Madrid...as a true Spanard one should say “Mathrid”. What can I say but the city blew me away. I really wasn’t expecting much but WOW if I got this excited about a concrete jungle, then I really do need to get me to NYC! Perhaps it was that I miss the buzz of the streets at night in Arusha or the lack of live entertainment options? Whatever it was I loved it. We booked a Hostal on the main drag not far from Sol. I wasn't sure what our accommodation would be like, but we were pleasantly surprised as we arrived into the foyer of a gorgeous art deco building with one of those old cage lifts. The owner or “Signora”of the home welcomed us in only Spanish. She looked at mum and I and decided we must be Spanish, so off she went a hundred miles an hour. Mum understood what she was on about and I managed to throw in the very multi-lingual “si” when she breathed so we could talk. Firstly and importantly I want to get to one of the many live Flamenco shows, so that night off we went to the live Flamenco ballet – it was different and I couldn't concentrate as there was a Spanish Deuce Bigalow dancing up on stage! I much prefer true Flamenco than the fusion we saw – actually it was Flamenco Opera. Definitely you need to see it once but perhaps I would choose live Flamenco first if you can only afford one.
As I said the streets of Madrid at night were alive with street performers, couples walking hand-in-hand, a huge gay scene, streets lined with fashion houses and of course tapas bars. Like much of Europe, no-one was really out eating dinner until 11pm at night which still continues to kill me!
One evening we found a delicious tapas bar across the street from our hotel and ate a delicious Spanish omelette and tomatoe salad. I eyed off the opposite tables Paella feast and decided that the next night it would be in my belly too!
Like Barcelona, Madrid is another city where you walk way too many kilometres in one day! Thank goodness for comfy flat walking shoes! On our first night after the Flamenco Opera we walked and I followed my internal compass to take us back to the hotel. Somehow we managed to walk to the majority of the major tourist attractions so that when we did one of those open-deck bus tours the next day, we found ourselves repeatedly saying, Öh we saw that last night!” We couldn’t believe just how far we walked in one evening and also how much of a circle we made without even realising.
The parks in Madrid really are the most romantic parks I've been too (with my mum!) Just so big, green and perfect places to watch the world go by and fall madly in love (with my mum!). The main park, really is the local central park, with its very own lake and row boats that you can hire. There's a glass palace – which inside is a real waste of space, but very pretty from the outside. The gorgeous swans are also a great attraction and not to mention the two old guys banging out Buena Vista Social Club style tunes in the late afternoon in the park – you couldn't wipe that smile off my face!
There's a million art galleries in Madrid and pathetically we didn’t end up in one – it's just not our thing, I'd rather people watch all day. We tried a heap of different tapas bars and I really lucked out one day when I thought I would be smart and choose a heap of random tapas from the menu that I was sure sounded exotic – ended up being bland and pretty damn terrible!
The metro is of course brilliant, but sometimes I was so tired I'd forget we had to change lines, then would drive myself crazy as to why I couldn't find the station I was looking for. My poor mother in-tow watching me snap it at myself on more that one occasion! One evening I was coming out of the metro station wondering why there were so many people everywhere and loud music. When I made it up onto the main street I saw the best street festival ever! It was starting to rain but I decided you live once and I didn’t care that I was alone, I was going to dance with that crowd.
They played my song of the European summer for 2010 – Al ors Danse – Oh how much I love love love this song and when I heard it that night, it was no exception. Amongst a crowd of young drunken Spaniards I’m dancing in the pouring rain in my jacket with crap leaking hood and just making friends with the crowd. David Guetta tunes kept pumping so much that I had to look properly to see if perhaps he was there on the stage! It was the best free street party I have ever been to, and the rain just added to the atmosphere. Everyone was jumping up and down, madly pumping their fists in the air whilst gulping their Spanish beers. Oh it was up there with San Joan festival back in June – why does Spain know how to throw a party! Make me love you all more!! It turned out the guy in the crowd next to me was American and also alone that night as he assumed I was friends with the people I had been dancing with. He asked if I wanted company to go out to a club once the festival had finished, but I told him I already had a date – with my mum ha ha!
So Madrid I really loved you – my only complaint is that you have no beach!!! So for that reason Barcelona still wins but maybe one day I'll give you a chance and call you home x
Next blog... Sevilla
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