow, as usual, but we were staying patient though we were tired. The drunkards at the bar near us began spilling their party over into our area, putting their wine glasses and drinks on the edge of our table. We said nothing for awhile and let it go. After about 20 minutes one of the really drunk men (wearing a wig of pink feathers and smelling of beer and sweat) sat down at our table with us. He said nothing but simply sat there. Monj and I looked at each other and did nothing.
The waitress came over and asked us if he was drunk. We told her yes he was and wondered if maybe we could move to a quieter back room of the restaurant? She said she would see what she could do and supposedly went to get her manager. Meanwhile, the man sitting with us and his friends started getting disruptive. We turned and politely told them we were eating dinner and this was our table, there were other open seats at the bar for them. (They had no reason to be sitting at our table where we were trying to eat a meal.) No sooner had we said that and all hell broke loose. The entire party of drunkard men started coming at us. They were screaming in Spanish and pointing and making fun of us. One of them had to be restrained. Naturally I burst into tears as my adrenaline soared. The managers had now come to investigate with the waitress. All three of the restaurant workers stood by, watching this happen, and conferring. They did nothing to help Monj and I extricate ourselves immediately from the situation.
We contemplated walking out the door but the men were blocking the door and we had not yet paid for half of the meal we had consumed. Instead we stood up and went to another room in the restaurant, now visibly upset. The men were still screaming and carrying on after us. At this point the entire restaurant full of people was staring at what was occurring as management looked on. Finally, the waitress and managers came to find us and told us "they will protect us" and that they "called the police" and that "the men will be leaving." But frankly, we were angry. Had we been in that exact same situation with a parent or a male friend or a boyfriend we are POSITIVE the situation would not have happened, or it at least would have gone another way. Both of us sat with new, full glasses of (free) wine at another table and sobbed about how we wished our dads were there to tell the men to shut up or help us move to another table sooner.
Monj and I do not feel helpless traveling alone. In fact, we feel quite the opposite. We do everything ourselves. Planning our weekend and day trips, making food to take out for the day, packing bags, setting alarms to wake up (we NEVER sleep enough) and the list goes on and on... But we also feel like we aren't taken seriously all of the time. As two, young, women, students we feel discriminated against. This may sound dramatic, but this wasn't the first time. In fact, when we walked into that same restaurant the wait staff didn't take us seriously. They asked if maybe we just wanted to have a drink at the bar instead of eat the nice (slightly expensive) food. We assured them no, we were there for dinner. Just because we are two young women doesn't mean we can be taken advantage of, openly harassed or judged.
Traveling is also very exhausting! Especially in the summer heat. People make sightseeing sound like fun and games but in reality you work for every pleasurable moment you get. On the positive side, we have started to appreciate every little windfall and every little thing that goes right, even more. When something we plan works out well we give each other a pat on the back and enjoy! We also recognize how privileged we are to even be on this trip, especially together, and thank our lucky stars with frequency. It is just important to tell the truth: you're not always happy and smiling when you're traveling- there's a lot of hard shit, too.
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