Madrid day 1 - Feb 2018

The definition of a mini-break we have about 40 hours in Madrid! But it was only about £100 each so we can't complain. 

Early flight this morning which was delayed by about 45 mins but was otherwise fine. About 30 mins after it should have left a group of Spanish people got on as casual as you like, no rush and took ages taking their seats! Too casual!

We arrived in the centre of Madrid at about 230 cos we lost an hour and we were starving! Our first stop was Malaspina where we sat outside (outside!) and shared a racion of jamon croquetas. They also gave us some cheese, chorizo, bread and breadsticks for free! I had a caña and k had a coke. En route to the hotel we stopped again at Casa Toni for some tatties! It was an adorable wee rustic place and I really recommend it. We got patatas bravi-oli which was half bravas half ali-oli, amazing!  We got a caña each and they gave us both a wee slice of bread with ham on it and a free shot of liqueur with the bill and it was only €7!!!

Our next stop was our hotel "Madrid City Rooms", our room is called "tenderness" and is very pink. There was even  swan towels on the bed - I've never been so delighted. The bed is super comfy but there is no lift and 74 stairs to the room! I might not make it later post all the eats!

After a wee chill in the pink room we headed out for some culture. We wandered down to the Caixa Forum for an Andy Warhol exhibition , enjoying the city as we went. The building is amazing,  it was designed by Herzog & de Meuron. The exhibition was only €4 and was massive! I was very impressed! I recommend going to the Forum regardless of what's on though cos the building is worth seeing.

Next we wandered through the Lavapies area as the Internet told me that was one of the best areas for street art - it didn't disappoint! There was loads around but the best ones were on the walls of the Tabacalera, an old tobacco factory turned arts/cultural centre. This is a massive recommendation. If you are in town on a Sunday it's not too far from the Rastro market so you could double up.

At this stage we needed a wee sit down so we went to Granier bakery for coffee and a wee pastry. It was a delight and filled with old people and they always know the best bakeries!

We were going to go to the Reina Sofia art gallery after this (free from 7-9) but we were too knackered after our early start. We headed back up to the Sol area cos K had some stuff she wanted to buy from Fnac. It's a massive one so we were there for ages (excellent graphic novel section) and K was successful in buying the Mecano album that she needed to complete her collection.

We headed down to the full on tourist land of Plaza Mayor and I was delighted to find the Janet Echelman sculpture celebrating 400 years of the square was still up! It'll be gone tomorrow. Google it, it's really cool but it was basically a giant floating net thing - better than it sounds!

Our first dinner stop was Arepa Olé where we shared the combination platter. It had 2 mini shredded beef arepas,  2 tostones,  2 mini cachapas & 2 tequeñuos. Amazing!  I'm so very glad you can get arepas in Glasgow now cos they're my favourite!

Our next stop was the Mercado de San Miguel which is a beautiful wrought iron market from 1916 which is now filled with restauranty food stalls. You just wander about buying wee bits from different stalls and keep eating. Our first stop was a croquetas stall with about 9 varieties! We both got 3, I got a chorizo, a jamon and a chicken and k had a spinach, a mushroom and a chicken. Delicious but a bit pricey at €1.50 per croqueta. I grabbed a wee glass of vermouth then we kept wandering. K had a coconut juice. Our next purchase was a tapa of vegetable paella which we shared, it was a delight. Our final market eat was a shared burrata tapa - a wee bit of bread topped with a mountain of burrata with a wee blob of tomato jam on top - heavenly.

Even though it was still early by Spanish standards we were starting to get sleepy so we headed back towards the hotel.  We had one final stop at Taberna del Chato on the way back. It was a delightful chilled wee place that was playing amazing music (woman in love was on when we arrived). We grabbed a couple of stools at the bar and ordered a couple of cañas. They had patatas with mojo which is a favourite of K's from her time living in Gran Canaria so we had to order a wee portion. The tapas in there mostly come in wee glasses so we knew it'd be small. We were glad we ordered them cos they were delicious. We also shared a wee pork pintxo, delicious!

We just headed back to the hotel after that, it's 74 steps to our room and there is no lift so we didn't want to be too knackered!

Another fun filled day tomorrow!