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Madrid Travel Blogs

Background: Spain's powerful world empire of the 16th and 17th centuries ultimately yielded command of the seas to England. Subsequent failure to embrace the mercantile and industrial revolutions caused the country to fall behind Britain, France, and Germany in economic and political power. Spain remained neutral in World Wars I and II, but suffered through a devastating civil war (1936-39). In the second half of the 20th century, Spain has played a catch-up role in the western international community; it joined the EU in 1986. Continuing challenges include Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) terrorism and further reductions in unemployment.

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By katetheyak
December 9th 2009

NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH TO APOLOGISE Europe » Spain » District of Madrid » Madrid

chaplin

The transition my brain had to make upon moving to Spain was immense, coming from Asia. My first realisation I was back in ‘civilisation’ is ironically a very uncivilised tale itself. For the first time in my life I am living in a city with one of the best transport systems in the world. My first rides on the metro produced excitement akin to what the first moon-walkers must have experienced. I had thought unbroken pavement and occasionally effective pedestrian crossings the height of sophistication but the white and blue whish and whoosh of the metro litera [View Full Entry]

By katetheyak
December 8th 2009

out of the marvellous and volver to the normal Europe » Spain » District of Madrid » Madrid

At the end of October, when it was still warm and leaves clung onto Madrid’s trees, my parents rang to say a large brown box had arrived safely in Cork from Vietnam. At the time they phoned, I was chewing down a jamon y queso asado near Calle Serrano, before racing to the first Colegio of the day at Santiago Bernabeu (where the Real Madrid stadium is) to teach nine eight year old chicas. I wasn’t sure at first why they were telling me about Vietnam and the mysterious parcel; obviously the mysterious box had been delivered to the wrong address. [View Full Entry]

By McNab
December 5th 2009

Insain in the Spain Train...Madrid-- Mad-Dreadful Europe » Spain » District of Madrid » Madrid

All these titles lead up to one thing... Holiday seasons are meant for families/friends to come closure together in the WARMTH and happiness of Love and marriment. So much so, that when an entire country celebrates it's independence there's only one thing to do.....celebrate......and only one place to do it "Madrid". It started early enough, leaving our lovely honeymoon hotel for the unknown world of Portugal or so we thought.... We arrived at the Malaga City train station with no problems at all, ready to try our hand at our first use of our Eurail passes. We had planned to catch [View Full Entry]

By florencesophie
December 1st 2009

Buenas dias Madrid Europe

A little bookstore outside how adorable

I finally discovered Madrid. (and after checking why the comments underneath the photos don't match I decided to let go, just enjoy the photos and have fun) As I love Barcelona I was wondering if I would like this town..and yes I did ! I was however with a great company, Scherazade who allowed me to see the city with otochtones eyes! We walked a lot through all the streets and it was sunny On Sunday we decided to go to the hairdresser, Chinese one and I had a lovely shampoo head massage then a brushing for only 8 Euros !!!! [View Full Entry]

By TravelingLindsey
November 24th 2009

Andrew Bird and the mysterious production of concerts Europe » Spain » District of Madrid » Madrid

Chocolate y Churros

Six hour bus ride to Madrid to see a concert with two guys I barely know, followed by a six hour trip back to Sevilla, all in the span of 24 hours. I almost wish that something had gone wrong so that I could have a better story to recount, but it really couldn’t have gone any better. At all. It was positively fantastic. Allow me to tell you about it… At 10:30am last Saturday the bus departed Sevilla, and what a bus it was! I guess the only differentiating quality that it had from other, ordinary buses was that each [View Full Entry]

By Mado
November 14th 2009

Madrid Europe » Spain » District of Madrid » Madrid

Bonjour á tous, je suis arrivee á Madrid hier. Quel choc, cette ville est vraiment etourdissante. Les gens font la fiesta toute la nuit c¨est á croire qu¨ils ne dorment jamais. Mais comme á chaque fois on doit bien s¨adapter. Ce matin je prends connaissance du coin oú je suis installee. L¨hôtel est assez ordinaire mais il faut s¨y faire. C¨est un hostal de séjour bien situe et est central prés de la Puerta del Sol. Pour ceux et celles qui connaissant Madrid cet endroit est le point zero pour localiser tous les endroits en Espagne. Je vais toujours trés bien [View Full Entry]

By babyape
November 6th 2009

Madrid - the end, but great place to end Europe » Spain » District of Madrid » Madrid

DSC08053

Sorry for the delay on this blog, but due to camera cables being swiped i've been unable to get to my pics!! So, the end of the trip, and i decided early on, as my flight was passing through Madrid, to stop there for a few days, as its a great place. I landed early afternoon after a duff flight in which the baggage handlers helped themselves to items in my bag, and found the hotel my parents had booked, quick tram ride away. Nice hotel, very 70's, but nice. I dumped my bags, had a shower and headed for the [View Full Entry]

By messupmylife
October 25th 2009

time thus far spent in Madrid Europe » Spain » District of Madrid » Madrid

metro station

My transition period to Madrid has passed, or rather I can say that I've finally "crossed over". I am feeling more and more accustomed with my schedule, with my daily nap after school, then my course work for my MSCD classes in the evening. I usually cook myself a small dish, lately its been soup, and a sandwich or minute rice. I'm not that great of a cook, though I try. And vegetables out here are cheaper, so I am more inclined to purchase that onion to go with my eggs and potatoes, and the tomato to go with my sandwiches [View Full Entry]

By SDaniels
October 25th 2009

2nd part of Fall Break in Madrid Europe » Spain » District of Madrid » Madrid

The group on the little balcony of the palace

We left Barcelona Sunday and got into Madrid around 4. We flew Ryanair again, but it was much more organized and I liked the Madrid airport much more than Girona. Our hostel in Madrid was harder to find but it was very clean and there was a bathroom in the room. There was also free internet like in Barcelona. Again breakfast was included, but not really. There was a Starbucks directly next to our hostel so we just ate there for breakfast. Madrid was very similar to Barcelona, but not as crazy. We met up with one of my roommate's friends [View Full Entry]

By DSR1700
October 22nd 2009

Madrid y Toledo Europe » Spain » District of Madrid » Madrid

Madrid

Hola a todos! Life in Guardo has gotten much busier since the last time I wrote and with my travels a lot has happened in the past month! This update is long overdue... So... from Sept. 30th -Oct. 5th I was in Madrid for my teaching assistant program's orientation. The orientation events were only scheduled for Thursday, October 1st, but Spain´s Ministerio de Educación paid for our 2 night stay in the hotel where the orientation was held. They also paid for our dinner on Wednesday night, Sept. 30th, all our meals on Thursday during the orientation, and for breakfast on [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Europe » Spain » District of Madrid » Madrid