The trip to France happened so spontaneously that I had no time to tell you about my trip to Madrid just before the hiking. Since leaving Brisbane I haven’t seen my Aussie girlfriends (Australia is a long way away). However it was about to change when I heard one of my friends would be in Europe in September. We made a plan and decided Madrid was perfect for a girl’s getaway. I didn’t have to think about it too much before booking tickets. How could I not? Any excuse to catch up with her. In addition I have never been to Madrid so I was very excited!
Madrid
Madrid is the capital city of Spain and although I have been to Mallorca on a family trip when I was 14 years old I haven’t been to Spain otherwise. This trip was two day treat to myself, spending quality time with my friend. From dining to shopping and lots of chatting, of course. I haven’t looked up any tourist attractions or ‘must see’ things. I just went there without a plan.
Madrid was certainly great and perfect for a girl’s getaway. It had everything.. lots of restaurants, bars and shops. This is going to be fun! Above all the city itself was grand and tall with stunning and characteristic architecture. Due to the oversized digital advertising campaigns on some of the buildings made the city feel like a smaller version of NY. It was full of tourists and locals and as a result the vibe was great!
Everything starts later in Spain so breakfast wasn’t until 11am and dinner until 8pm. That meant I had plenty of time to go for my discovery walks in the morning. I am an early riser after all. In the morning the city was asleep and felt dirty. Maybe from the festivities the night before? Because once late afternoon hit and further into the evening, the city finally came alive. From street performers to mascots who gave away hugs (never for free though), everybody was out and about. It was so great to be amongst it!
Tourist Attractions
The Royal Palace of Madrid is an amazing place to see. With 135,000 square metres of floor space it is the largest royal palace in Europe by floor area. Furthermore it has 3,418 rooms!! Who sleeps there??
Similarly I would have also loved to go inside the La Almudena Cathedral as it looked stunning from the outside. However there was already a queue with tourists on both mornings and I had no time to line up. So I will keep that one for next time.
The second morning I discovered the Temple of Debod. I more or less found it by accident when walking pass. I didn’t think I would find 2nd century BC old ruins here. Still it looked amazing standing on the top of the Cuartel de la Montaña Park overlooking Madrid.
Only afterwards I googled the temple and read that it is actually an ancient Egyptian temple that was dismantled and rebuilt here in Madrid. Apparently it was given to Spain by the Egyptian state in 1968 as a gratitude and to save it from the floods following the construction of the great Aswan Dam. Read more here. Interesting!
Even more the view of the Royal Palace from the park was great as well. With that my morning walk was done and it was finally time for some brunch with my friend.
The Food
The perfect spot to try out all the different delicatessen is certainly the famous and clearly very popular market hall ‘Mercado de San Miguel’. We tried it all. And Dessert was definitely on the menu as well that night. My taste buds were rather satisfied!
