Skip to photos here. We jumped at the opportunity to spend a week in Spain’s capital en route to South America. Neither of us had been to Madrid before, although we’d enjoyed a wonderful road trip some years ago in the Andalucía region, and had both visited Barcelona.
On our flight to Madrid, we realized that we were surrounded by passengers wearing Schalke 04 jerseys. I probably wouldn’t have made the mental leap (I barely knew that was a soccer team), but Phil pointed out that they must be headed to a game, and then found out that the team would be playing Real Madrid C.F. that same night. Feeling it would be a shame to pass up the chance to see a Champions League football game (even if neither of us are all too interested in the sport), we spent our first evening at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium (80,000 capacity) watching fútbol. I hadn’t realized that Christian Ronaldo plays for Real Madrid, and was amazed by the Schalke 04 fans, who spent the whole game chanting, jumping up and down, and doing synchronized arm movements. That was impressive, albeit mildly intimidating. I managed to miss seeing most of the 7 goals scored as I had a hard time watching the ball, and free Wifi in the stadium also interrupted my attention span, but I did note an oddity: the Real Madrid goalkeeper had four different neons in his outfit. Was that useful for the game itself, or was I the only one who found it a mildly ridiculous wardrobe selection?
We started our discovery of Madrid the next day by going on a walking tour. I know I harp some about walking tours, but I truly find them the best way to get to know a city. Our favorite spot overall was the Parque del Buen Retiro (“Park of the Pleasant Retreat”), which did its name justice: ponds, tree-lined walkways, fountains, and an absolutely gorgeous glass and metal structure (the “Crystal Palace”) all make this a great place to while the time away. I don’t think, in fact, that I’ve seen any nicer city park in all of Europe. Another fun place to simply hang out is the Parque del Oeste, which features the only (real) Egyptian temple outside Egypt. The Templo de Debod was gifted to Spain by Egypt as a thank you for helping with other conservation projects.
Madrid purportedly has more cloudless days than most other European cities, and while the weather was always splendid, we visited some museums, too. I most enjoyed the collection of modern art at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. Housed in a former hospital, it boasts an impressive new wing designed by architect Jean Nouvel. Far more impressive as collections go, however, were the renowned Museo Del Prado, and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. All three museums offer free entry for a certain length of time just before closing… worth checking if you only want to spend a short amount of time there.
The Madrillenos seemed to be constantly eating, drinking and/or or socializing… or all of the above. Our kind of place! We loved the focus on the culinary, although Spanish dining times were a bit of a challenge. Usually working from the early hours of the morning onwards, we were often hungry by noon, only to find that restaurants were still serving breakfast (lunch from around 1 pm). Likewise, in the evenings, we were always the first to arrive, since dinner starts earliest at 8 pm.
To get a quick lunch or dinner, we often went to the Mercado de San Miguel, a touristy − but beautiful − market whose many stands offer a wide variety of delicacies, and was only a short walk away from our apartment in the Lavapiés district. Neither of us much liked what we tried at the Mercado’s “Sherry Corner,” but it was an interesting experience. Our favorite restaurant turned out to be a small restaurant called Juana La Loca, where the specialty were Pinxtos, tapas spiked with a toothpick on slices of bread. Of course, we never leave a city without scouting out a good bowl of ramen soup, and in Madrid, we found two places! At CHUKA ramen bar we had the best pork buns we’d had in all of Europe (alongside good ramen), and I also quite enjoyed Ra-men Kagura. Purely by coincidence, a Madrid Street Food festival was underway during our stay, so we spent one lunch time rambling from food cart to food cart. On our second-to-last day, we also went the fancy route for a meal at Ramon Freixa. As usual when traveling, we were frightfully underdressed, fortunately, though, the waiters didn’t flinch when we walked in in our trekking clothes and hiking shoes 🙂
We never did understand why Madrid’s shops keep such incredibly varied opening hours. And it’s not like store hours were indicated on the storefront. It seemed like every shop owner made his or her own hours, which we thought would be so unproductive. We made the mistake of often deciding to “come back a bit later,” only to find the store in question closed.
Traveling out of the city on Sunday, we went to Toledo. Known as the birthplace of El Greco and influenced by the historical co-existence of Christians, Muslims and Jews, the medieval city invited us to wander through its narrow cobblestone streets. An exhibit on the Templars showed this religious order as far more important than I ever realized. In order to join the order, one had to take a canonical vow of obedience, poverty, chastity, and promise to defend the holy sepulcher. A pretty bad deal to sign, if you ask me. Afterwards (all this church-related history really tires me out), we relaxed at the Arab baths.
We did miss doing a few things: Since we were in Toledo on Sunday, we missed the El Rastro flea market, which had been highly recommended. Further, we missed buying sweets from various convents where, traditionally, the nuns sell cookies to help support themselves. And there is an amazing cinema we didn’t manage to get to. Three good reasons to come back here one day!
