Madrid - 2 girls, a map, and a city

Madrid: a big city with a small town feel. Lauren and I arrived Friday afternoon to Madrid and lost no time in setting out to explore. Destination: el parquet de buen retiro. Translation: Madrid’s version of Central Park. Part of the old royal grounds, Retiro was a beautiful, though slightly too manicured for my liking, park. Madrid in general reminds me a little of NYC. It is comprised of distinct barrios (neighborhoods/boroughs). For example a few of my favorites included Latina (Greenwich Village), el Parque de Retiro (Central Park), el Prado (the Met), Puerta del Sol (a much chiller version of Times Square), SoHo (Plaza Mayor) and Cibeles (Wallstreet). 

My favorite area was around Plaza Mayor. Picture this – a giant square plaza surrounded on all four sides by a continuous 5 story red brick building. You enter through on of 6 arches placed haphazardly throughout the various walls. Lit from within by 4 lamp posts with handy benches beneath you can sit here as the sun sinks behind the western wall and watch as the plaza comes alive with street performers, gypsies, and Madrileños.

Just outside Plaza Mayor there is a narrow street, Calle San Miguel, which snakes down a hill and is only for pedestrian use. This was my favorite street in Madrid and one Lauren and I found ourselves coming back to at least 5 times in one weekend. Weaving people toting their calamari sandwiches (yumm! they were delicious) waltz down this street towards el Mercado de San Miguel – a huge glass enclosure housing at least 20 different stands inside. What can you get there? Well let’s see… there are stands for: fresh fish, fruit and veggies, tapas, ice cream, traditional tapas, smoothies, wine, desserts and pastries, cheese and bread. Lauren habited the ice cream counter while I opted for bread, a strawberry pineapple raspberry smoothie and a weird piece of fried cheese. 

Across from the market begins a series of Mesones –nicknamed cave bars, thusly called because they are built right into the foundation of Playa Mayor’s exterior and are long and narrow with stone walls. We got paella one day and calamari sandwiches the next. You had to love this street!

Friday night was a great night. My intercambio (native Spanish speaker with whom I practice Spanish and they practice English) just moved to Madrid last week for a new job –I am very proud of him!- and he came to eat dinner with us in a Meson. Javi is my best Spanish friend and it was great to get to see him. I hope to see him again by the end of my stay in Spain. 

After dinner Lauren and I went back to the hostel to get cleaned up and then we headed out again. This time to a 7 story club we had been told was a must-see in Madrid. Wow. Neither Lauren nor I was prepared for any of the first 3 crazier floors so we headed farther up to the chill floors 6 and 7. Our first stop was on floor 6 were we happened to meet the two most drop-dead gorgeous British guys – pilots for British Airways- with the best accents ever. Needless to say we spent the rest of our time at the club with them and together we made our way up to floor 7 where we met a group of Swedish girls. Leaving early by Spanish standard we got back to our hostel by 3:30am and hit the bed. It was a great night but meant the next night we were happy to grab food at the grocery store around the corner (cheese tortellini, an apple, and strawberry yogurt for me) and stay in and hit the sack by 10:30 – dinner time for Madrileños.

Saturday was a whir of walking through the streets or Madrid. We visited the 2 most famous museums, el Prado and the Reina Sofia, and saw Dali and Picasso galore. Guernica was a surprise because I pictured it in color and much smaller. But in truth it takes up a giant wall and is all done in black and white. I came to the realization that I will never be a great art aficionado. I can appreciate art, but to me it just looks like Picasso didn’t understand where a nose is placed on a face in many of his pictures.   

Sunday we had the morning to explore a giant flea market held in la Latina neighborhood. I got giant backpacking backpack, a felt necklace (I know, it’s a weird fashion choice…) and a ring all for 13 euro. You can’t beat prices like that!  We opted to spend our last hour in Madrid wandering aimlessly without looking at our map and came across a hilltop where all of the greater Madrid was spread out at our feet. We headed back to the hostel to grab our bags and were off to catch our bus which we made by a mere 3 minutes due to a bad choice of metro connections. The weekend was a great one. All in all, Madrid is a beautiful and vibrant city filled with welcoming people and packed with gorgeous views. 

Sorry it was so long, there was just too much to tell!  I miss and love you all  - At

from left to right - Javier (friend of my Javi), Lauren, Me, my Javi!!!

Calle San Miguel - our favorite street in Madrid

The Glass Palace in Retiro Park

El Mercado de San Miguel

The communications offices of Spain - pretty swanky building for communications.

My favorite Picasso - obviously this is called 'Women with handkerchief'

Retiro Park

Our lookout point/hilltop we found on our last day

Plaza Mayor - there is one section that is painted with this beautiful mural.

Atocha train station - I love the architecture in train stations - good thing too because I will see a lot of them starting in a month and a half!

The English gents we met - best looking pilots I've ever seen... and with the best accents too!

Our farewell to Plaza Mayor - heading back to Sevilla. I always am happy to come back to Sevilla. It's such an endearing city and feels like my European home now.

My favorite picture - I love all the colorful buildings. They remind me of the houses you see in Gulf Shores.