Blogs from District of Madrid, Spain, Europe - page 5

Mission accomplished, research completed and beautiful building seen without hoards of shoppers - a good morning. The invoice will be going to QVG Capital as we are pretty sure we can't claim the trip as a tax deduction! That comment is to see if Chris is actually reading his parent's blog!!!!!!! We are now waiting to go to the airport listening to the helicopter circling overhead checking out the lie of the land before the Vuelta (correct name for the Tour d'Espagna) finishes around 10.30pm. We had a hilarious trip back with the cab driver who was obviously of the opinion that if he spoke louder these crazy foreigners would understand what he was saying. It must have worked as we realised he was saying he might need to detour (much arm circling) to get back ... read more

Day 1 Madrid Our apartment is on the third floor of a very old building it has a very crooked staircase and we were told to be quiet when we went in and out of it.We have a balcony looking down at a restaurant and looking forward at another apartment. In Spain I don't think I saw one house, there all cute apartments that look the same .In our apartment there are two bedrooms, one with a double bed that mum and dad sleep on with an ensuite and a tiny study with a window that you hang your laundry on the washing lines and it is a pulley system. The other room has two single beds one with a shelf which was a bit higher than mine for Zoe and because it is so high ... read more

I loved Madrid. Loved it... Wish we could have spent more time here... I'll back up a bit... We only planned 2 nights in Madrid, and only because we had to make a choice whether to go North or South in our journey. Many of my friends advised to skip Madrid in favour of some of the southern hotspots such as Malaga and Valencia... Because we wanted to hit San Sebastian before Barcelona, Madrid was a perfect destination between Porto and San Sebastian. We decided to fly from Porto to Madrid mainly to save some time. Finding our way from the airport on the metro to our Airbnb was fairly simple and we were settled. We totally nailed our location! It was within steps from Plaza Mayor... the main plaza or square in central Madrid and ... read more

Up until 11am our day started pretty much the same as yesterday, wake up thinking it's still the middle of the night, quietly sneak around the room getting showered and dressed, head down to our €3 breakfast (no pancake for me today as some moron burnt the shit out of the machine), pack up a bag for the day and head out. However, rather than repeat the walking tour, this morning we went straight over to Retiro to guide ourselves around the park. Parque de el Retiro is a very large park on the east side of the city, referred to as 'The Lungs of Madrid'. There is plenty to see in he park and we made our way around 8 different statues, monuments or buildings. The most notable of which were: - Monument Alfonso XII, ... read more

The start to any holiday is never mundane and today was no exception; we were running around liked headless chooks. After a less-than-impressive parma at Pakenham Hotel, we reached the airport where the flood of tears hit us all. Going away for two months with a group of people is one thing but nine months completely alone is bloody overwhelming. Walking through those gates was tough but I got over it when I became too preoccupied with hating myself for taking a duffle bag not rolling bag. Me + two heavy bags + tight spaces never ends well. The plane had been delayed - as usual - but only by 40 minutes so not too bad. Luckily the only thing I had to complain about from there on in was that the plane was like a ... read more