Spain has been my favorite place to vacation to date. Most likely because of my travel companions but I’ll give the country a lot of credit. I journaled every moment of my Madrid and Barcelona experience and my heart still feels intense happiness when I read it. So, when in Madrid:
‘Arrived late and took a taxi to The Hat hostel, we gave the guy an extra €10 as a tip even though we shouldn’t have. The hostel managers were nice – the place was trendy and clean, I felt as though I was at summer camp. A girl was sleeping in one of the beds (6 total) and her name was Paula from Chile. We later found out that she was returning home after a while of traveling Europe solo. Language was a barrier but after a few google translate searches we told her she was inspiradora and said goodbye. Breakfast was at the hostel – breads (good and sweet), muffins, pastries, yogurt and different jams – no eggs. Great time to talk and plan the day.
Bought tickets for a site seeing tour bus and made our way to the major sites in the city with major stops at: Botanical Garden – did not enter because we all started sneezing (allergies?); Museo de Prado – older Spanish art; La Plateria – for lunch and ordered tapas completely wrong – after inquiring about tipping, the waiter explained that it’s not necessary and we should tip from the heart; Reina Sofia – more modern very big and good views of the city at the top, took pictures at a garden wall; we then finished the tour and also saw the Royal Palace of Madrid, Christopher Columbus statue, Bernabeu (huge! – would like to see a match there one day), castles and more Spanish architecture, also 2 fountains where Real and Atletico fans celebrate. Later went to Churreria Chocolateria – it was good, chocolate was not very sweet. Finished off the day eating at Mimi’s Creperie and met an American and a Turkish-born student who gave us a reco for nightlife and told us about their studies. F****ng Monday was the event they told us to go to at the Independence Club – we went, we saw and left – why did we go haha?
Tuesday morning I got up early to run to the Parque de Retiro similar to Central Park. Lots of greenery and sculptures and lots of people walking, running and biking. Nice place to run – the city was hilly and hard to find my way back because the streets were narrow and winding. (Wanted to do a run in Barça but too tired!) We ate our final breakfast, checked out and went to see the Mercado de San Miguel. Very cool! Similar to Eataly but much smaller and more outdoorsy. Fresh goods and coffee. Did I mention we bought fake Barça jerseys on the street! Took pictures by the street and made our way to Madrid Atocha via taxi and realized we didn’t see much of our own surrounding neighborhood. Next time. Lots of pictures taken few posted. Atocha was nice architecturally too. We ate Burger King there – not bad but I can’t compare it because I don’t eat it anyway. The bus was quick and we rested and saw the country/open space.’
April 2015
Where should I go next? Perhaps Barcelona.
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