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Published: December 12th 2011
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Madrid is one huge city and such a contrast coming from Venice. As I have said Venice is magic so Madrid
wherever we went after that was going to be hard. Madrid proved not to be as straight forward as we thought. The flight was uneventful even though we did not realise Easyjet had no seat allocation and thus could possibly be scattered from one end to the other but after being bussed to the plane and being last on we still found 7 seats in the back together (much to Ian’s disappointment who was aiming at reverting to his young single days).
Madrid has a great transport network and we managed to find the bus into town for 2euros each. This took us into the main train station. From here we thought it would be a few minutes walk…NO. It may have been only 4 or 5 blocks but the blocks are enormous, something we did not pick up on the map. Burdened with our bags, we finally made it. The apartment was basic but it served the purpose of somewhere to sleep. The apartment was very close to a metro stop, which meant it was 10-15min to
anywhere in Madrid.
Our first stop the next morning was for a sim card for the ipad; a task we thought would take a few minutes. This ended up taking forever and a trek around the city. Finally it was the little hole in the wall joint of Moviestar that sorted it out, the larger stores all claimed not to do ipad, pre-pay, or just did not have the sim, very frustrating as it should be such a simple thing.
The metro system did prove to be easy and there is a tourist travel pass for a few days that lets you travel unlimited on all the public transport. We used this extensively to get from one end of town to the next. Such an easy system to master, even the kids got a handle on it and began directing us through the changes of trains, and if they can master Madrid metro I have high hopes a system such as Sydney or Melbourne will be a piece of cake.
It was not long before Oliver was at home with the metro in Madrid. We would jump on the train and he would waltz with all the
confidence in the world to a spare seat and would highlight to wither Alex or Ian at the top of his voice where we could sit. This happened regardless of how busy the train was.
We did manage to get down to the palace on the first day and wander around the gardens. This is a great spot for the kids as they had a lot of fun running through the maze of bushes and playgrounds. We also had our first paella…YUM. We just shared 2 and they were great. Kids also loved them even the fussy ones. This was the beginning of the Spanish food tour that involved a few paellas and lots of Tapas. The variety of the tapas is amazing ranging from the little taste of meat and olives to hot meatballs and beyond. In one lost in translation moment we almost ended up eating tripe but thanks to the patient waitress we stuck to the chorizo and mushrooms.
We did not have a long list of must dos in Madrid but the Sofia and Prado Galleries were a must. Both of these have free days, unfortunately they are on the same day. This did
result in a long day of gallery hopping but it saved us a bit and was not as busy as I expected. The Soffia was good but very unwelcoming. They gave me the impression they really did not want kids there, bad luck we came. It is an amazing space with a variety of artists and styles to see but not my favourite. The Prado by contrast was amazing even with tired kids. The building itself has an impact. The size of the rooms is mindblowing and I am sure there would only be few places anywhere in the world that could hang some of the larger pieces. Although it was a free day and there were a lot of people there, both locals and tourists, it never felt overcrowded. To see it all would take days so we covered our main areas of interest and saw a lot more, even found a painting of the Doge’s Palace from Venice.
Night time in Madrid brings a change in the city. The Christmas lights are on and the city seems to relax. It is a great time to see some of the city, especially the more elaborate buildings you stumble
on. A lot have amazing lighting that gives them a life after dark, I am sure we walked passed some of them during the day and never noticed them Most of them are just government buildings that are still in use. It is at night the locals also really use the city . They come out in their droves. You can go into a bar for a quick drink, come out and the streets are packed with local socialising, casually shopping or just hanging out.
Rastro markets were great fun but I would recommend getting there early as we did because they get seriously busy quickly. We did have a good chance to have a look and get a few bits and pieces. It appears to be a real market, not just retail shops with stalls. It is also a great place to stop and have an espresso or beer.
One aspect we never got a handle on is the line-up for the lotto tickets. The line goes for miles. It was fascinating watching 1000’s of people lining up to buy their tickets. Never found anyone to ask why/what and how but they are insane. Some must have
waited hours.
On the one occasion we decided not to catch the metro home we walked through the main city park. This was an extensive public park with playgrounds, man-made lake with row boats, monuments and sporting centre. We let the kids wander but unfortunately none of them got lost. It was a Monday but I can imagine the locals would use this green expanse on the weekend in their masses. In fact, I can imagine being a madridite spending the Sunday morning walking lazily through the park with my pero before returning home for my siesta before heading out walking the boulevard towards the Prado…
Madrid is a city and has a true city atmosphere. There are really attractive areas and those you would not want to walk thru. It has its tourist spots but does not feel like a tourist town. It is a city that I would return to just to feel that real city life.
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Frank Sanchez
non-member comment
Madrid
First of thank you for writing back to me. I got alot of great information from you. I have several other questions for you as well. We actually have a reservation for a apartment when we get there. We used the homeaway website. We found a nice place for reasonable price. I think we plan on using the metro for most of our travel so I will get the pass for sure. I want to make the most out of the visit to madrid however dont want to rush things that we go to visit. If we wanted to visit these places how much time do you think it would take to visit them Prado, Sofia, parque retiro, special monuments? Do you think that 8 days might be to long there? Would you reccommend visiting a neighboring city? I hope I didn't leave you with too many questions, however you seem very knowledgeable. Thank you for your time. When I get the logistics for Madrid figured out I have questions ablout other places you visited that my wife and I also plan to visit. Once again thank you for your help and time.