Madrid

March 29-April 1

Accommodations: OK Hostel – one of our favourite hostels so far, it was the perfect balance of nice rooms and fun atmosphere! We had 3 of us in a 4-person dorm, and were lucky enough to have the room to ourselves until the last night. Breakfast was included, and had the typical options (cereal, toast, yogurt), as well as a make-your-own crepe station!!

Our Room

Dining Room

Day 1

We enjoyed the hostel breakfast before, you guessed it, the hostel’s city walking tour! We started at the massive La Plaza Major, which has 9 different entrance gates leading all around the city.

La Plaza Major

We also saw Palacio Real de Madrid, the Cathedral across from the palace, and learned about the history of Madrid. Madrid is located directly in the center of Spain, and once served as the border between the Christian North and the Muslim South. We also learned about the reason pork is so popular in Spain. During the Inquisition, the people’s Christianity would be tested based on their diets; eating pork would prove that one was a true Christian. Jews and Muslims, however, are forbidden by their religion to eat pork, and would have had to choose between eating pork or execution.

We had been craving sushi SO much, and we finally got some at a restaurant called Miss Sushi, where everything is pink. It was a much-needed break from Spanish food, no matter how delicious it is.

We headed to Museo del Prado, an art museum, where we ran into 2 guys from our hostel that we had met on our walking tour, Ben and Gill (this will become a common theme of this blog post). We went around looking for the ‘Masterpieces’ listed in the brochure, saw some interesting work by Goya, and were ready to move on.

We went to Parque de el Retiro, saw the Crystal Palace (which sounds much more extravagant than it is), sat by a fountain where kids were feeding the fish and turtles, then explored the park a bit more. During this exploring, we ran into Ben and Gill again– so weird!! 

The Crystal Palace

We went back to the hostel, and signed up for what has to be the most amazing deal I have ever seen – for 20 euros ($30 Canadian), we got a full dinner with open bar, plus the pub crawl which included 3 bars with amazing drink deals, and free entry into a club at the end. We had a lot of fun, met some interesting people, and ended the night with some late-night churros.

Churros & Chocolate

Day 2

We had a nice lazy morning, and began our day with Spanish omelettes, coffee, and a trip to the Royal Palace of Madrid. Of course, we ran into Ben and Gill AGAIN – this time, we almost weren’t even surprised. This palace was very unique, and particularly beautiful with its intricate Spanish décor and sliver-laced wallpapers.

Royal Palace of Madrid

For the afternoon, we spent some time on a nice shopping street called Gran Via, where we found the biggest Primark ever – I just looked it up, and found it’s the biggest Primark in mainland Europe, stretching over 12,000 square meters with 5 floors. After we had explored just a sliver of this store, we went for an early dinner at a really strange restaurant. It had a fancy atmosphere with nice tablecloths and waiters in suits, but the menu was a random collection of different foods at very low prices. To add to the weird atmosphere, pop music videos (I’m talking from Justin Bieber to Greenday) were playing on a TV screen at the front.

Gran Via- Shopping Street

We went back to the hostel to rest and see what we wanted to do later, but ended up just getting some much needed rest and going to sleep early!

Monica at the Nail Salon

Day 3

We woke up, packed our bags, and had to check out by noon, when we put our bags in the storage room and went out for the day. We decided to treat ourselves to manicure, which turned into one of the weirdest experiences ever. It was a tiny salon with just one lady inside who spoke no English, but she indicated to us she could do all 3 of our nails at once. We sat down in a row and she would tell us when to rotate seats. First she caught Katherine not keeping her hands in the nail dryer, and she started scolding her in Spanish. Then, I accidentally touched my nail to the dryer so she had to redo it, and she was FULL on yelling at me in Spanish… Like I said, very weird experience.

We got some calamari and smoothies for lunch, and decided to walk around exploring parts of the city we hadn’t seen yet! We started at the Cathedral across from the Palace, which turned out to be really colourful and beautiful on the inside.

Calamari

Cathedral

Then we went for a long walk towards the river, and explored this new area. We stumbled upon a beautiful park, with so many different areas to explore. We found a large bench across from a field where a bunch of little kids were playing with their parents. Two young kids had started a game where they were running around with a scarf – the boy in the front dragging the girl along, who was holding the back. They saw us sitting there and started to continually run by us in circles, saying ‘Hola Chicas’ each time they passed… so cute!

The River & Surrounding Area

The Kids Playing in the Park

Next, we headed to the Matadero, a ‘cultural center’ with beautiful red brick buildings filled with modern art exhibits. From there, we went to Museu Nacional Cenro de Arte Reina Sofia, where we saw art by Picasso and Dali. After a delicious tapas dinner, we went back to the hostel to get our bags and catch our night bus to Sevilla.

The Matadero