Day 1
Madrid!
Although most people give Madrid a miss when going to Spain because there is apparently not much to see, my research told me that there would be plenty for me to do.
So Madrid became the first stop of my Spain trip.
Flew from London to meet the others who had already reached Madrid before me. Had little trouble finding the hostel
La Musas Residence, quickly checked in and went up to my room. The funny thing was that I had booked my hostel room separately from the rest so didn't expect to be placed in the same room. However when I did go into the room, the stuff lying around looked vaguely familiar and sure enough I had ended up in the same room as the rest. Haha.
First thing we did was go get some churros! The most famous churros place in Madrid is a place called
Chocolateria San Gines which has been opened for a good 100 years. One major plus point is that the place NEVER closes. Basically it's opened
24 hours a day. Considering it was Spain, having a place open for 24 hours is quite an impressive feat.
Some oily dough dipped in chocolatey goodness. Excellent start to the trip!
One thing that came up on my list to do in Madrid was watch a flamenco show. Most shows would cost at least 35euros but after searching high and low I finally found a place to watch a show for free. Although it was a small stage in a restaurant I thought it was pretty good.
Clan ~ Ribera de Curtidores, 30 every Friday and Saturday from 12.30am.
Of course we couldn't just sit and there and not order anything. First jug of sangria it is! Definitely developed a great liking for it throughout the trip.
Super duper yummy. Pretty much alcoholic fruit juice.
I would upload some pictures of the flamenco dancers (one male and one female), but the quality of my iPhone camera is seriously not up to scratch. The dancers just look really dark and grainy =(. But boy does flamenco look tiring, the dancers had beads of sweat dripping down their face even just halfway through the dance.
Day 2
Set out in the morning looking for a convent where I wanted to buy some convent sweets. Read somewhere that buying the sweets was the experience as you had to know where to go and ring the bell as it wasn't advertised as a shop. Then when you go in you placed your order through an intercom and got your sweets through a turntable device without ever having to physically deal with the nuns. Pretty hush hush stuff so was really looking forward to it. Got there only to be greeted by this sign.
No sweets. Sad sad.
Oh well. Made our way to the tour meeting point after a little bit of wandering. One tour company I definitely recommend is the Sandemans New Europe tours. Had them in Paris, Amsterdam and now in Madrid and I have to say their tour guides are always excellent. They operate as a free tour which means that you just tip the guide at the end how much you think the tour is worth. So the guides are motivated to providing the best experience. Definitely check out where there is a tour available in the city as they don't have tours in every single city. Kinda wish they did.
After a very late lunch where I got my first taste of paella (definitely prefer risotto), went to the bullfight stadium to buy tickets. Yes we were going to watch a bullfight! For those who don't know, a bullfight is not just about the matador waving about a red cloth and making the bull run about. They are meant to kill the bull in a slow and perhaps torturous way. Bullfights are not exactly encouraged and are actually banned in certain parts of Spain with it maybe being banned completely in the future. So taking this chance, I wanted to watch something that has always been associated with Spanish culture. Picked up the ticket for about 18euros for seating in the shade and not too far from the actual ring. Not recommended for animal lovers as you're basically paying to watch people taunt and kill 6 bulls in the span of 2 hours.
The bullfight was only at 7pm so wanted to go check out this little museum beforehand. Madrid has three big museums, namely the Prado, Reina Sofia and Thyssen-Bornemisza. However, on tripadvisor(my bff during trip planning) Museo Sorolla was ranked just below the Prado despite it being small. Quite enjoyed it, the museum was actually the home of Joaquin Sorolla (the artist).
The front. It also had a little garden with fountains and seats where there were a few people reading. So nice, definitely want something like that next time.
Onwards to the bullfight!
The bullring is massive.
Sort of an opening parade.
The first and oldest matador of the 3 that day.
Not many tourists around. Much less Asian tourists. Haha. I would liken the bullfight to horse races in the UK. It's mainly the locals of who go. Pretty sure most of them were there cause they had bets. Majority of the people were old men who all seemed to know each other. Really liked the atmosphere as at certain times everyone would cheer together and at the end everyone stood up and waved white handkerchiefs or tissues in some cases for one of the matadors. Later learned that it was an indication that he was the best matador of the day and so the bull's ears were cut off and given to him as a trophy. He was also the youngest one of the 3 so I suppose he was more adventurous.
Set off for my first proper tapas experience after that. Tapas are sort of a small 'snack' meant to accompany a drink before dinner. While there are sort of more upper class tapas places where you sit down and order in a nice setting, poor students go to cheapo places where there is standing room only. Haha. Definitely a fun place to be though. The place was so crowded with everyone packed in like sardines and tissue and toothpicks all over the floor but it had a nice lively atmosphere. Locals and tourists alike with a drink in their hand and food on their plates. How cheap was it? Here's an indication.
One glass of sangria was 5euros.
10euros between two people made both me and Ashley very very full.
Downside is you don't get to choose what food goes on the plate, the guys at the bar just pick out random stuff and put it on a plate.
El Tigre ~ Calle Infantas, 30
During the tour, the guide talked about the emblem of Madrid which is a bear eating from a tree. What caught my attention was the fact that the fruits on the tree fermented on the tree itself making it alcoholic. It's called the Madrono tree. The guide pointed out this place that served shots of liqueur made from the fruit so we decided to give it a try.
Funny thing about making our way there. Only Ashley and I wanted to walk there so the others took the metro. Despite that, both of us made it there well before the others even though we stopped a few times to watch street performers and stuff. Everyone else got lost! Haha. Madrid at night is nice as there are lots of people about and performers singing dancing around every corner.
Shots were served in the ice cream cone thing with the insides and rim covered with chocolate.
The shot was quite sweet and it was fun to eat the shot 'glass'. Think it was 1euro50 for the shot.
El Madrono ~ Calle de Latoneros, 10
Seeing as the night was still young and that we were right next to Cava Baja (street famous for tapas and bars), we decided to walk a little and perhaps settle somewhere for a drink. Or two. It was a Saturday night so most bars were packed with people. Finally settled at this bar where you could get 5 bottles of beer, albeit small bottles for only 3 euros in a bucket of ice. Fun times.
La Surena ~ Cava Baja, 15
Day 3
Final day in Madrid. Sunday morning in Madrid can only mean one thing. El Rastro! This massive flea market selling pretty much everything. I love my flea markets and this was no exception. Bought some stuff like a scarf for 1euro and a handmade ring for 3euros.
And the it was Museum time! Museo Reina Sofia first which is a modern art museum so more fun I would thing. I like modern art cause there is so much that you can interprete from it but there are times when I'm just baffled by what is considered art. There was this painting that was just painted fully blue with one red stripe through it. Quite a number of works by Dali and Picasso though so it was nice to be able to see work by such famous artists.
Walked to the nearby Caixa Forum after that to take a look at their vertical garden. Yes you read that right, a vertical garden. A garden growing on a wall. Cool stuff no?
Wonder why it isn't pulled by gravity.
Had some time to kill since I wanted to go to the Museo Prado when it was free at 5pm only. So we stopped by a restaurant and ordered some sandwiches with sangria to go. Took our food and made our way to Retiro park. Found a nice shady spot and sat down for a picnic. After finishing our food, we all laid down with some falling asleep and the rest of us just chatting.
The sky was so beautiful and the park so peaceful.
Around 5pm, Ashley Jian Han and I made our way to Museo Prado while the rest took a nap in the park. Haha. The line to get into the museum was just unbelievable. We just kept walking and asking ourselves where the end of the line was. Thankfully despite the length of the line, everything moved pretty quickly so was able to get into the museum around 5.30pm. Sad to say the museum closes at 7 and 1.5hours is definitely not enough time to get through the museum. Would have loved at least another hour. Oh well.
Made our way back to the hostel before going out for our last meal in Madrid. San Miguel market is like a high end food market so I would say that if you want to eat till you're stuffed be prepared to shell out a significant amount of money. However, it is a nice place to just be able to try a bit of everything Spanish. One main reason we went there is because Ashley and Krystal wanted the rest of us to try this plateful of jalapenos.
A plateful cooked with salt for less than 10euros.
Now if you know me you'd know that I'm terrible with spicy food. So when Ashley said that it's not spicy at all I was well within my right to be skeptical. Luckily for me, she wasn't lying. Phew. Learnt that not all jalapenos are spicy as these tasted just like green peppers. Also had some tapas and paella and fried squid and a some yummy yoghurt. Spent less than 10euros but then again I am a small eater.
Bar for a drink after that. Funny story. Andrew and Jian Han (the only two guys) ordered cocktails while Ashley and I ordered beers. So when the waiter delivered the drinks, guess who he gave the cocktails to and who the beers to? Typical stereotype would be that the girls drink the mojito while the guys drink the beer so it was funny when we had to switch the drinks around ourselves.
That was the end of Madrid. Was actually a little sad to leave as would have liked another day there at least. But it was Ibiza next so that was it.
