Madrid

Party time! Madrid feels bigger than any city we have been to, and that includes Paris and London. The streets are longer and wider, the buildings taller. The parks are grander, the shops go deeper. Everything here is massive and yet, it felt comfortable.

One three hour train ride with a class of 11 year old’s hyped up on sugar (I, Graham, got kicked once), two screaming toddlers, and a mentally disabled child kicking Cam’s seat the whole time later, we settled into Madrid. Immediately we could feel the immensity of the city, as our hotel was in the plaza next to the train station, and it took 10 minutes to walk there. We were greeted with heat and chaos, two themes that Madrid also seems to have. There we met up with another friend, Andrew, who has joined us for this city, brining the total travel gang back up to five.

We spent our first afternoon checking out the Plaza Mayor and surrounding streets. We were lead by our guide Andrew, who was the resident expert, as he arrived in Madrid one hour before the rest of us. The plaza is quite lovely, it reminded us of The Grand Place in Brussels. The interesting bit is that the plaza is surrounded entirely by one building, with each entrance and exit being a tunnel. The surroundings were fun to explore as well. Madrid has a different type of busker that we were not ready for, people in massive fluffy costumes. Over the course of out time there, we saw a pink bear, two Paw Patrol dogs, gorillas, brown bears, a panda, bumblebee transformers, Spiderman’s, and probably a few more were forgetting. There was a massive New York-esque street that we walked down as well, with buildings reaching 10-15 stories beside us, and advertisements everywhere. This street exemplified Madrid the best to us, as is was literally the center of Spain. Everywhere was really busy as well.

The gang got hungry, so we stopped for dinner at a restaurant in a faraway basement (we forget the name, La Nema maybe?). We walked through a bar, down a set of stairs, then 3 more rooms to our dining room, all in one direction. Fire escapes be damned. We ordered an ox tail, empanada, and salmon “river style,” which apparently means a massive steak cooked in melted butter. As delicious and artery filling as it sounds. We all retired for the night as it was getting late. We’re still getting used to the late Spanish dinners.

The next morning Cam and I went out on our own. Our first stop was the Anton Martin Market, hoping for some breakfast. It turns out it was a half open produce market. The smell of meat and fish was overwhelming in the enclosed space, and we left quickly. No luck. We thein tried our hand at the San Miguel Market, near Plaza Mayor. This market turned out to be a tapas market, and we filled up on a sausage and cheese on bread tapa, a salmon tartar tapa, and a ham tapa. They were all served on bread, and it did the job.

The famous Madrid landmarks of the Royal Palace and the Catedral de la Almudena were nearby, so we took a look. By now we are used to massive royal palaces with obnoxious private gardens in prime downtown areas, and their neighboring cathedrals, and this one wasn’t too out of the ordinary. These gardens remained private however, as the king of Spain apparently still lives here. Our friend who bought a tour didn’t end up going in the gardens. The buildings were massive, impressive, and a little over the top, just like all of the others.

We got lunch at a make your own stir fry joint, and we need these in Canada. The vegetables were exactly what we needed at the time. We then bought a picnic dinner at the grocery store (empanadas, apples, corn nuts) as we were off to the three day Mad Cool 2023 music festival that evening. The festival was a fantastic time, and the main reason we decided to power through Spain during its hottest month. That will be a the next blog though, as its deserving of its own story. We went back to our hotel, had a nap, and went out to enjoy the festivities of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sam Smith, Queens of the Stone Age, Lizzo, Robbie Williams, The Offspring, and many others.

Days 3 and 4 in Madrid were essentially identical, so I will merge them here. We started our days a new way for us on this trip. We slept in hard, as the late festival night and the heat had taken a toll on us. Finally crawling out of bed around noon both days, we headed to a new neighborhood to try and find lunch. There we found Plenti, a wonderful spot tucked into a sliver of buildings between parks that serves baked eggs and stuff on toast. We ordered Mexican baked eggs, which were essentially chili with egg and guacamole, and that was fantastic. So fantastic, that our friends joined us there on day 4.

The afternoon was spent in El Retiro park, the other private royal gardens in downtown Madrid, until the royal family so kindly donated them to the public. The park consists of a maze of paths among treed areas that are hedged off. Matt had a fantastic time playing in the sprinklers to cool himself off at the park. In the center is a large man-made lake with rows of buskers and rowing on the lake. One busker caught our attention though. An older man, likely doing this as a retirement gig, had set himself up a wooden board of different sized glasses glued on top. He wet his hands, and then rubbed the rims of the glasses rhythmically, creating music. The timbre was very light and eerie. It sounds exactly like the start of the Harry Potter theme song, which Cam correctly guessed he would play. We also recognized Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies, and Celine Dion’s My Heart Will go On.

The last stop was at a horchata shop, as we wanted to try some of the stable Spanish beverage. Its essentially nut milk, and you get served a big refreshing glass of it. It defiantly tastes like nut milk, but its much better than the oat or almond milk you pretend to like when you get it from the grocery store. Matt also got super excited when we found a gluten-free bakery, and he loaded up hard on treats for the next few days.

Evening’s consisted of the festival again both nights. Madrid is a massive massive city, and one we barely explored. Our hotel was right next ot the famous Reina art gallery, and we didn’t even touch that. The square outside of it hosted many events that we walked by though. When we got to Madrid, four kids were playing soccer, being okay with the small steps that they were playing around. They did yell at us as we were standing in one of the nets, and Cam played goalie, inadvertently kicking the ball back to them as they tried to score. The game ended when one kid fell down a flight of stairs trying to retrieve the ball. There was also a breakdancing competition in the square, but we never got back form the festival in time to enjoy that. Madrid is a city that you can only properly explore and understand with money, and we spent it all on a music festival instead. We still had a great time.

Did you think the 35 degree heat was hot enough in Madrid? No? Well we’re going somewhere with 40 degree heat next! See you there!