Madrid Me Mata

When people ask me what our favorite city in Spain was, I usually answer all of them! I mean it's difficult to choose because they all have their own appeal and character. But there is something about Madrid that made us fall madly in love with it. Its energy, its big city feel, its people, its culture, ah its true Spanish spirit...everything about it! We spent 6 days in Madrid, and still felt like it was not enough to see everything. Well, I guess we felt that way about all the cities we visited, but Madrid is just so huge! There was no shortage of things to do at any time of the day. Since it will take me forever (and I'm too lazy) to cover everything that we did, I'll share some of our favorite sights and activities.

El Prado & Reina Sofia: Madrid's most famous art museums. We literally dedicated an entire day admiring works of pre-modern artists including Velázquez, El Greco, Goya, Bosch (all at El Prado) and then moved over to the Reina Sofia to observe modern art pieces by Picasso, Dali, and Miró, among others.

Museo Nacional del Prado

Museo Reina Sofia

Picasso's Guernica

We took a break in between museums by strolling through the beautiful gardens of the Real Jardín Botánico.

El Parque del Buen Retiro: wow! I'm so jealous of Madrid for this. A big chunk of one day was dedicated to exploring its gardens/monuments/trails/parks.

El Mercado de San Miguel: yum! What an awesome gourmet marketplace. Our dinner one night consisted of tapas & pinchos hopping between booths.

The Mr. enjoying his first of many Mahou beers.

La Puerta de Toledo. We woke up to this everyday as our hotel was right in front of it. Some days it was overcast and gloomy, others sunny and warm. Always a beautiful sight to start our day.

Cuesta de Moyano: we heart books. It was so much fun walking this long stretch of independent book stalls and browsing their collections. Too bad we were traveling with only our backpacks, otherwise we would have brought home a ton of books to add to our growing collection.



Plaza Santa Ana: super touristy, but still worth a visit to one of the busiest and liveliest plazas in Madrid.

Chueca: this was one of my favorite neighborhoods in Madrid. Great restaurants, cute boutiques, pretty architecture. It's also a popular area for the gay community...which means fun nightlife and good vibes all around!



El Palacio Real: the old school Royal Palace. Everything about this palace was so impressive.


We also took a day trip to Toledo, Spain's original capital (before Madrid).

Don Quixote de la Mancha.
Dulcinea was no where to be found, probably because she was imaginary huh?

La Perejila: we happened to come across this tiny tapas and cava bar located in the La Latina neighborhood on our first night in Madrid. We couldn't help but return at least a few more times. It was that good and the decor was so nice!

Callos y cava. Perfect.

Real Madrid vs Hercules de Alicante: I'm so stoked that we were able to catch a Real Madrid game! I admit that I was a little sad at first that Cristiano Ronaldo didn't play at this game, but it didn't take away from the excitement of the event.

El Rastro: Madrid's famous Sunday morning flea market. You can find all sorts of goods, art, and straight-out odd items for sale. It was a lot of fun to just browse through all the stalls and chat it up with the friendly vendors.


Finally: the vino tinto and sangria, which flowed like water. We became very good friends.


Next up: Sevilla y Málaga !