Friday (10/10/2014)

Our first weekend since moving to Dublin was in Madrid. Crazy, right? Well…it coincided with the last weekend that Celo’s dad would be in Europe, so off we went!

We boarded for the first time with the Irish company Aer Lingus, which is great by the way, and in less than 3 hours, we were in Madrid. We arrived at around 8pm Barajas Airport and from there, we took the train to the station Thyrsus of Molina, making two changes in the middle of the road.

We arrived at the hotel street and were worried about what we saw, because it was quite deserted. I tried to think that we were in Europe and not in Rio de Janeiro to calm myself down and soon, we arrived at the hotel. Prada Guest House. We booked it on the same day, considering that we wanted to be close to the cool bars so we could enjoy the night, but we didn't want to spend a lot.

This hotel is very clean and organized, but it has some problems: wifi It doesn't catch inside the room, the bathrooms are shared, there is no breakfast, the street is deserted at night and worst of all, the first floor of the building where you are staying stinks a lot (the hotel doesn't stink, because it's like an apartment on the second floor). Anyway...it was worth it for the location and the last minute price.

We left our backpacks, got ready and went to dinner at the best restaurant in the region. La Latina, according to TripAdvidor, the La Concha Tavern. (PS: We always download the guide offline of the cities we visited, because we never bought chips with internet, so you can research things while you are walking around the city). Guys, the restaurant is really, really, really good! And it is much cheaper than the restaurants in Dublin… Yay! We ordered several tapas (mini portions) and drank two delicious cavas! Cavas are Spanish sparkling wines, by the way. I found everything delicious, the service was excellent and the atmosphere was very cool. Perfect for our first night.

Saturday (10/11/2014)

We woke up early to make the most of the city. We left the hotel and went into a wonderful bakery, Panishop. We eat croissants delicious and much cheaper than the ones we saw in Dublin and we went for a leisurely stroll.

We first passed by Plaza Mayor, which is the most famous square in the city. The square is really cool, surrounded by buildings stuck together to form a square. Some of the facades of these buildings were under construction, but they took the time to cover them with cool screens so as not to get in the way of our photos. Look how cool:

In this square, we saw several artists performing and some restaurants located in these buildings on the square. Since it was still early, the restaurants weren't booming and it wasn't really clear why this square was so famous, but when we passed by it later, it had a wonderful energy. We left there and walked through some streets with really cool architecture until we reached the famous San Miguel Market. It was still closed, even though it was close to 10am, so we just looked from the outside and came back later. (I'll tell you more about it later – it's definitely worth a visit!)

We continued walking through the streets and I loved the buildings in the area. I wanted to take pictures of all of them, they were so different. Take a look:

We walked to the Royal Palace  and the 5 minutes we spent in line were only because the Palace hadn’t opened yet. What luck! What a beautiful place… I loved practically every room we went through. One decoration was more beautiful than the other… It’s a shame that I only took my cell phone on this trip, so the photos aren’t that good, but do yourself a favor and go see it in person. 🙂

We spent a good amount of time there, even going through the weapons room, which has everything to do with Game of Thrones! 🙂 We left there feeling very excited and went to the church next to the Palace, but since there was going to be a mass soon, we only went in quickly to take a quick look at the architecture and left before the mass started. It was also very pretty.

We walked a little further and passed by the store Geppetto (character who created Pinocchio), so cute:

Then we were lucky enough to witness a very pompous Spanish wedding (look at those hats, they're beautiful!):

We passed by the museum Queen Sofia, mainly to see the famous Guernica, but I didn't find anything special. The museum is pretty cool, with a mix of modern and classic, and the painting is quite interesting, but I wasn't interested in anything else... lol.

From there we returned to the San Miguel Market and we got a table right in the center, from where we could go to the mini restaurants to buy several delicious tapas. The prices are steep, but we found everything delicious and the best part is that the energy in the market is really good! We only left there because the chairs weren't very comfortable and we ended up going to the Plaza Mayor, where we sat in Magerit. Pretty good too!

After there, we went to the neighborhood of La Latina and we found another great but very crowded tapas bar, whose name I don't remember. We had some tapas and decided to go back to the bar from the previous night, the La Concha TavernThis place really left its mark on me!

Sunday (10/12/2014)

We woke up and went to have coffee at another bakery near the hotel, also delicious, but as I didn't take a photo, I don't remember the name. Sorry. From there we walked to the famous square Sun Gate, where you have the classic bear with the tree. We were going to the Retiro Park, but we found the streets closed because there was a parade of the guard. We discovered that it was a national holiday, known as Hispanidad Day, which celebrates the arrival of Columbus in the Americas. We were able to see the guard parading, but we didn't get to see the King and Queen.

After the parade was over, we were able to get into the Retiro Park and we were surprised by what we saw. What a beautiful park and what good energy, you know… several artists with super different stuff. It made me want to contribute to everyone!

We left there and passed by Alcala Gate, what is this here:

Then we went to the Salamanca neighborhood, which is much tidier than the center. We passed by National Library and by the Gardens of Discovery until we reach a wonderful market, the Platea. This market has several floors and restaurants with all types of cuisine, as well as quality live music. It is quite pompous and therefore the food is more expensive than in the street restaurants we visited. It is located on Goya Street, which is a very chic street, with several expensive stores (for those who like shopping, it's a good one!).

We walked to the Prado National Museum and we spent a lot of time inside it, because it is huge!! I don't have much patience for museums, but I liked what I saw, even though I always wished for benches to sit on. This museum is considered the Louvre of Spain. We focused on seeing the most famous works, which you can find here.

We left there hungry and stopped to eat at a great restaurant (guys, this is getting repetitive, but it's true!), La Reina Market. Tapas, tapas and more tapas and after almost 1 hour, we were thrown out of the counter, because the restaurant would only operate with tables and we needed to have made a reservation.

We moved to the restaurant Orio, of Basque cuisine, and we continued eating, eating, eating. When we were leaving, we had the pleasant surprise of meeting Marcelo from the Brazilian National Team, who scored the first goal of the World Cup (own goal, ok…lol). Obviously, I made a fool of myself asking to take a picture, but I did:

Monday (10/13/2014)

Celo left early, but I stayed in Madrid, because the ticket was much cheaper if I returned at night. I did check out at the hotel and took advantage of the day to walk around the city even more, passing by the places I had liked the most. I walked again through Plaza Mayor, Parque del Retiro and Puerta del Sol, stopping to eat at a good restaurant too, Coffee and Tapas, but not as good as the others. I took the train back to the airport, went into the departure lounge and, not to mention that flights are only delayed in Brazil, I had to wait half an hour for mine. On the other hand, I took advantage of the Aer Lingus flight and ate a delicious sandwich from Clodagh McKenna, who is a very famous Irish chef. A delightful flight and trip. Definitely a FAT and HAPPY weekend. 🙂

Europe, come with everything because I want to get to know you better!<3