Dropping off the hire car

This morning I braved the crazy Madrid traffic to return the hire car. In some ways I was happy to return the car in one piece after braving the Madrid traffic, sitting on the left-hand side of the car, driving on the right-hand side of the road, and just to add a bit of spice, the far right lane in Madrid city centre is reserved for buses and taxis. The far right lane is the slow lane, my preferred lane in the circumstances, but that was unavailable to me, something which my Spanish compatriots on the road were equally frustrated about - they were all quite keen for me to move into the far right lane, something they regularly urged me to do by use of their loud honking horns. Also, turning right from the middle lane is something the buses and taxis are not keen for motorists to do, as it means cutting through their lane. I discovered that buses have much louder horns than cars, and taxis are even more ready to use their horns as well in such circumstances, as I discovered, having many right turns to make as I circled rather fruitlessly around the train station trying to find the hire car drop-off point. One-way streets are also something Madrid town-planners have embraced with enthusiasm disproportionate to their practicality. I am not sure the complete guidelines around their use was complied with in my driving experience this morning, although I am unsure I could pinpoint exactly where I went wrong. The Spanish were keen to give me hints about this, once again using their horns to maximum effect.

The hire-car depot was in the huge Madrid Train Station, which is so large and filled with commuters and tourists coming in on the fast trains that it is more like an airport. It took me three hours just to drive to the station via a petrol station to fill up, find the appropriate location to return the vehicle, and then find my way back to the apartment. It was quite an ordeal, for me and the Spanish citizens who interacted with me for various purposes, including providing valuable feedback on my use of large roundabouts.

As I walked back to the apartment I was sidetracked by quite a few fascinating sights and spectacles in Madrid. It was a Saturday so there were markets aplenty. One market I came across was just all bookstores selling second-hand books. There was a line of permanent wooden stalls that housed thousands of books in little stalls. It was amazing. Even though I can't read Spanish, and there wasn't an English book to be seen, the atmosphere was similar to the stalls on the walkway beside the Seine in Paris. I found a copy of Asterisk in Spain, in Spain, in Spanish.

I also tried churros for the first time in Spain, having resisted until today. I ordered what I thought was going to be some churros with dipping sauce, but turned out to be churros completely covered with chocolate. A carb overload for sure. I was given a bag-full of them and I only just managed to finish them.

Madrid is an entirely different kind of city from anything we have seen before in Spain. This is a much more modern city like Sydney or Melbourne. The crowds are packing into the city and its shoulder to shoulder. As our Airbnb hostess was keen and correct to emphasise - never bring a car into the centre of Madrid.Read more