Madrid (25-29 June 2016)
Spent 5 days in the city of Madrid, which is the capital of Spain. Unlike the other cities, I didn't do a free walking tour in Madrid, as I was staying with my friend, Minhui, and she brought me out on the weekend! Actually, it would have been nice to do a walking tour as well, in order to get a better understanding of the city. But anyway, I'm more than happy to be able to spend time with my friends and I would choose that anytime over anything else :) We also had quite good (and expensive haha) food and I think I had a good taste of some of the typical Spanish food. Enjoyed the food a lot although I must say... we ordered a lot for 2 people and I was sooo full even before they served the mains! Gosh, probably gained like 10 pounds on this trip.
On Sunday, we went to watch the bullfighting match at the Madrid Las Ventas Building. Minhui had suggested for us to watch it, as bullfighting is really a huge part of the Spanish culture. I admit I was pretty curious about what this bullfighting is all about, and I agreed that we would go watch together. However, after watching it, I absolutely disapprove of bullfighting! It's really pretty sadistic watching the bullfighter fight the bulls until the bulls bleed to death. People get excited when the bullfighters stab the bulls really deep, or when the bulls successfully attack the fighters. There's also a lot of jeering (from old Spanish men in the audience) when the fighters dodge the attacks from the bulls too quickly. Sigh, I don't think we should be paying to watch such stuff...
I also did day trips out to Toledo and Segovia! Toledo has a history of production of weapons, such as swords and knives, and I got to see some of the action in the shop as well.
Segovia was really pretty, with its landmark aqueduct which was built by the Romans to supply water to the military fort on the hill. The castle is really pretty as well, and I think it has been portrayed in some Disney movies before!