I got invited to a wedding in Salamanca and the easiest from Vienna is to land in Madrid and then take the train. Having never been to Spain before, I decide to spare a few hours between my plane landing and my train departing to do a quick visit of the capital.
I've never been that confused by ticket booths before but I just cannot for the life of me understand what I'm doing wrong and my attempts at explaining my confusion to locals is met with equal confusion. I somehow manage to get a local to press all the right buttons in the right order and pay. On my way to the city center!
I start by the Retiro Park. Although it is end of September, it's still around 28°C with a hot sun.
I must be quite the sight with my shorts, compression socks, folded suit hanging from my bulky backpack and my camera in hand.
I reach Salamanca by train and try to find where I'll hop on the bus to the wedding hotel. After 30 minutes going back and forth in the street trying to find the last bus of the day that definitely should already be here, I cave in and contact my friends the day before their wedding. Turns out I cannot read Spanish timetables and I was looking at the timetables for the bus going to Salamanca instead of from it (who puts the bus's starting station instead of the terminus at the top of the table???).
The wedding the next day goes well, the weather is nice and we don't sweat liters in fancy dresses and suits. The night is long but I only have a full day in Salamanca so I wake up "early" and go visit the city.
I spot matadors practicing in a park with a fake bull head with horns. By the time I decide to snap a picture, they are taking a break. You'll have to believe me.
21 kilometers later, I'm spent and it's time to head back to the hotel and prepare for the next day... which I'll spend in a bus traveling to Lisbon, Portugal.
