Madrid

Unfortunately, Toledo was not in the cards for us. We ate breakfast at the hotel again and hurried to the meeting spot only to find no one else there. After some research, emails, calls, and texts, we finally got ahold of someone who said that the tour was canceled months ago and that we should’ve been refunded by Viator. The problem came from the fact that we booked with TourMega (not Viator) who hadn’t gotten the memo.

We realized there was nothing else we could do, so we headed back to the hostel to figure out our next move. We both needed a bit of a break, so we relaxed for the morning, got our laundry done, and got ourselves organized for Cordoba. It was a much needed break from doing things nonstop. We are very sad to miss Toledo, but are also glad that we weren’t out in the sun all day (especially because there was a heat advisory).

After the laundry was finished, we went to a grocery store and picked up some food for a picnic lunch. Then, we headed over to the Retiro park and found a bench in the shade to enjoy our food. Our next stop was the lake in the park where they rent rowboats. We braced ourselves for the heat and got a boat for 45 minutes. It was so much fun, but if it was any longer, we would’ve needed to open an umbrella for some shade!

By the time the boat was over, all we wanted was some cold water and air conditioning, so we hopped on a bus and went back to the hostel. When we arrived, we filled our bottles and headed to the lounge to wait for dinner. Since we had an early train in the morning, we decided it was best to just stay in and enjoy dinner at the hostel again. Tonight’s dinner was noodle soup, roasted fish and potatoes, and ice cream. The food was good, but the company was better. There was a new receptionist/bartender working the dinner who did a great job encouraging everyone to interact with each other and introducing new people who walked in to the group. We met a lot of cool people and had a great time eating (and drinking- open bar). We were being pushed by the bartender to stay up all night and go on the pub crawl, but of course we weren’t going to do that when we had a new city to explore in the morning.

We are currently on the train to Cordoba (by the time this is posted, we will be in Cordoba). On our way to the station, we passed lots of people going home from the clubs (which close at 6am). We also had a little bit of a sunrise view before we left the station in Madrid. Yesterday, we were smart enough to get some croissants and yogurt so that we had breakfast this morning (and the hostel has 24hr coffee), so we were set to get up, eat, and go.

This morning, we decided to try out the breakfast buffet at the hostel. Everything else at the hostel was amazing and the breakfast is all you can eat/drink for a good price. It was definitely the right decision! They had a spread of pastries, two types of eggs, beans, bacon, ham, salami, cheese, cereal, granola, an array of jams, butter, and honey, oranges, kiwi, bananas, juice, and coffee. We made sure we were both full before heading out for the day. 

Today’s agenda was to see the the Parque de el Retirio, the market of San Miguel, and the Royal Palace of Madrid. Our first stop was the park which also houses the crystal palace. We wandered through the park and even walked through part of a book sale that had about 300 booths with vendors selling all sorts of books. When we got to the crystal palace, we were first greeted by a giant lake with a fountain and lots of animals. The first thing we noticed were the turtles, but there were also lots of ducks, some small birds, some large birds, and fish. We had a lot of fun just sitting and standing by the water watching all the animals (but mostly the turtles). After a little time by the water, we went inside the palace which was very pretty but less interesting than the turtles. 

Since we had a lot we wanted to see and didn’t want to run out of time for lunch, we started heading back out of the park. On our way, we wandered into another section of the park which had beautiful hedges and flowers and we soon realized that that wasn’t even the best part of the garden. We saw that the garden also had lots of peacocks wandering around. Lunch would have to wait! We didn’t know about the peacocks and were so excited that we spent a ton of time looking at and taking pictures with all the peacocks we could find. It was so cool to see so many peacocks just wandering freely around a garden. 

After we decided we really did have to go, we hopped on a bus and went to Plaza Mayor which is has a very local restaurant (La Campana) that was recommended to us by multiple people. Their specialty is squid sandwiches, so that’s what we had to order. We squeezed lemon on top and both loved it, it is definitely a must for anyone coming to Madrid. While we were in the area, we also went into the market of San Miguel, but we were glad that we weren’t still hungry because the prices were ridiculous. Nevertheless, it was fun to see and we headed toward the Royal Palace. 

We ended up getting there a little early so we went into the cathedral first (it’s free and right next door) which was fun to see but no where near as nice as it’s Barcelona counterpart (Sagrada Familia). After the cathedral, we still had a little more time so we went into a bar across the street for beer, bathrooms, and air conditioning. We each got an Amstel and enjoyed the short break from the heat. 

When it was time, we headed into the Royal Palace and started by wandering through the main rooms on display. In total, the palace has just over 3,400 rooms, but we obviously weren’t allowed in most of them. On days (like yesterday), the palace is still used for diplomatic meetings and decisions and only opens as a museum on days that the king is not present. While everything in the palace was gorgeous and over the top, we both found ourselves paying more attention to how much detail went into the room itself. The ceilings in every room were painted beautifully, the walls were all either covered in beautiful designs or elegant patterns that were raised off the wall. Even the trim around the doors and windows was extremely fancy marble, and the floor was gorgeous tile that changed from room to room. No two rooms were even similar and each had their own personality before you even looked at the chandeliers or the furniture or the paintings. The other area in the palace to visit was the armory which was really cool to see. It displayed all different kinds of armor that was worn by men, horses, dogs, and children as well as weapons including swords, javelins, guns, and cannons. 

At that point we were exhausted, so we went to a nearby park and took turns taking short naps. The heat is deadly in the sun, but it’s actually very nice sitting in the shade. It was definitely something we both needed before wandering through the park more and then heading across the city for dinner. We met one of the girls we met at the hostel for paella at a local restaurant that we all loved. We ordered a mixed paella which had a variety of seafood and some chicken and then we each ordered a Catalan crème which was very similar to a crème brûlée but had more spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc) and a thinner layer on top. It was different from anything we’ve had but was very good. After dinner, we all hopped on a metro to get back to the hotel and got ready for bed. Tomorrow is Toledo! 

Today started off a little slower with a stroll around the nearby streets to find a coffee shop and an ATM. We managed to find both with minimal trouble and then got back to the hostel in time for a free 3 hour guided tour of the old city that is offered daily. Our tour guide, Erika, did an amazing job and taught us a lot about the city. One fun fact was about their iconic bear statue, El Oso y el Madroño, which shows a bear climbing up on a Madroño tree to eat its (fermented) fruit. She told us that this is very symbolic of Madrid because the bear climbs the tree for the fermented fruit until it becomes too drunk, so it takes a nap and then wakes up for more fruit. She also pointed out that the bear is a female which means that their icon is essentially a party girl. 

After leaving the bear statue and the main square (which is not only is in the center of Madrid, but is also in the center of Spain), we continued to explore the city and learned about where to find the best (and oldest) churro spot, the best squid sandwich, and the best paella. We also learned a lot about Madrid’s history including details about their civil war which left bullet marks in all of the buildings, the Black Plague, and about the origin of sangria and tapas. The tour also took us to see a few of the most famous plazas, the Royal Palace (which the king was inside of at the time), and amazing views of the mountains. 

When the tour ended, we took the suggestion of our tour guide and went to a nearby tapas restaurant. It ended up being more expensive than we expected so we only ordered 2 tapas to share. The first was a smoked burrata and the second was a pastrami sandwich. We both preferred the burrata, but they were both very good. After lunch, we were still a little bit hungry so we headed back to the best churro restaurant in the city and ordered their churro with chocolate special. It came with 6 churros and a glass of very thick hot chocolate to dip in. We loved it and could understand how they made it to be the oldest churro shop in Madrid. 

Our next stop was to Primark, a huge department store that we were told has excellent prices. It was something very different see and we had fun wandering through 5 floors of clothes and other things, daydreaming about how much we could get if only we had an extra empty suitcase to fill. 

We took a quick detour to the hostel to drop off the few things we did buy before heading back out to the Prado museum. The museum was a lot of fun and we had a great time looking at the art that we saw, but we didn’t quite get through everything before they started getting ready to close. It ended to being for the best because we were very ready for dinner. We decided today was the perfect day for a casual dinner so we stopped at Lidl on the way to the hostel and picked up some bread, cheese, salami, raspberries, garlic spread, lemonade, and yogurts that we ate back at the hostel. 

We had limited time this morning before our train to Madrid. Our first destination was Park Guell which we really enjoyed. It had more pretty purple flowers which made it even more exciting. We also got to go into Gaudi’s Casa del Guarda, which was fun to walk through and see the interesting architectural decisions that he made. After the Casa, we wandered through the gardens to admire the flowers and other buildings. We really enjoyed the lizard fountain, the caves, and the mosaic platform with a view overlooking the city. We both had a great time in the park and were sad to leave, but we also wanted to have time to (try for the third time to) go to La Boqueria. 

This time, we were very excited to find the market open and wandered through aisles of meat and fruit and fish and spices and tapas and everything else you could imagine. Eventually, we each found a few small things to try which became the perfect lunch. 

After a little more wandering, we headed back to the hostel to pick up our bags and get ourselves ready for the train. We gave ourselves plenty of time and even got to sit on the couches for a bit to relax before walking to the train station.

The train ride was relaxing and uneventful. The train was nicer than the other ones we’ve been on and we made it to Madrid right on time. We quickly bought metro passes before catching a ride to our hostel. 

This hostel is definitely the nicest (and best location) for all of the hostels we’ve stayed in. We are in a 6 bed female dorm with a private bathroom. The hostel has a lounge, game room, bar, and even offers walking tours of the city. On top of all of that, they also offer a 3 course meal and open bar every night for only 12€. It started about half an hour after we arrived, so, of course, we decided tonight was the perfect night to try it. The first course was a salad which included pickles; it was very interesting and ended up being really good, but it was also a little surprising. The main course was chicken wings and potatoes and then dessert was carrot cake. Overall, everything was good even if it wasn’t very local and it saved us the pressure of trying to find food so quickly. The open bar was also a very nice bonus- their sangria was delicious! We ate at a table with 2 other girls staying in the hostel and had a really great time getting to know them. After dinner, we got ready for bed so we had some time to plan tomorrow!