Madrid
Madrid
We landed at the Madrid airport from Amsterdam to start our month-long stay in Spain. When we first arrived we noticed two things pretty quickly. 1) It was hot and 2) there were signs all over town that read "cerrado por vacaciones"... closed for vacation. It seems while planning, ChatGPT forgot to inform us that half of the businesses around the city shut down during the month of August. Apparently, they take the month off and head down to the beach. I can't really blame them. We'd do that in Texas if our beaches looked like theirs and not like Corpus Christi. Luckily, it didn't impact us too much. There were a few restaurants we didn't get to visit, but being such a big food city there were plenty of alternatives.
Since we were here for a month, we tried to adapt to the Spanish lifestyle, which wasn't all that hard. Having done some Duolingo during the days leading up, the language barrier was basically a non-issue. "Me gusto los bibliotecas." Also, most people speak great English... so that helped a little too.
The daily schedule wasn't too problematic either. It consists of eating, napping, and more eating. First is breakfast with coffee and pan con tomate. Then a massive lunch, menu del dia, complete with an appetizer, entree, dessert, and a wine or coffee. Then you have a late dinner, most of the time not even starting until 10pm. If all of that isn't enough, they give you a plate of snacks or tapas with every drink. In the US, you are lucky to get peanuts or chips with a drink order but here you get things like smoked sardines on toast or a plates of cured ham and cheeses.
Most of our days were a little slower, we walked a lot less, and didn't have an overwhelming itinerary of sights to race around and see. We enjoyed the big landmarks and museums, like the Reina Sofia and the Prado, but our days mostly consisted of finding food, checking out the different stores, and taking it easy. Our previous cities felt like we were going nonstop, so it was nice to have a slower pace.
Malasaña
Our Airbnb was located right in the center of the Malasaña neighborhood. I am not sure we could have found a better spot. There was tons of food, shopping, and coffee around us, which as you know by now, is basically all we really look for in a place to stay.
We were within walking distance to everything and ended up only using the metro once or twice. We were less than 2 miles from some of our favorite sights like the El Retiro Park, Royal Palace of Madrid, and the Casa de Campo.
Our Airbnb was a typical home in Madrid which meant it wasn't big but had awesome views of the surrounding streets. This was one of the first times we have stayed in the middle of the city during our trip which allowed us to hop in and out of the apartment and take full advantage of the siesta culture. It also had an A/C unit, which isn't something you think checking for until you have spent the last two months without one.
Royal Palace
I visited Madrid about 7 years ago and one of the things I remember vividly was the Royal Palace. It was one of the most affluent and luxurious buildings I had ever seen, so I had a pretty good idea Kaitlyn would be an instant fan. Sure enough she was and made me take the pictures below for our future house inspo. It gets a high recommendation from us if you ever visit the city.
Las Ventas
Seeing a bullfight on the other hand, may not come as highly recommended. It was intense. The Las Ventas stadium was less than half full but the fans were loud and passionate, passing around their botas full of wine. That wasn't the intense part though and honestly I don't think either of us had a full understanding of what we were about to see. In short, it is watching a slow and painful death for 6 bulls during the show. Kaitlyn, being the ultimate animal lover was a trooper, made it through the whole show, but was fully cheering for the bulls to send those fancy glittery boys to the hospital.
Seville
Apart from the bullfighting traditions, when in Spain you have to see the Flamenco and Kaitlyn was determined to find the best. That led us to Seville. Seville turned out to be our absolute favorite part of the trip. The city is full of history, beauty, and amazing architecture. It made us question our return back to Madrid. If the majority of our luggage hadn't been stored in Madrid, we probably would have found a way to finish out our time here.
The Flamenco show we found was in a small theatre in the southern part of the city and it blew us away. Suffice to say, when we come back to Spain someday, there is no way this won't make the itinerary for at least a day or two.
Toledo
Toledo is a pretty popular day trip to take if you are in Madrid. It is an easy 35-minute train ride from the city and you can do it all in less than a day. We were there about 8 hours and were able to soak in enough. In our opinion, it is a smaller, quieter Seville so you don't have to do both by any means. The history though is impressive for such a small town and the Toledo Cathedral is like no other church we had ever seen.
Barcelona
As we were making our way to Italy and out of Spain we knew we had to stop for a few days in Barcelona. Kaitlyn found us a great bed and breakfast in the middle of the Eixample neighborhood. This gave us a nice central spot to hit a couple of the big spots in our much-too-short time here. A huge highlight was the Sagrada Familia which turned out to be the most mesmerizing building we have seen to date. It has famously been under construction for over 100 years but you can tell they are getting close to finishing. The last article we read said it was finishing up sometime next year. However, on the tour they shared it had officially been pushed out to 2035.
Barcelona is another amazing place we really wish we had more time in and will certainly try to come back soon. The Gothic Quarter had really impressive buildings and unique shopping with some of the coolest souvenirs we have come across. Kaitlyn found a candle store with a black-and-white cocker spaniel-molded candle. So we'll be back just to buy that. We will also come back and make sure we get some time on the lively beaches.
Overall
While the majority of our time was in Madrid, we felt like we got a great sense of the country and the different cities. We still need to get to the northern end one day. However, we really enjoyed our time here and will miss the beautiful cities, the tapas, and the laid back lifestyle. Kaitlyn will really miss the olives, sardines, and sangria. Ryan will miss the siestas, jamón, Cruzcampo, and of course los bibliotecas.
Up next is a 24 hours ferry ride to the neighboring country of Italy.
Places we loved:
Food:
Coffee/Bakeries:
Bars:
One interesting thing we noticed that might help you if you ever visit is that Google and Yelp reviews can not be trusted. Not only that, we found the places with higher ratings often were our least favorite and vice versa. We haven't solved it completely but we think the authentic places care about food and less about traditional service (i.e. checking on you every few minutes, making sure water is topped up). We joked that if the staff seemed annoyed we were there, it was probably going to be good. While it was a joke, it was accurate almost every time.
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