Madrid was not somewhere I was super excited to visit, my stop here was only really a means to get across Spain from Portugal. I had little to no interest in visiting the Spanish capital but I was thoroughly impressed! Perhaps it was because I had such low expectations but I really enjoyed my stay in here. I arrived by bus from Porto which was a 8.5hr journey – however it only cost me 9€! That’s like 1€ per hour of the trip haha. But it was a very long time to spend sitting on a bus, especially when the countryside was very similar for most of the journey. When I arrived it was a Saturday night, so what better way to see a new city than joining the hostel pub crawl and going out. It was fun, the city was lively and vibrant.
I hadn’t really planned or researched what to do in Madrid, like I said, I wasn’t that interested in visiting. So I spent the first two days wandering around, getting a feel for the city and visiting the major tourist attractions. This included the Madrid Royal Palace, Plaza Mayor, Gran Via (the main shopping street), the Chueca and Malasaña neighbourhoods, and many other street attractions, markets and plazas. The city was extremely walkable, everything i wanted to see could be walked to within about 20-30min of my hostel.
I spent a whole morning in the El Retiro Park. It was a huge park, kind of similar to Hyde Park in London, and it had all sorts of attractions, paths and a lake. With the shift towards autumn here in the Northern hemisphere the leaves are starting to change colour! After strolling around here for a few hours I was hungry. So I found a small, traditional pizza place, they did not speak a word of english (which was surprisingly common in Madrid) but as I walked in the song “Nikita” by Elton John was playing, I decided that was a sign to get this pizza for lunch. That was a good decision it was amazing. Something i’ve developed an affinity for while over in Europe is Fanta. At home, i’ll drink it but it’s never my first choice, here it is my drink of choice every-time for no particular reason. I also tried the churros from San Ginés, which was founded in 1894 – this one churro shop was over 100 years old?! I was slightly disappointed as I didn’t realise traditional Spanish churros are not coated in sugar and cinnamon like in NZ, but they were good nonetheless.
On my final day in Madrid, I felt I had seen everything within the city that I specifically wanted to so I headed out to Toledo for a few hours. I had planned to go for the whole day, but I got stitched up by some train issues and only ended up going for about 4 hours in the afternoon. In hindsight, a bit more time would’ve been nice, but I wouldn’t have needed too much more. Toledo used to be the capital of Spain, prior to Madrid. It sits upon a hill, has a real medieval vibe and is known as the city of the three cultures, as it historically has had influences from Christians, Muslims and Jews. I just explored the streets, visited some viewpoints, climbed many stairs and had some lunch. While it’s still a very touristy town, it was not too busy while i was there which was a nice change. It was a very picturesque and lovely place, definitely worth a day trip, especially since it’s only about 30 minutes by train from Madrid.
Madrid was refreshingly young, modern and hip (if that’s the right term) despite the obvious age of the city. My biggest complaint here is its inland position, luckily I arrived just after the heatwave so it wasn’t too bad but a beach is always nice. But I think I would visit again.
~ Nikita’s Nomadic Notes
Nikita’s Nomadic Notes 