DAY 1 - Thursday 17 June
It only took two bumpy plane rides and 14 hours of traveling to make it to Madrid. Our first siesta took place about 5pm, but before that, we were able to take in many of the more touristy spots of the city. Learning the sophisticated history of Madrid took us on this schedule:
(Our walking tour was based on Lonely Planet's "Historical Madrid")
-8:45a: Landed in Barajas airport in Madrid
-9:15a: Checked in to our hostel, Hostal Metropol right next to the Gran Via metro station
-9:45a: Hit the street! First stop was Puerta del Sol--the "ground zero" of Madrid
-10:30a: Experienced food heaven through our first encounter with "Churros con Chocolate" at the Chocolateria de San Guis
*If you are in a group of 2, one racion de churros is more than enough for the both of you! Each racion comes with 5 churros and a thick, dark cup of european hot chocolate. Depending on your spectrum of chocoholicness, one cup of hot chocolate can also be shared between two people.
-About 12:30p, it was time to indulge our stomachs once again, so we headed to Plaza Mayor to try out "Museo del Jamon".
*Their "paella para dos" consisted of a mixture of seafood seasoned perfectly with saffron and tomatoes. Looks like they also serve very cheap "jamon seranno" sandwiches--we must try these later!
-2p: We cotinued to wander around the south side of town and visited the Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Almudena, Palacio Real, and the Plaza de Espana. All were beautiful and wonderful representations of Spain.
*Along the way, we found a small tapas district called "La Latina". This would be the place where we returned for dinner. Also, in between these site seeing advetures, we took advantage of the seemingly numerous, well-known clothing shops all over Madrid. [i.e. H&M, Zara, etc.]
-5p: Returned to the hostel. One snow took a siesta, while the other snow met the guy who ruined Facebook in our hostel's lobby. Whether you like the new Facebook or not, he's the one to blame!! (j/k)
-9p: DINNER! Tapas Crawl 1
In the La Latina district, we found a great, tasty, cheap tapas bar "Lamiak"! With a glass of wine--which only costs 1.80 euro--came your choice of one tapa. Every tapa afterwards was only 1 euro. The next stop was "La Externidad" (?), and here we enjoyed "albondigas con patates frites" (meatballs with french fries) which cost 10 euros with el vino de la casa. The last stop of the night was spent at the Mercado San Miguel where we had our first taste of true Spanish Sangria served with a side of olives marinated in sage. It was a very successful first run of tapas!
-11:30p: We returned to the hostel and later experienced our first discos--"Commo" and "The Fame" with some awesome peeps from our hostel. By the end of the night, we discovered that Spaniards need care-free, on the brink of embarrasing yet utter awesomeness dancing of Americans and the song "One More Time" by Daft Punk before the party can really be started!!!!
*Words of warning: Watch yo' stuff! You can never be too safe when abroad.
DAY 2 - Friday 18 June
Today was filled with tons of randmoness and waiting, but we still had a great day.
We had lunch para llevar (on-the-go) and ate bocadillos (sandwiches) de Museo de Jamon--they only cost one euro and a large 1.5 liter of water also cost 1 euro. A little later in the day, we managed to once again enjoy the chocolate splendors of Chocolateria de San Guis. This time we had cafe con leche--which equals a latte in the states--with our churros y chocolate.
*Discovery of the day: Putting the extra chocolate into your cafe creates the best cafe con leche EVER!!!
Tapas Crawl 2
For dinner, we decided to stay in the Sol district and first embraced "Calamares Frites" at "La Abuela". One word: AMAZING! The batter was light, the calamari non-chewy and tender, and the beer a little on the heavier side but good if you like beer. The next stop was literally located across the street and called "Las Bravas". Here, we ate "Croquetas Caseras" and "Patates Bravas" with Sangria. Both dishes were delicioso beyond words and left us filled with happiness, content and a need to walk around to better help with digestion.
We think we are finally catching up with how the Spaniards live: 5 meals a day. Now, if only we can wake up in time for breakfast...
Now we're off to explore to the city night life once again, current time: midnight! Wish us luck as we get a taste Madrid at its finest hour!!!
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