Brazilian visas while in Spain.

In early September we boarded a bus to Madrid.  We had located a relatively inexpensive hotel in the center of the city (which we later found was on the major prostitution thoroughfare) Hotel Praktik Metropol.  The area was very nice during the day and in the evening although late at night it changed a little bit.

Our first afternoon we sampled the overpriced food and beverages in an outdoor café and later, we had arranged to meet with one of our language professors, Carlos (who lived in Madrid when he was not teaching at Castile) near the Plaza Mayor.  We had a lovely evening with Carlos that included drinks in an Irish pub followed by dinner at an alleged Mexican food restaurant.  Sigh!  There just isn’t any quality Mexican food in all of Spain.

Bright and early the next day we hopped on the remarkably efficient subway system and headed for the Brazilian embassy.  It looked like the Department of Motor Vehicles in East Los Angeles.  There were hundreds of people all taking numbers but after asking, we were told that we didn’t need to do so since we had an appointment.

At our appointment time we were led through a secure door to an office area which was almost empty where we met with a young man who perused our papers, found them all in order and sent us down to a machine to pay for our visas.  This large, ATM style machine featured instructions in both Spanish and Portuguese but not English which was inconvenient since it also provided about a hundred functions from paying fines and taxes to customs costs, visas and other immigration fees.

We figured it out though and promptly coughed up 160 euros each for our visas.  It was a very, very good thing that we had brought cash since you cannot pay by credit or debit card at the Brazilian consulate for anything.  Something we will always remember no matter what embassy or consulate we are dealing with.

Returning to the young man’s desk we found that most of our three months worth of bank statements had been returned and that our file was complete.  The young man apologized for the cost of the visas but indicated that they were good for 10 years, for multiple entries and for 180 days at a time.  Very convenient if you’re planning to spend quite a bit of time in Brazil which we had no current plans to do.  He then told us to come back on Friday.

“Friday!  We won’t be here on Friday!  In fact we’re leaving tomorrow!” we yelped.  The young man stated that some employees had called in sick and they were overworked that day.  At this point Marilyn calmly pointed out that we were told that if our documents were complete that the visa could be issued the same day and the sly young man asked if we could produce the email knowing that there was no WiFi available in the building.  Of course we could, and did leaving him no choice but to grudgingly agree that our visas would be available by 3 that afternoon.  Thank God for internet café printers!

We were so happy that we decided to walk back to the hotel and stopped along the way at yet another Irish looking pub for a refreshing beverage. 

Later that afternoon, after picking up our passports containing our very impressive looking visas, we wandered around the palace and spent time in the very impressive and modern cathedral

before crossing Plaza Mayor

and walking down Calle de Toledo

to the well-known tapas district called Cava Baja (and its’ parallel street Cava Alta) to meet with Diana and her friend.

Disappointingly, the area was not very crowded in the middle of the week and many of the cafés and bars were closed.  We spent a nice, and loud because we were in Spain, evening wrapping it up with a walk through Plaza Mayor and Plaza del Sol back to our hotel where Diana and her friend intended to catch a cab.  Since it was late at night we had the opportunity to see the changed face of the area which was not very impressive.

While we have not seen everything we want to see in Madrid and although the Prada Museum (we spent hours there on our last visit to Madrid) is amazing, we find ourselves uninterested in this city overall.  We are not really night life people but we understand that is a wonderful and important feature of Madrid.  Many people we know simply love Madrid but we find it overpriced and less interesting historically than other cities and locations in Spain.

Arriving back in Granada we received another surprise.  Brent and Paige, friends from Arizona were honeymooning in Europe and would be in Granada for a couple of days in the very near future.