Madrid

Madrid……………you were such fun!

I spent weeks practicing my Spanish before I went but forgot to learn the phrase which would have come in most handy on this trip.

¿Dónde estoy? ¡Estoy perdida!……………………. Where am I? I’m lost! I know how to ask for the location of the bank, the train station, restaurant, hotel…….everything, except where I am. This was the week that saw me hurtling the wrong way on the Metro, inadvertently finding myself in the middle of a Pro-Palestinian protest, and generally getting into all sorts of mischief without even trying. I’ve quite decided I quite like being lost ………..it’s a positive experience because usually, you find the most exciting things when you are just wandering around aimlessly.

I had 7 days to spend in Spain. I managed to fit in the cities of Madrid, Segovia, Toledo and Salamanca. I loved them all, and Madrid perhaps wasn’t my favourite, but I loved it all the same. Today I only have time to tell you about Madrid, but I promise I’ll tell you what I got up to in the other cities in due course.

So Madrid…………what to see, where to stay, what to eat, how to get around………………….here goes.

I was a little overwhelmed on arrival. I got that feeling I get when I go to London because Madrid is similar in that it is huge. The buildings are gigantic, the streets are crammed packed full of people, and there is traffic and noise everywhere. There are various ways of getting from the airport. You can use the metro, take a taxi or get a bus. I took the airport bus, which at 5 Euros was a bargain, and it dropped me off 10 minutes walk from my hotel in probably one of the busiest throughfares in the city, Plaza de Ciebeles. I then had to walk up Madrid’s busiest street, Gran Via, to get to my hotel. First impressions were that I wasn’t sure I was going to like it in Madrid. Being there on my own, it felt a bit too ‘full on’ and busy for me. However, those feelings soon disappeared once I got to my hotel, found the bar and had time to settle, because fortunately not all Madrid is so ‘in your face’…….you can escape……..and what followed were a fantastic few days.

So where did I stay……..fortunately not on the Gran Via! All the hotels seem to sell themselves on being near or on the Gran Via, but it is my idea of a nightmare. Think quantity rather than quality: busy, loud, brash. I might be doing it a dis-service, but it was definitely my least favourite part of Madrid, I really did not like Gran Via. I stayed just off the Gran Via down a quietish street in the area between Malasaña and Chueca. The hotel was fantastic, called the 7 Islas Hotel, I really can’t fault it, and I would return to this hotel again. It is full of lovely artwork, which changes often as the foyer doubles up as an art gallery. The rooms are so clean, fresh and minimalist. The staff are lovely, and it has an amazing cocktail bar menu!! I felt that it was good value for money. It’s in a perfect spot within walking distance of everything, but it feels peaceful as they have some lovely green plants throughout the hotel. It’s like a little peaceful haven in the middle of a metropolis. It was an early night the first night ready for the busy first day, although I did award myself a little lie in and hung my sign on my door to say I did not want molesting in the morning!😂 Not literally, but occasionally translation from Spanish to English and vice versa does make me giggle because sometimes things just aren’t what you think!

Importantly for me, the hotel had a little gym, with treadmill, to maintain my training. The treadmill did look a little bit like the flight deck of a Boeing 737, and my brain only copes with simplicity at present. Too many buttons and flashing lights are dangerous, and I hate treadmill running anyway, but it sufficed……………………once I’d got used to it, after being expelled off the end a few times. It was quite a fancy gym, with cooled iced water with lemon slices floating in it, fluffy towels and floor to ceiling mirrors, which I’ve decided I don’t like………….I have no desire and no need to see what I look like during or after a 10k run on a treadmill.

When I looked into where to stay in Madrid, the internet said that Malasaña and Chueca areas, which are next to each other, were suitable for ‘hipsters and the traditional’. It said they were trendy, had attitude, personality and were the ideal place to stay if you wanted to experience life as a Madrileno (person from Madrid) rather than a tourist. That sounds perfect, I thought……….and I did really like it. It’s also a really interesting and flamboyant area, and some websites describe it as the ‘epicentre of gay Madrid’. And it certainly was! Coming from a small village in the countryside in Yorkshire, I live in a bit of a ‘bubble’. However, I’m very open-minded and love to discover new things and have my eyes opened to the big wide world out there. I spent quite a few happy hours on my bar stool in the hotel cocktail bar window watching the comings and goings from the ‘bar’ opposite. Oh my!!!………….. some of the outfits were outrageously flamboyant, and the makeup was amazing. It was just like being on the set of RuPaul’s Drag Race. It was so much fun! I learnt some new vocabulary, had my eyes opened, and came to the conclusion that 99% of the time, I really do exist completely oblivious to the rest of the world in my little bubble.

Getting around Madrid…….there are various ways. You can use the Metro (underground rail system), take the bus, or they have a bike and scooter scheme like in most major cities. I personally wouldn’t like to think I was traversing Madrid on a bike or scooter. It would be like peddling down the motorway on a children’s tricycle. Metro and bus are both good options and are well priced and efficient. I did both, depending on where I wanted to go.

Now I’ll tell you about all the places I visited. I’ll cover food separately in a minute as that deserves its own write-up. I was in Madrid for three full days and feel that I saw all the main things that I wanted to see. You could easily spend longer seeing some of the lesser known sites, or spending longer in certain places, but anything less than 3 days and you might be a little rushed. There are so many things to see, but here are my highlights.

If you ask me what instantly springs to mind when I think of Spain (in addition to food, which is always at the forefront of my mind) it’s toilet lights that don’t stay on long enough and statues of men on horseback. In Madrid you won’t be disappointed. You’ll find yourself grovelling around in the dark feeling for the loo roll on many an occasion, and there are more horse riding men than you can shake a stick at. I’ve now developed a sort of sit down dance that I do when going to the toilet, it’s sort of a blend between an arm wave and a shoulder shimmy but I find it helps to keep the lights on if you undertake it while peeing. That’s a top tip.

So first stop, Plaza Major. Almost every town and city in Spain has a Plaza Major, and Madrid has a huge one. It’s not the prettiest one I’ve seen on my travels, but it’s most definitely worth a visit and has that all-important man on a horse! This one is King Felipe III.

Then I thought I’d visit the first of the two major art galleries I wanted to look in, the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. This gallery contains Madrid’s finest collection of contemporary art. It contains pieces from the 19th century right up to the 1980’s by some of Spain’s greatest artists: Picasso, Miro, Dali and many more. Perhaps its most famous work is the original of Picasso’s Guernica, probably one of the most important pieces of artwork of the 20th century. It is much larger than I expected it to be at 3.5m by 7.8m and is a monochrome painting in the cubist style that Picasso became famous for. You could look at just this painting for hours and discover all the small elements of it, and their reason for being there. The museum also contains a number of sketches he did leading up to the painting of the full work, which sheds light on some of his thought processes.

There is quite a lot of Miro in there too. Miro, I can take or leave, some of his work I love and some I just don’t understand. It’s not that I don’t like it, I just can’t seem to get on the same wavelength. If you are ever in Palma, Mallorca, there is a Joan Miro Museum on the outskirts, and I’ve been a couple of times and would recommend a visit. The building itself is a work of modern art. There is another museum dedicated to him in Barcelona on the top of Montjuic, and that’s equally as good. I absolutely love Dali though, and there is a large amount of his work in here. He is probably the greatest surrealist artist of all time. His paintings are almost dreamlike and fantastical, and there are usually a number of ways they can be interpreted. You can look at a painting again and again and see something different in it each time. A lot of his work contains sexual imagery as a result of his anxiety and conflicting views towards sex.

The second art gallery you should visit is the Museo de Prado, undoubtedly one of the greatest art museums in the world. This contains the work of Spanish and European artists going back centuries, so if you like the more traditional style of paintings, rather than the contemporary, then you will prefer this museum. It has whole rooms dedicated to some of its most prolific artists such as Goya, Velazquez, Rubens, El Greco and Titian. I absolutely adored it in this museum and could have spent days there.

My favourite pieces were Bosch ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’, Velazquez ‘Las Meninas’, Sorolla ‘Boys on the Beach’ and Tintoretto ‘The Washing of the Feet’ – not because of the subject matter, as I’m not particularly religious, but because of his sheer genius in the use of perspective, making the image almost appear in 3D if you view it from the right hand side. I don’t have any pictures of the inside of the museum for you as it is prohibited to take photos in there, and that rule is enforced quite strictly. My tip for the Prado would be to pay extra for the audio guide. The museum is huge and you can’t possibly see it all on one visit or even in one day. I had 3 hours to spend there and the really good thing about the audio guide is that there are a couple of pre-set tours in there for 2, 3 and 4 hours, there may be more, I can’t remember. But if you decide how long you want to spend in there and select that tour, if you follow it, not only will you not get lost, but you will quite efficiently see all the major works that it is possible to see in that time frame. I chose the 3 hour tour, and it was almost spot on in its timing.

I would highly recommend a visit to both these galleries, but buy your tickets online in advance to skip the queues a little because the line to buy tickets was huge at both of them, and that was midweek in February.

Behind the Prado Museum is one of Madrid’s beautiful parks which you must visit – Parque del Buen Retiro. There are lakes, beautifully manicured gardens, the beautiful metal and glass Palacio de Cristal and yes you’ve guessed it……………….various men on various horses, amongst many other beautiful statues. There is also the most exquisite rose garden and I would love to see it and smell it in late spring and summer, I bet it is beautiful.

It was Saturday when I went to the park. The sun was out, and it was a lovely, warm day. The first signs of spring were starting to appear. So most of Madrid had gone to the park too. It had a lovely atmosphere. There are places you can get a drink and an ice cream, and it just seemed such a happy place. I would imagine it is also nice to go and just sit and read your book when it is quieter.

Just outside the park on the way down to the city centre there is a throughfare that is lined with market stalls all selling books, mostly old books but some newer ones too. It’s a bit like a book flea market. I could have spent all afternoon browsing and buying. If you like books, it looked like my idea of heaven.

I wanted to get to the other side of the city and the weather was nice so I thought I’d walk. It was whilst I was wandering aimlessly in the direction of the other side of the city that I stumbled across what I think is my favourite part of Madrid. It’s called Barrio de las Letras, on account of all the well-known writers who lived here. Cervantes, author of Don Quijote, even has a street named after him, where he used to live. It’s a peaceful area, tree lined, cobbled streets, colourful with a bit of street art and it all comes together at the very pretty Plaza de Santa Ana, which contains a statue to the poet Federico Garcia Lorca. It’s a lovely area for just wandering around the little independent stores and it’s where I found my favourite little coffee shop which I’ll share with you when I tell you about food. It’s my sort of area and I loved it. If you want cocktail bars, high street stores and fast food you won’t like it, you need to be on Gran Via, but if you want a bit of time wandering in the slow lane come here, you’ll love it.

Towards the centre of the city, as you make your way over to the other side, you will come across the Puerta del Sol. It is one of the busiest places in the city and contains quite a few things. Firstly, it contains the plaque to the Kilometre Zero (KM0), the point from which all radial roads in Spain are measured. It was established in 1857, and there are 6 roads numbered N1 to N6, which radiate clockwise from this point.

Also in Puerta del Sol is the statue of the Bear and the Madroño Tree, heraldic symbol of Madrid.

And you’ll never guess what else there is……………………………yes, there’s a man on a horse………this time its Carlos III.

If you walk right to the west side of the city, you will come to the Royal Palace. It looks very pretty and apparently is very beautiful but I just didn’t have the time to go inside and by that time I’d spent that long wandering around I just could not be bothered to walk any further. Luckily though, opposite the Royal Palace is the Plaza de Oriente. This is a very pretty square, overlooked by the very nice Cafe de Oriente where you can treat yourself to a posh cup of coffee whilst overlooking the very pretty gardens which contain a statue of…………………wait for it……………..a man on a horse! This time, it’s Felipe IV.

While you are over here, you are not too far away from the Plaza de Espana. If fountains are your thing, then this square contains a lovely one.

The final place I wanted to go to was the bull ring. The easiest way to get there would be bus or metro. It’s a good couple of miles out of the city. However, on this particular day, I was wandering aimlessly to the bus stop when I came to a Police cordon. Then came the helicopters, then the riot vans, then tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters on a protest march, which I suddenly found myself amongst. Given that I don’t really like lots of people and noise, it wasn’t my greatest moment! They were all very friendly, but I shot down a side street as soon as I could and walked all the way to the bull ring, as all public transport was temporarily stopped. That’s how I know it’s a LONG WAY! Take the bus or metro. My plan was to get the bus back into the city, that was until two drove past me completely full because Atletico de Madrid had just defeated Las Palmas 5-0 and everyone was on their way back to the city. The metro was the same, so I walked it all the way back too. But I did have a midway stop in a cake shop for fuel!

The bull ring, known as Las Ventas, was nice. It is Arabic in style and is the largest in Spain and third largest in the world. They do guided tours, and if you have never been a bull ring, I would say it would be worth going inside to learn about the history of the bull ring and the life and costumes of the matadors. I did not go inside because I think once you’ve seen one bull ring they are probably all quite similar and I have recently been inside the bullring in Seville, which some claim to be the most beautiful in the world. There are a number of statues outside, and these are worth a little look. There are some of bulls and some of famous matadors such as Antonio Bienvenida from Venezuela, who was one of Madrid’s most famous matadors who came to a sticky end in 1975 after an altercation with a young heifer on a local ranch. There is also an interesting statue celebrating the scientist Alexander Fleming, and I did wonder what a statue to him was doing outside a bullring. Well, bullfighters were a big fan of his as he developed Penicillin. and apparently, when you are gored by a bull, a decent amount of bacteria from the bull’s horn finds its way into the wound. Therefore, Alexander and his Penicillin were the saviour of many a gored matador!

Now to tell you about food! My favourite subject. What did I eat and where?

When in Spain you just have to have churros and chocolate……….chocolate so thick you can stand your spoon up in it. Not too far from the hotel was the quite well-known Chocolateria San Gines. It has a number of outlets all clustered together in the same area and they are open 24/7……………….yes, you can have churros and chocolate at 3am if you want! So my first breakfast was of churros and chocolate, and having eyes bigger than my belly, I had 6 churros and felt quite sick afterwards. Well recommended though, they were delicious!

Madrid, like many cities in Spain, has a number of fantastic food markets, where not only can you do your food shopping, you can also eat and drink inside them. There are usually lots of different stalls selling a whole host of different local food products, and they are a fantastic place to try all sorts of local cuisine. Just behind the Plaza Major, there is a bustling one called Mercado de San Miguel. I loved this one.

It was so authentic and filled with mainly Spanish and local people. It was very busy to say it was a Monday lunchtime. Each stall tends to specialise in a different food. There were stalls with seafood, olives, cheese, sausages, wine, cider…………………it was heaven!!!

The trouble is there is too much choice and I can’t decide. I had a couple of glasses of Albariño wine. To eat, I had some fried seafood, then some cheeses, then a pinxto with chorizo, goats cheese and peppers as I felt like I was missing some sausage……..you can’t come to Spain and not have sausage. You must visit this or another market if you come, it’s such good fun.

If you feel like some proper, traditional, and authentic food one night, I can highly recommend a little restaurant called Taberna La Carmencita in Chueca. The taberna has been around since 1854 and was the regular haunt of legendary poet Pablo Neruda. It has a lovely menu of traditional, wholesome Spanish dishes, and when you walk in, you are transported back to 1854.

The walls are all tiled, the floor wooden, with old dark wood tables and chairs and quite dim lighting. The staff were lovely and although they had a busy evening they found me a perfect little table for one in the window. I ordered ‘Paletilla de Cordero’, which was a lovely shoulder of lamb casseroled with seasonal vegetables and served with some baked potato wedges. While I was waiting, they brought me an appetiser of warm, crusty, toasted bread and duck liver pate.

It you are looking for something simple for breakfast, brunch, a fantastic cup of coffee, or both, I recommend Cafe Gosto in Barrio de las Letras. They do the most delicious avocado and almond toast along with all sorts of other tostadas, snacks, and cakes, and their coffee is delicious.

If you like biscuits and cookies, you should also go to the monastery of Corpus Christi and buy some cookies freshly baked by the nuns. It’s worth going for the experience of buying them. It looks like a bit of a drug handover. If you go to Calle del Codo 3, you will come to a door with a sign on that says ‘Venta de Dulces’. Ring the doorbell that says ‘Las Monjas’ (Nuns), and they will buzz you through the door.

Follow the signs until you come to a Lazy Susan turntable built into the wall. There is a price list and a list of cookies available on the wall at the side. There are shortbreads, almond cookies, orange cookies, and quite a few more. You can’t see the nuns, they are not allowed to be seen. You ask for the cookies you want and put your money on the turntable. They twizzle it around, you take your cookies they have put on the turntable, and they take your money.

The cookies come in 500g or 1kg boxes. It might sound like a large quantity, but they are so delicious I had no issues devouring a 500g box to myself over the course of the week. I’m sure that will not surprise anyone. Most of them I ate on Valentines night in bed with my PJ’s on. I started off with a lovely glass of wine in the hotel bar but then I thought, do you know what, a good film with my cookies and PJ’s in bed would be a much better idea!

Finally, I need to tell you about Calle Cava Baja in the La Latina area. This is affectionately known as ‘tapas street’. A number of cities have one major street which has been taken over by eateries and bars where you can just work your way from one bar to the other, or you can just sit in one, it’s up to you. It was Saturday night when I went down Calle Cava Baja, so it was heaving with people. I found myself in a tapas bar called La Concha. I was attracted by the pretty turquoise blue and red façade and an excellent tapas menu.

I was intrigued as to what everyone was drinking. They all seemed to be drinking the same thing. I was told it was a ‘Manuela’. Not wanting to be left out, I ordered one without really knowing what it was. Anyway, it transpires that the Manuela is named after the daughter of the owner. It is made by putting an ice cube in a martini glass, spraying it with gin three times exactly, dropping in a cocktail stick with an olive and a piece or orange peel on it, pouring in vermouth and then topping the glass up with a generous serving of Campari bitters. The nearest thing I can liken the taste to is a Negroni, and I love a Negroni! It’s La Concha’s Spanish Negroni with the vermouth replacing the martini. It went really well with my tapas of albóndigas (meatballs) and a roasted pepper dish with gratinated local cheese and crusty bread.

That’s about all I had time to squeeze into my three days in Madrid but hopefully that should give you an idea as to what it’s like, some top tips as to the main places to visit and where to sample some good Spanish food. It’s an amazing city, not my favourite, by a long way, perhaps a bit too busy for me. But if you like gigantic cities with lots going on, like London, you’ll love it. I think I prefer smaller cities. I preferred Porto to Lisbon, I’d choose Bologna or Sienna over Florence or Venice, I’d choose Barcelona, Seville, Salamanca, Granada or Bilbao in the Basque country over Madrid. They are just that bit smaller and more authentic to me, and I just feel more relaxed and at home in them, but everybody is different, and I’d certainly recommend Madrid.

To follow………….Segovia, Salamanca and Toledo…………..when I have time to write, because I am now just 5 weeks away (sounds better than 35 days) from my marathon. So if I’m not working, sleeping or eating…………..I’m running or having a tantrum about running. 😂 Adios for now!