Madrid 1-11 January 2016

Sites we saw in Madrid:

Lack of lifts in the railway system was a bugger on arrival

We took a bus from Trier to Frankfurt airport and then flew to Madrid. It was the cheapest option at the time. We then caught a train from Madrid airport into the city. We ended up travelling the entire day. Horribly tiring for a 46 year old. It was raining and rather miserable and dark when we arrived at the station closest to our hostel. With umbrellas in hand we strode forward towards our accommodation. Things didn't get much better. The signage for the hostel was basically non-existent (a very small name next to a buzzer on a door), and when we finally buzzed to get in, the lady on the other end didn't speak english.  We stood around in the rain for about 10 minutes and tried to buzz again.  70 stairs later...I'm not joking, I counted them...we arrived at the entrance to our hostel.  Clean and neat, with a window that looked directly into the neighbour's living room. 

We took our time looking around for the first 2 days and decided not to try to see any tourist destinations. Walking around is exhausting. Buskers were everywhere in central Madrid - the Puerta del Sol. Puerta del Sol was one of the gates in the city wall that surrounded Madrid in the 15th Century. It is in the heart of the city and a popular meeting place. We relocated to this area once we realised our original accommodation was too far from anything to be convenient and the 70 stairs we had to climb was simply not do-able.

No, it's not a crowd at a rock concert, it's just a normal crowd on a Saturday afternoon.

Statue of bear and a madrone tree - 'the symbol of Madrid' stands in the Puerta del Sol. "Meet you at the bear if we get separated" is a good place to start.

The view from our hostel - one of the main streets leading off the Puerta del Sol.  This street was still this busy at 4am weeknights.

Fucking horrible jacket. Looks like a dressing gown. I later dumped this for a better one. A rolling stone gathers no moss...or something like that. Got to be brutal with the luggage.

Dressing up as a statue is a favourite with the buskers 

Museum del Prado: wonderful, but you'll need 2 weeks to see it all.  Goya, Rembrandt...lots of Gods eating babies, the inevitable Saint John the Baptist's head on a plate. Drink lots of coffee before you go and start off early in the morning so don't go to sleep as you walk around. Not sure if it was the lack of fresh air in the museum or the fact that I had been suffering from insomnia for the previous 7 days, but I had a real problem staying awake. Luckily there is hardly anywhere to sit and take a rest. Murder if you have vascular problems or you're old and decrepit. The restaurant has seats - but it costs to take a rest there. No photos allowed inside. €1 to store your bags as you go in, and you get your money back when you collect your bags. Bomb check on entry.

El Rasro flea market - not really worth the time it will take you to get there. Easy to get to by train.

Mercado de San Miguel is another story. Well worth a few afternoon drinks. Must see.

Note red wine stains on lips

Chocolate con churros - quite nice. Not 'to die for' but I guess you've got to try them once. Seems more of a ritual for some of the locals.

Didn't realise you were meant to drink the chocolate as well as dip your stick in it. Coffee was nice. 

Buen Retiro Park: We hired bikes and rode around the park for an hour. The highlight was seeing squirrels - one who threatened to attack me if I continued to photograph.

My star sign is Leo so I'm allowed to touch his balls. And yes, I do wear the same outfit every day. Washing is a bitch.

Another statue. Not really sure what this one was or means.

Foot loose and helmet-free in Europe 

The first squirrel I've ever seen. We were more impressed by this than we were with the park.  Note loved-up couple in background. 

It was fast and feisty and it hissed at me and threatened to jump on me when I got too close.

Plaza Mayor: Pretty but relatively quiet. Quite a few buskers, including a fat Spiderman - a man dressed up as a fat Spiderman. No interesting shops to rave about. No great coffee shops or restaurants. Worth a glance. Miss it if you're short on time.

Temple of Debod: Reconstructed ancient Egyptian temple. We came across this on our way to catch the cable car that overlooks Madrid. I wasn't particularly interested but it's a free exhibit, so worth a view if you are interested in Egyptian history.

Puerta de Alcalá: We drank champagne next to this monument. Unfortunately we didn't ask the price or the label of the champagne as we ordered. We ended up with 2 glasses of Möet each which cost a total of 70 Euro.

Almudena Cathedral: We glanced inside, but having looked inside an enormous number of cathedrals over the last 4 weeks, we refused to go further. There were a number of people attending a mass so it seemed inappropriate to continue our tour taking photos. The warning at the entrance was comical. No hats and no short sleeves thank you. God frowns upon people wearing hats and short sleeves. 

The Royal Palace of Madrid: Ostentatious. Disgusting in it's extravagance. No photos allowed after you enter. How else do they get you to buy the books in the gift shop afterwards? Managed to get these few photos before the 'cameras away thank you' scolding.

Ceiling of main entrance to palace

Not sure who this is. I got told to put my camera away after this photo. Bad hairdo.

Photo taken from the palace. Thats the Almudena Cathedral in the background. Every day is a bad hair day without a hair dryer.

Tours on segways seem to be pretty popular.  

Smoking is surprisingly common here, particularly with the younger men and women. Allowed in any outdoor area.

Garden of the Royal Palace in Madrid. We admired her birds, then the lady who owned them plopped them on Drew's head and asked for  €5 for the pleasure.