MADRID: Warmth Of The City Is Equal To The Warmth Of The People

This year's summer in England is quite short and so me and my friends decided to go for a short trip to Madrid. I lived in Barcelona before and loved the Spanish mentality and hospitality. Barcelona is still different compared to Madrid as they define themselves as Catalan and have their own vocabulary. We arrived late Thursday in Madrid and the first thing you recognise is the vibe and the heat of the city. People are on the streets, chatting and laughing, a lot of promoters are advertising bars at each corner. 

The next thing you notice is the eating time. Spain’s starts at 10pm, at the earliest, and for going out it is even later. They usually start going out to a bar around 1am and enter the club around 3am earliest and stay out until 9am or continue even until 12am. 

We had a drink at the Urban Hotel which is a stunning luxury hotel with a roof garden and a nice view of Madrid. The city itself is not huge, so you can reach every area easily by foot. We were very lucky with the weather. It was about 32 degrees, so we walked down to the “parque del buen retiro” which is a very beautiful park with a lake in the middle where you can row. 

People arrive to lie in the sun on one of the green spots in the park. Our hotel was very close to the metro station El Sol. On our way there we passed ‘Plaza de la Cibeles’. On our way back we walked through ‘Plaza de Colon’ which is one of my favorite places and buildings in Madrid. 

Art Centres in Madrid: Reina Sofia Museum, The Botanic Garden-Museum, Caixaforum Art Centre, Thyssen-Bornemesiza Museum, El Prado Museum (one of the best art galleries in the world, depicting beautiful pieces from Velazquez, Goya, Tintoretto and Rubens), Plaza de La Cibeles, Palacio de Comunicaciones, Puerta de Alcala, Bank of Spain, National Library and Plaza de Colon. In case you end up in the El Prado Museum, get a lunch at Cafe Prado, the cafeteria & restaurant inside El Prado Museum.

The next day we walked towards the west side of Madrid and passed ‘Plaza Mayor’, ‘Catedral de la Almudena’, the beautiful garden of ‘Jardines de Sabatini’ and ‘Plaza de Espana’. We finally ended up having a lie on the ‘Parque de la Montana’. On our way back we had a Sangria and green spiced olives in the Saint Miguel Market which is not an open market, but a glass building which keeps the food fresh. You can get fresh vegetables, fruits, sweets and ready-made tapas. 

Next we walked towards the metro station, Tribunal, and arrived on the shopping street. We wanted to get some patatas bravas in a bar named ‘La Tita’, but they did not serve the food in a traditional way. The Sangria and Tinto de verano was in a can and the patatas bravas also looked more like chips rather than the traditional dish. For dinner we were invited to a friend's house who prepared us paella in a huge pan.

The cook told us that the idea came actually from the musulmans as they used to eat from one big pan or plate. Next we went to a bar called Barbarum in Churruca 3 who served Mojitos in huge glasses. We finally ended in the Pacha Club which is not far from the bar. The next morning we walked down the Calle de Postas where they had a very nice bakery and pastries in all different varieties. For lunch I can recommend a cool terrace in Paseo de Recoletos (in front of Plaza de Goya), or more traditional El Paraguas Restaurant (Calle Jorge Juan 16) or a brunch at Embassy (Paseo Castellana 12). 

I had a delicious salmorejo cordobes con jamon y huevo for lunch which is similar to the soup gazpacho. Next we went to the airport by metro. The metro system is very simple in Madrid and tickets very cheap compared to other countries. All in all I loved spending my time in Madrid and would love to come again some time!