Madrid!

drum roll

Madrid blog post!! I'm finally through a few final exams and papers... and now, I have a lot of time on my hands until my trip to Berlin/Switzerland next week.

Anyway... re-wind to last Friday morning at 9 am, after an 8 hour bus ride from Barcelona. I arrived at the bus station in Madrid, figured out the metro system, and navigated my way to the hostel (Equity Point Hostel Madrid) to wait for Mel and her friend Megan. Lucky us, our hostel was right in the center of the city, El Sol. Such a perfect location... and I soon found out Madrid isn't that big of a city anyway. It was easy to walk wherever we needed to go.

The weather was AMAZING, for all three days of our time in Madrid. 70 degrees, blue skies, sunny, cool breeze in the shade. I came back to London with a bit of a sunburn, actually. But it's faded now and I have a nice little glow going on. Thank you Spanish sunshine!

Using a Rick Steves guidebook (thank you Rick Steves) we went on a quick, little tour of Madrid which brought us to our first stop: a little pastry/coffee shop in El Sol. I got a napolitana, a chocolate-filled pastry with powdered sugar on top. My mouth has never thanked me more. It was delicious, beyond words. After that we headed to Plaza Mayor, San Miguel market,  a huge church (I should be able to remember the name, but I don't), and to Palace Real (the old Spanish royalty's crib).

We took a tour and... ornate, much? It was beautiful, though. Again, I'm not a big fan of touring homes. From the Newport Mansions, to that estate in Manchester I went to a few weeks ago, to Palace Real... I just don't like looking at people's homes. Maybe it's just so difficult to imagine people actually living in these kind of places, but anyway, Palace Real was still pretty cool. The throne, the sparkling chandeliers (I wanted to bring one home with me.. turns out it wouldn't meet luggage policies), the paintings on the ceilings and intricate decor... all stunning.

After that we headed back toward our hostel, stopping at Cien Montaditos (100 little sandwiches) for a yummy lunch. There are 100 types of sandwiches on their menu, each for only 1 euro or so. An affordable meal? I'm not in London anymore.

Then it was time for a siesta at the hostel. One of the negatives of having a hostel right in the heart of Madrid, is also having a lot of noise outside your window. Oh well, traveling and a rather noisy residence hall has taught me how to sleep through it.

Up next: El Prado! Free from 6-8 p.m. so we took full advantage of that. It was a pretty cool museum, and there was a lot to see... but, still not my type of museum. I know what you're thinking.. how is EL PRADO not your type of museum? Because even though I appreciate the artist and his skills, I can't look at this type of painting for 50 rooms in a row...

Thankfully on Sunday we went to La Reina Sofia where Picasso and Dali have a lot of their work. Picasso's La Guernica was incredible!! So many people lined up to see it... Picasso is wacky but I love him!

I wish I could've spent longer in that museum, but by Sunday mid-afternoon, after being on my feet for five days... I was way too exhausted. At that point I'm surprised my legs and feet were still attached to my body. Even though I had my share of napolitanas and tapas, I had one heck of a workout last week.

Anyway... back to Friday. After El Prado, we got dinner at a tapas bar, El Buscon, recommended to me by my dear friend Marie, who studied in Madrid last spring. She told me El Buscon has the best sangria in Madrid... and even though I didn't try sangria anywhere else, El Buscon's was delicious. I felt so Spanish, sitting in a tapas bar, drinking sangria. It's customary for tapas bars to give you a tapa when you order a drink, so we ended up with some potato, mayo thing. And then we ordered Patatas Bravas for another tapa. So many potatoes. All yummy.

To end the night, we went to the oldest churros place in the world.. San Gines. Here's me, happy as a clam, with my churros con chocolate!

On Saturday we went to El Retiro park, a huge, beautifully landscaped park behind El Prado.

Looks even better with a blue sky and sunshine, doesn't it? We walked around there for a little bit, found a pond where people could rent rowboats, and listened to an awesome mariachi band of the sorts. With such amazing weather, there were a lot of people out walking around with family and friends.

Then we headed back to Plaza Mayor, grabbing lunch at the San Miguel market, before joining Sandeman's walking tour (same company I've gone on tours with in Munich, Paris and London). Our tour guide (who was British, fancy that) was great! Very enthusiastic, entertaining and lively. No wonder why I keep going back to Sandeman's... I definitely recommend them to my fellow travelers! Their website is... http://www.neweuropetours.eu/

Here is our tour guide, Col, in the red shirt, showing us the oldest restaurant in the world! (Guinness world records even says so)

After the tour it was back to the hostel for a siesta... I love siestas. I'm glad the Spaniards realize the importance of taking a nap. I would fit nicely into the Spanish culture.

Then came time for dinner... Marie recommended a tapas bar on a street, Cava Baja, where she said she had a goat cheese and caramelized onion tapa.. the "best thing I ate in Spain." So, with her advice, we went off to find this tapas bar. She didn't remember the name... just that it was in the middle of Cava Baja, and had wine bottles in the window. Well, we found it! And of course I got the goat cheese/caramelized onion tapa. YUM.

For the second part of our dinner (people do a lot of tapas bars hopping for meals), it was back to Cien Montaditos. Such a go-to restaurant.. and so affordable. I can't believe how affordable Madrid was. 1 euro metro, meals for 6 or 7 euros (or less). I could get used to it, that's for sure.

I could get used to a lot of Madrid and Spain actually. I cannot express how much I LOVED being able to use my Spanish. Even though it was pretty simple Spanish, and I'm not the best at understanding someone speak Spanish to me... I was still able to communicate. To the hostel receptionists about needing a map, some more time on the computer... to the airport worker about where the RyanAir terminal is... or the napolitana guy... about how I want a napolitana.. haha. It was just such a treat to be surrounded by the Spanish language all week.

While I do love London and am so glad I studied here (especially now that the weather is getting better), I can picture myself studying in Spain... and part of me wishes I did. Madrid is such a living city (as Marie told me). Barcelona was beautiful and incredible... but Madrid just seemed so comfortable. Easy to get everywhere, affordable, great people, great vibe. And I can only imagine how much better my Spanish would've gotten!

On Sunday in Madrid, we went to La Reina Sofia, and back to El Retiro. Because it was another warm, sunny day... everyone and their mother were out laying on the grass, kicking around a "football", reading, having a picnic, socializing, etc. I was thinking it was going to be all tourists, but I really only heard Spanish. So cool that the locals just hang out at the park on a sunny day... again, why I could totally live in Madrid.

Then we walked to Gran Via, a huge shopping street. Here's a cool picture from our walk to that area...

Many of the stores were closed because it was Sunday, but a few of the side streets (leading into the Chueca district) were open. After some window shopping, we headed back to El Sol, to grab some dinner before Megan and Mel had to leave for the airport. I couldn't depart Madrid without one last sangria from El Buscon. Then I said adios to the girls, and stayed at the hostel on the computer for a few more hours until it was my time to head to the airport. For my slumber party. Joy.

It actually wasn't as horrible as that one sleepover in the London airport before my Munich trip. I didn't have to sleep on the ground this time! I had a little table, instead. So after a while of doing random things, like painting my nails, organizing my purse, re-packing my suitcase and looking at all my pictures I had taken... I took a little nap. Not much of one, but once I got on the plane, I passed out. And by passed out, I mean I don't even remember the plane taking off... and I only woke up when we landed. You can only imagine what kind of spastic movement I made when I was awoken to our plane landing.

So that was my Spain trip. Incredible in so many ways... beautiful place, language, people and culture...  I cannot say enough good things about Barcelona and Madrid. It makes me wish I was seeing more of Spain! If only I had known... because I hear southern Spain is a world of its own.

Guess that means I have to go back sometime in the future. Hasta pronto, Espana!!! Te amo! <3