Visit to Madrid

For part of a backpacking trip around Europe, my friend Emily and I went to Madrid, Spain. It was an incredible city, and we took a train from Paris to get there.

We got to the Madrid Train Station and found a taxi cab that would take us to our hostel, and even though he didn’t speak English, he got us there fine. Our hostel arrangement took up about two small rooms, with two twin beds and a bathroom. It was in Royal Madrid/Old Madrid, so it was close to all the sights we wanted to see.

We went outside to walk around and see the sights. All around were old buildings, statues, and other amazing structures. Everything is so much more colorful there, and the facades of buildings are so interesting and intricate.

We walked through some plazas and then got to the Royal Palace of Madrid, which had some amazing gardens around it and looked humungous. We walked through the armory and the official rooms and saw everything it had to offer.

We walked around the Plaza Mayor after that, and had lunch at a restaurant called "Segun...Enma" where I ate pumpkin ravioli with a pistachio pesto sauce on top. It was delicious but very interesting and different.

We walked around a bit after that because we needed to find an adapter... our plugs are all flat and don’t fit into the depressed European outlets. We walked around a lot and no one spoke English so we had a lot of trouble. Eventually we ended up at El Corte Ingles, where an employee approached us and spoke English very well. He helped us find what we needed, and so once we each bought one we were totally set.

After being true inhabitants of Madrid and taking a siesta, we walked around a lot and tried to find a good place to eat, but most places we couldn’t understand the menu or it was too expensive, etc. We ended up at this tavern off the beaten path, and we each got a glass of a Rioja as well as some steak and chips. The chips (fries) were probably the best I have ever had.

We didn’t love the wine, but it was ok. When we were finished, we were waiting for the check, and the waiter, who spoke no English, came back and gave us each another half-glass of wine. We tried to protest, but he gave us some anyway. We also went out after dinner and had some sangria. Madrid is such a wonderful city for nightlife because of how late they wake up and their sietas, so they are definitely night owls.

On day two in Madrid, we knew we were going to visit the Prado that day but then we wanted lunch first so we walked around to find a place to eat. We ended up walking really far and way out of the way. It was extremely hot, and we were sweating and tired, so we just stopped at a restaurant in the middle of this business/government district, and so we went in to get some ham and cheese sandwiches, which were pretty good.

On our way out, we bought some chocolate ice cream, which we ate on the way to the Prado. We spent literally all day in the Prado walking through all the galleries. It took us hours, and our favorite ended up being the same painting for us both: a painting by Simon Vouet, called Time Conquered by Love, Hope, and Beauty. (We didn't snap a picture of it, unfortunately, so here's a copy):

While we were there, one of the museum workers yelled at me for sneezing. She was shushing us and we weren’t even being loud. We were whispering when we were discussing the art, but when she shushed me we were being silent except for my sneeze.

After we left the Prado, we walked around and found a restaurant and had a jar of sangria, and I had a half a chicken and fries. It's sad that we didn't really eat all that much Spanish food, but it was because they mostly eat tapas of fish dishes, and my friend doesn't eat fish, so that ruled a lot out. Still, everything we ate and drank in Spain was wonderful. Madrid was an incredible city, and definitely should be a stop on any European backpacking adventures.