MONDAY 9 OCTOBER 2017

Madrid Guide

Before the start of the semester, I took an impromptu trip to Madrid with a new friend. We literally planned and booked everything the day before we left. We had a week off, so we wanted to make the most of our semester exchange. My most favourite part of the UK and Europe, is that it's just this huge cluster of all sorts of different countries and cultures, making it easy to travel to another country. That's one thing Australia lacks, we're so isolated and far away from the rest of the world!

Although we adapted the local's lifestyle for that week, we did manage to pack in touristy activities. As first time visitors, we went to the must-sees of Madrid. For art galleries, Sofia Reina Museum and Del Prado Museum are super great to bask in beautiful works and culture. The museums are huge though, so plan wisely if you're short on time, it's too easy to just lose yourself in the countless artworks they have on display.

Plaza Mayor, Royal Palace of Madrid, Santa Maria la Real de La Almundena and Basilica of San Francisco el Grande were sightseeing spots that really accentuated the beauty of Spanish architecture and art. We didn't get to go into the Royal Palace of Madrid, as it was closed off to the public for a special event, but we did manage to catch a glimpse of the Spanish king, King Felipe, during his procession into the palace!

For food, although it was packed and one of the biggest tourists attractions in Madrid, I can't recommend Mercado de San Miguel highly enough. Just the atmosphere itself was enough to excite me, it was noisy, busy and fast-paced, and not to mention the countless options of delicious food. We went there twice for lunch, and it was easily my favourite place to eat during our trip to Madrid. The two times we went there, I got food from a stall called La Casa del Bacalao. They sold toasts with different types of toppings, with a focus on fresh seafood. It was simple and delicious, and it was, to me, the essence of what Spanish food is.

Madrid has many, many parks, which in my opinion, were perfect for our afternoon siestas. Parque Retiro is a great place to take a leisurely nap and people watch. It was a busy park, with fountains, street vendors and performers, but the size of the park made it so that we were able to find a nice, spacious and quiet place to rest and watch the world go by. Another park that we went to was Casa de Campo, this park was so, so, big, perhaps too big. However, it was still a lovely place with boating lakes and streams.

Although it wasn't my first time to Spain (I visited Barcelona back in 2013), I had never been to the capital of Madrid. As expected, the weather was beautiful. We went in October, and I'd highly recommend travelling to Spain around this time, our week there was filled with blue skies and warm rays of sun, making it the weather perfect for taking an afternoon siesta in one of the many parks in Madrid. I swear 70% of our trip consisted of taking naps outdoors. Madrid was laid back that way, we could take our time doing whatever we wanted, eat slowly and talk for ages, wake up with the sunrise instead of an alarm clock and wander around at a slow pace.