Last week, I travelled to the capital of Spain with the aim of having a relaxing week away with my partner and put the nine months of Spanish lessons i have had into practise. The holiday in the end was quite different to what I expected.
After some very difficult months, I packed my bag and was on my way to my budget flight to Madrid, crossing my fingers and toes that the flight wouldn’t be delayed and the infamous airline wouldn’t take my cabin bag from me. Thankfully the flight was okay but I did realise that I had forgotten probably the third most important item on this holiday… the Spanish dictionary and phrasebook! What a plonker! Well now I knew that the holiday would be somewhat more challenging…
We decided to take the Metro into Madrid from the airport, which would have been fine if I had done any sort of research previous to the holiday, but instead we got to the platform and realised we had no idea where we were going. Embarrassing for me really. Eventually we realised what we needed to do but the ticket options weren’t great, we ended up opting for the 10 trip ticket + airport travel but in hindsight this was a bit of a waste because we walked almost everywhere and returned to the UK with four unused journeys. Never mind! But a tip for those of you thinking about a visit, just get the airport ticket, because your 10 trips don’t count towards your journey back to the airport and you may find yourself having to pay extra to get back through the security gates… (Not that I’m talking from experience or anything *cough* cough*)
On arrival to the address of our apartment, (another AirBnB bargain) we had to enter a local hair salon to get the keys, and the apartment owner did not speak a word of English. But thankfully! I remembered the word for keys! LLAVES! Remember that one, you never know when you might need it. So after a lot of challenging conversation and frantic hand gestures, we made it into the apartment which was in the centre of Madrid, and a great price at £49 per night, although was missing some essentials.. like toilet paper. But just a minor thing!
Next on the list was to plan our visits to attractions and local hot spots for the week, of course I was trying to relax so managed to narrow this down to only about three locations per day, not bad I’d say. We were on a serious budget, but there is a surprising amount to do for free in Madrid, even some of the top ranking attractions.
We headed out to fill our apartment with those must have essentials at the local supermercado, and then hit the Mercado de San Miguel, a classy market full of local cuisine for the all important Tapas ingredients. This market is one of many in Madrid devoted to stalls of Ham, Olives, Fruit & Veg and lots of seafood.
Parks
It was boiling hot when we were there and so we wanted to take advantage by strolling in the local parks, we spent a full six hours within the El Retiro Parque in the East of the city. This popular park is full of attractions to enjoy.
There is a lake which you can sail around and a beautiful monument alongside it with strange figures of mermaid like women riding various animals. There is also a few gorgeous buildings, one is a glasshouse with a pond in front of it filled with turtles.
Hidden away on one end of the park is also a peacock park where you can spot the birds hiding in every corner and formal hedge lines and fountains.
Peacock Park in Retiro Park
My favourite part of the park though is the Rosaleda or Rose Garden, which is very pretty, full of fountains and neatly trimmed rose bushes. Very beautiful.
There are so many other parks and gardens in the city to relax in as well, they all seemed to be taken well care of, and are clean and tidy.
One of the other reasons we spent so long in the Retiro park was because it was close by to the Prado art museum which is worth a visit. The museum is free during the week between 6pm and 8pm and we waited outside ready to go in, but turned our back for a moment and there was a queue of hundreds of people that had been formed. It would have taken an hour so we decided to give up and come back another day and pay, which was worth while because we ended up getting buy one get one free! The museum was full of paintings and sculptures, including some really brilliant work showing examples of heaven and hell and the artist’s perceptions of those journeys.
The palace is also a lovely monument to view, we didn’t pay to go in, as the queue was quite long and we didn’t feel like it but the outside was pretty and it is right next door to the Cathedral. The Cathedral has great colours everywhere and a variety of chapels.
Evenings
In the evening, the city becomes very vibrant with street performers in all the large plazas, and the Spaniards have their late night dinners and high street shopping trips. One of the nights we stayed in Madrid we booked to enjoy a tapas dinner with a show in one of the many tablaos.
We chose to visit Torres Bermejas because of the wonderful decor replicating the interior of the Bermejas Towers of the Alhambra in Granada , which has a great Arabic feel to it. We watched an hour (with a break in the middle) of Spanish Flamenco dancing, singing and guitar playing, which was excellent. You could watch the show and just have drinks for about 30 Euros, but add another 25 Euros and you will get your dinner thrown in, ( a tapas that is, of course). The food was lovely as well, so generally a splendid night of entertainment and food.
There are also a few good view points to oversee the city; the Temple of Debod which is a park with ancient Egyptian monuments as well as the tower, Faro de Moncloa, which is a little towards the outside of the city but cheap to do – only three Euros. The downside of this attraction is that it has no facilities other than a vending machine so make sure you get some food on the way from one of the many restaurants alongside the Oeste Park next door.
An overview of the city
One of the other great things to do, to get a real feel for the city is to take a tour of Madrid. We spent some time considering whether we should do a bus tour or a walking tour but after looking at reviews and considering costs, decided to go for a walking tour. We took a free city tour with a gent named Miguel, which gave us a great overview of the city and its history and allowed us to discover a number of streets, alleys and landmarks that we would have never noticed on our own. For example did you know Madrid hosts the world’s oldest restaurant? Or that in many of the convents you can go and buy freshly baked cookies from the local nuns?!
I never knew until we had the tour that we had been walking around a city with such a mixture of origins. I had been passing through streets of Austrian, African, French and Roman influences. Much of the city is also influenced by the different religions and cultures that came with these countries.
We heard that the origin of the Flamenco music and dance that we had enjoyed a few nights before was an outcome of the oppression in Madrid and the persecution of Gypsies, Jewish and Muslim people within Spain during various invasions. It remained very dominant in Andalusia in the South of Spain where much of the original African migrants were dominant. We plan to see a bit more of the Flamenco art during our stay there next Summer.
Unfortunately, we took the tour at the end of the week but it would have been much more useful to go at the beginning. That’s what we get for being indecisive!
In general, it was a pretty nice place to visit, with lots of places to see cheaply, and the culture was really interesting. Word to the wise though, many of the people living and working here do not speak English, so don’t assume that you’ll get by because your a tourist going to tourist places. Remember your phrasebook! I think my boyfriend is pretty thankful that I knew enough Spanish to ask for food and beer, shame I still haven’t mastered understanding the responses back though.
Adios!
Go Go Chlo 