mmmMadrid

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Ducking down to Spain for the weekend from London is always fun. The after work Friday flight as well as losing an hour due to the change of time zones puts us in Madrid at midnight. Just as the place is warming up.

The metro system in Madrid is the best one I have seen in the world. You can get anywhere in the city, it is dirt cheap and unlike London it also works on the weekend. Maybe this partially explains why Spain is going broke before England is.

We stayed near the Reina Sofia and mistakenly tried to go out for a drink and late night tapas around there but all we could find was old man bars. We should have headed to Puerta del Sol.

The next morning we head to the Puerta del Sol, the central hub of Madrid before heading to the more visually impressive Plaza Major surrounded by huge balconied buildings, one with a huge mural. Nearby was a market where fresh food was sold and people could also order drinks and stand around drinking. Everything is on a grand scale including the nearby massive Royal Palace, which is the largest royal palace in Europe with some 3,000 rooms. The queue to get in was at least an hour wait so we skip the tour and admire from the outside.

From there it was on to the Plaza Espana where there was a little market on and the old Egyptian temple called Templo de Debod before heading back through the market and to La Latina where a million tapas bars await us for lunch. A fine tapas lunch it was and only the Spanish can make ham and cheese on toast look and sound so sophisticated.

The afternoon involved more eating, this time churros and chocolate at the amazing Chocolateria San Gines. Perhaps should have gone pequeno instead of grande! An afternoon siesta was needed after that before it was off to the tapas bars for plenty of drinks and plates of food.

For a country that is supposedly in economic decline with 20%!u(MISSING)nemployment, there were no signs of economic hardship on the town as all the bars were packed and loud, making my slow, poorly pronounced Spanish harder for anyone to understand. Una cerveza por favor is always understood though.

Sunday we hit the huge art gallery of Reina Sofia, which is full of interesting and not so interesting art, all very well presented. A lot of it is by some guys who must have been really messed up or on way too much crack in Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. Every second piece I saw I thought I could have done better and every other one I was wondering what it was. After a couple of hours we had seen enough and went to the huge Parque Retiro just nearby.

The park was a massive walk through and the highlight is the lake in the middle with its huge statues and little rowboats that you can take around it. Equally impressive is the gate at the north west end of the park.

After much walking around, it was time for some delicious paella and a little shopping before heading back, content that we had enough Spanish food for one weekend. Hasta luego Madrid.

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