MADRID 6/19-6/22
We arrived in Madrid and quickly got to our Airbnb for a free walking tour! The tour was led by a very energetic Jovan Gibson. He was entertaining and it was easy to listen to all of his information about Madrid.
First stop: Plaza Mayor - an area bordered by apartments for the rich in the 1600s to get them to move from Toledo (the old capital) to Madrid. There used to be bull fights here. In the center is a statue of a horse with a King (Phillip the lazy) riding it. The area smelled bad for years and the locals hated it. One day they blew it up in protest and found pigeon bones in the statue from over 300 years (because pigeons could get stuck in the statue through the mouth of the horse) ewwww. On another note, what’s awesome is that the government is planning to add trees to plazas to cool the city, make 70% of the city pedestrian only, and add more water stations. Woo!
Next, we stopped at the oldest restaurant in the world called Botin. Apparently the famous artist, Francisco de Goya, washed dishes here. Rumor has it Hemingway also went here and wrote about it in one of his books. Also, royalty still eats here once a month. You can get same day reservations here even though it’s very nice because Madrid isn’t that popular of a city (apparently it isn’t even one of the top 3 cities to visit in Spain itself). We then were told that tapas should be free with your drink apparently... shook (although tapas can just mean peanuts or chips so that’s similar to the US). It should be random what they give you with your drink. So surprise!
At our next stop, our guide showed us a hidden gem- secret nun cookies! Are you wondering what that means? A convent of nuns (Monasterio del Corpus Christi) bakes cookies, but no one is allowed to see the nuns so there is a secret entrance. You ring the doorbell and enter through a wooden door. You walk down a long hallway and appear at a revolving counter. You order your cookies in Spanish, place your money on the table, and it spins and you receive the cookies. They were pretty dry but it was cool to experience.
At the next plaza, we learned that Madrid has small narrow streets that do not work in a grid pattern in order to protect the city from invaders since the enemies would have to split up to find the center. It’s one of the origins of guerrilla warfare. We stopped by the “Suicide bridge” (20 suicides a year with one a week one year). The city put up glass in 1998, and there’s only been one suicide since, which is amazing because the glass isn’t even that high.
More of the tour: we got Tinto de Verano at the pit stop- it’s like sangria but sparkling and more lemon. We all loved it. We also learned that Don Quijote was the 2nd most read book after the Bible for 300 years until now... Harry Potter. Lastly, we finished the tour by the Royal Palace (now an office building and has 3,000 rooms) and walked to the park to see the Templo de Debod. Came, saw, left.
We headed back for a much needed lunch at Mercado De San Miguel for tapas where we tried a bunch of things. This is a great market to get some Spanish food! There’s a lot of seafood and meat, and of course Tinto de Verano. We then headed to San Gines for churros con chocolate. This is the best place to go (it’s also open 24 hours so we noted that).
After churros we headed to the Airbnb to change and clean off after a hot day of walking around. We tried to then go to a rooftop bar Emily had previously been to, but it was closed for a private event. We got drinks at another place and then headed to the grocery store to pick up goods for breakfast the next morning. We wanted to control the outcome of our food this time and were craving an American breakfast instead of the usual croissants. We then rushed over to dinner at La Cabaña Argentina for a steak dinner. It was delicious! After dinner we had a Flamenco show at Casa Patas (Thanks @Faith for the rec!). One woman and one man danced while three men sang with one guitarist and one drummer on a box. Flamenco is like tap dancing and step. We definitely recommend seeing a flamenco show while in Spain to get a flavor of the culture! If possible, try to sit in the front row so you can really see their feet. It looks exhausting.
The next day, after sleeping in (!!!), we made our breakfast burritos and headed out to the Prado museum. We finally got free tickets with our student IDs! This is a first for us. Most places only give student discounts for those studying in the EU. We were very happy. At the Prado there are so many works of art to see. The museum gave you a map telling you all of the main pieces to see, which was really helpful. We saw:
Las Meninas (Velasquez)
Garden of Earthly Delights - three panels of fantastical representations of the garden of eden, earth and human desire, and hell - the girls’ favorite
Saturn (eating his son)
David and Goliath
The Three Graces
The Three Ages and Death
The 2nd and 3rd of May in 1808 (Goya)
Death of the Virgin
Decent from the Cross
Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx - Jackson’s favorite
After a few hours at the museum, we headed to Retiro Park to see the lake and the glass palace. We sat at the monument overlooking the lake in the shade for a bit before heading for late afternoon tapas. On our way back from tapas, we saw a Starbucks and Jackson was curious if drip coffee was sold. As we approached it, we were given flyers for frappy hour!! The 2 for 1 deal. We all got java chip fraps that were venti sizes. Too. Much. Frap. But it was good. Another side story: Grace and Emily have noticed striped pants EVERYWHERE in Europe. We have been looking to find some, and FINALLY did!! Thank you, Bershka.
At 7pm we got seats for the 8pm game of the World Cup: Spain vs. Iran! Finally, the first World Cup game we’re able to see, and we’re in the right country! After 30 min of watching and cheering for the red-jersey team, assuming it was Spain, Emily asked us why everyone was constantly cheering for Iran.... It only took us 30 min to realize the red team was NOT Spain and we had been watching the wrong team!! No wonder they didn’t have a lot of possession of the ball... we fail. Embarrassing. At least we cheered for the right team when the goal was scored. We watched the game at Dubliners, an Irish pub 27 steps from our Airbnb (we counted). There were a lot of people here to watch the game and there was cheap beer.
Afterward, we “napped” kinda and then got up for quick tacos at Takos Al Pastor before meeting up with Nikki’s friend, Jackie, and her friend, Anastasia (we were happy to learned that Jackie reads our blog, so hello!). We went back to an Irish Pub for drinks after. Later we tried going to Kapital, a night club, but it was closed. We taxied to Gabana and danced there instead.
The next day we got up early to make it to Toledo, the previous capital of Spain. We tried to catch the 9:20am train, but it was full. So was the 10:20am. So we sadly missed the 11am free walking tour. We got the 11:20 train and signed up for the 1:00pm tour. Long morning of doing nothing but getting metro and train tickets.
In Toledo, we had to grab lunch before the tour. It was absolutely terrible... They used a microwave... The €6.50 spaghetti was literally spaghetti-os. We even cracked up (at Jackson’s first funny joke of the trip) about throwing Grace’s “salmon” in the toilet. That is how bad it was. Real talk. So we left after barely eating and went to our tour only to find that it was in Spanish. So FAIL number 4 of the day. Wow. It’s 1pm. We hoped that the rest of the day would be better lol.
We tried doing our own tour of the city and ended up in the Alcazar military museum. Grace and Nikki went around touching everything that they could that wasn’t behind glass (@HIMYM).... Still surprised how they didn’t get caught/kicked out/arrested since they were shuffling around and giggling like 3 year olds. Meanwhile, Jackson and Emily saw some little soldier figurines, military flags, and weapons. Grace and Nikki were fascinated with these as well. We saw a good view of the landscape from the terrace and then tried to get out of the museum. It took us a few tries and we thought we’d never make it out. But we did and got McDonald’s dessert, which was still bad. Let's just say Toledo is not known for its food. We crossed the walled city to the river where Nikki and Jackson zip-lined across. Grace and Emily just used their feet to cross the bridge. We missed Jackson and Nikki cross since we were getting some cold water... Oops. But they made it across alive. We hope they had €10 of fun.
Afterward, we headed back to Madrid and napped (the usual). We then went to a rooftop bar- Circulo de Bellas Artes (@Emily for the rec from her 2014 Madrid life). We met up with Grace's friend, Jonathan, and Emily's friend, Marc. After a few hours enjoying the view, the warmth, Tinto de Verano, and some soccer (ugh Messi), we headed out. We had a farewell dinner at La Barraca (thanks @Anthony for the rec!!). We ate lots of delicious paella!!! We then headed back home, played Exploding Kittens, watched some Lonely Island music videos, posted instagrams, and called it a day. We had to be up at 4:30am for our next flight (again, the usual).
Thanks for coming, Nikki and Jackson!! It was so much fun! Now time for us to head to our second to last country- Portugal!
To Be Continued,
Grace & Emily
We arrived in Madrid and quickly got to our Airbnb for a free walking tour! The tour was led by a very energetic Jovan Gibson. He was entertaining and it was easy to listen to all of his information about Madrid.
First stop: Plaza Mayor - an area bordered by apartments for the rich in the 1600s to get them to move from Toledo (the old capital) to Madrid. There used to be bull fights here. In the center is a statue of a horse with a King (Phillip the lazy) riding it. The area smelled bad for years and the locals hated it. One day they blew it up in protest and found pigeon bones in the statue from over 300 years (because pigeons could get stuck in the statue through the mouth of the horse) ewwww. On another note, what’s awesome is that the government is planning to add trees to plazas to cool the city, make 70% of the city pedestrian only, and add more water stations. Woo!
Next, we stopped at the oldest restaurant in the world called Botin. Apparently the famous artist, Francisco de Goya, washed dishes here. Rumor has it Hemingway also went here and wrote about it in one of his books. Also, royalty still eats here once a month. You can get same day reservations here even though it’s very nice because Madrid isn’t that popular of a city (apparently it isn’t even one of the top 3 cities to visit in Spain itself). We then were told that tapas should be free with your drink apparently... shook (although tapas can just mean peanuts or chips so that’s similar to the US). It should be random what they give you with your drink. So surprise!
At our next stop, our guide showed us a hidden gem- secret nun cookies! Are you wondering what that means? A convent of nuns (Monasterio del Corpus Christi) bakes cookies, but no one is allowed to see the nuns so there is a secret entrance. You ring the doorbell and enter through a wooden door. You walk down a long hallway and appear at a revolving counter. You order your cookies in Spanish, place your money on the table, and it spins and you receive the cookies. They were pretty dry but it was cool to experience.
The door leading to the cookies
At the next plaza, we learned that Madrid has small narrow streets that do not work in a grid pattern in order to protect the city from invaders since the enemies would have to split up to find the center. It’s one of the origins of guerrilla warfare. We stopped by the “Suicide bridge” (20 suicides a year with one a week one year). The city put up glass in 1998, and there’s only been one suicide since, which is amazing because the glass isn’t even that high.
More of the tour: we got Tinto de Verano at the pit stop- it’s like sangria but sparkling and more lemon. We all loved it. We also learned that Don Quijote was the 2nd most read book after the Bible for 300 years until now... Harry Potter. Lastly, we finished the tour by the Royal Palace (now an office building and has 3,000 rooms) and walked to the park to see the Templo de Debod. Came, saw, left.
We headed back for a much needed lunch at Mercado De San Miguel for tapas where we tried a bunch of things. This is a great market to get some Spanish food! There’s a lot of seafood and meat, and of course Tinto de Verano. We then headed to San Gines for churros con chocolate. This is the best place to go (it’s also open 24 hours so we noted that).
After churros we headed to the Airbnb to change and clean off after a hot day of walking around. We tried to then go to a rooftop bar Emily had previously been to, but it was closed for a private event. We got drinks at another place and then headed to the grocery store to pick up goods for breakfast the next morning. We wanted to control the outcome of our food this time and were craving an American breakfast instead of the usual croissants. We then rushed over to dinner at La Cabaña Argentina for a steak dinner. It was delicious! After dinner we had a Flamenco show at Casa Patas (Thanks @Faith for the rec!). One woman and one man danced while three men sang with one guitarist and one drummer on a box. Flamenco is like tap dancing and step. We definitely recommend seeing a flamenco show while in Spain to get a flavor of the culture! If possible, try to sit in the front row so you can really see their feet. It looks exhausting.
The next day, after sleeping in (!!!), we made our breakfast burritos and headed out to the Prado museum. We finally got free tickets with our student IDs! This is a first for us. Most places only give student discounts for those studying in the EU. We were very happy. At the Prado there are so many works of art to see. The museum gave you a map telling you all of the main pieces to see, which was really helpful. We saw:
Las Meninas (Velasquez)
Garden of Earthly Delights - three panels of fantastical representations of the garden of eden, earth and human desire, and hell - the girls’ favorite
Saturn (eating his son)
David and Goliath
The Three Graces
The Three Ages and Death
The 2nd and 3rd of May in 1808 (Goya)
Death of the Virgin
Decent from the Cross
Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx - Jackson’s favorite
After a few hours at the museum, we headed to Retiro Park to see the lake and the glass palace. We sat at the monument overlooking the lake in the shade for a bit before heading for late afternoon tapas. On our way back from tapas, we saw a Starbucks and Jackson was curious if drip coffee was sold. As we approached it, we were given flyers for frappy hour!! The 2 for 1 deal. We all got java chip fraps that were venti sizes. Too. Much. Frap. But it was good. Another side story: Grace and Emily have noticed striped pants EVERYWHERE in Europe. We have been looking to find some, and FINALLY did!! Thank you, Bershka.
At 7pm we got seats for the 8pm game of the World Cup: Spain vs. Iran! Finally, the first World Cup game we’re able to see, and we’re in the right country! After 30 min of watching and cheering for the red-jersey team, assuming it was Spain, Emily asked us why everyone was constantly cheering for Iran.... It only took us 30 min to realize the red team was NOT Spain and we had been watching the wrong team!! No wonder they didn’t have a lot of possession of the ball... we fail. Embarrassing. At least we cheered for the right team when the goal was scored. We watched the game at Dubliners, an Irish pub 27 steps from our Airbnb (we counted). There were a lot of people here to watch the game and there was cheap beer.
Afterward, we “napped” kinda and then got up for quick tacos at Takos Al Pastor before meeting up with Nikki’s friend, Jackie, and her friend, Anastasia (we were happy to learned that Jackie reads our blog, so hello!). We went back to an Irish Pub for drinks after. Later we tried going to Kapital, a night club, but it was closed. We taxied to Gabana and danced there instead.
The next day we got up early to make it to Toledo, the previous capital of Spain. We tried to catch the 9:20am train, but it was full. So was the 10:20am. So we sadly missed the 11am free walking tour. We got the 11:20 train and signed up for the 1:00pm tour. Long morning of doing nothing but getting metro and train tickets.
In Toledo, we had to grab lunch before the tour. It was absolutely terrible... They used a microwave... The €6.50 spaghetti was literally spaghetti-os. We even cracked up (at Jackson’s first funny joke of the trip) about throwing Grace’s “salmon” in the toilet. That is how bad it was. Real talk. So we left after barely eating and went to our tour only to find that it was in Spanish. So FAIL number 4 of the day. Wow. It’s 1pm. We hoped that the rest of the day would be better lol.
We tried doing our own tour of the city and ended up in the Alcazar military museum. Grace and Nikki went around touching everything that they could that wasn’t behind glass (@HIMYM).... Still surprised how they didn’t get caught/kicked out/arrested since they were shuffling around and giggling like 3 year olds. Meanwhile, Jackson and Emily saw some little soldier figurines, military flags, and weapons. Grace and Nikki were fascinated with these as well. We saw a good view of the landscape from the terrace and then tried to get out of the museum. It took us a few tries and we thought we’d never make it out. But we did and got McDonald’s dessert, which was still bad. Let's just say Toledo is not known for its food. We crossed the walled city to the river where Nikki and Jackson zip-lined across. Grace and Emily just used their feet to cross the bridge. We missed Jackson and Nikki cross since we were getting some cold water... Oops. But they made it across alive. We hope they had €10 of fun.
Afterward, we headed back to Madrid and napped (the usual). We then went to a rooftop bar- Circulo de Bellas Artes (@Emily for the rec from her 2014 Madrid life). We met up with Grace's friend, Jonathan, and Emily's friend, Marc. After a few hours enjoying the view, the warmth, Tinto de Verano, and some soccer (ugh Messi), we headed out. We had a farewell dinner at La Barraca (thanks @Anthony for the rec!!). We ate lots of delicious paella!!! We then headed back home, played Exploding Kittens, watched some Lonely Island music videos, posted instagrams, and called it a day. We had to be up at 4:30am for our next flight (again, the usual).
Striped pants!
Thanks for coming, Nikki and Jackson!! It was so much fun! Now time for us to head to our second to last country- Portugal!
To Be Continued,
Grace & Emily
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