Ole International Youth Hostel Madrid

After aimlessly walking around that first morning, looking in vain for what my guidebook called a "brand new hostel" that seemed to me not to exist, my spirits were bolstered when I stumbled onto the Royal Palace with its lovely gardens and sunshine pouring in. The boulevard above (Bailen) became a wide, clean, pedestrian-only sanctuary. I took my time strolling the length of it down towards the church, where, the next night, I would stumble into an evening service in progress.