I took Madrid by storm during my week visiting the city. I went to every museum, sight, attraction, or places of interest that I wanted to see within the week and I even had extra time to add in more places I didn't originally intend to visit. I enjoyed the architecture of the buildings around the city and was able to see them as I walked all over the city. I also didn't use the very extensive metro until my last day there only to get to the train station to leave. I walked everywhere I needed to go so I planned my day the night before and then my path in the morning before leaving the hotel. I had a strategy of traveling by knowing which streets to take before I began walking so I wouldn't need to look at my map much, if at all, while I was on my way to my next destination. It helped to allow me to get to my destination faster without having to stop and look at the map and figure out where I am and where I need to go. I found out that many times the street names weren't posted or there were multiple signs posted so I wasn't sure which was the name of the street, which resulted in me getting lost or turned around and I had to then refer to my trusty map and determine where to go next. I would speed walk everywhere because of the crowded streets and people just wandering around aimlessly due to the huge number of tourists in the city. There were so many tourists in the city I had a hard time determining who was a local. I really liked El Corte Ingles because the store had everything from books to prepaid cell phones to clothes to groceries (the stores are separated by categories in Madrid because they are so big). I went to El Corte Ingles on a regular basis because it is like Wal-mart in the U.S. I found the city to be very busy both day and night, but I am not a night owl nor am I into dance clubs anymore so I didn't do any all-nighters or bar hopping until the wee hours of the morning as many younger travelers & locals do. I would wake up, eat breakfast and begin my day of sight-seeing from around 10am to 7pm. I would either find a nearby restaurant to get lunch or return to the hotel to eat something I picked up from El Corte Ingles. Then I would return to the hotel after my long day of exploring the city and rest or nap before dinner time. Then I would venture out again to try to locate the place I decided to eat at for dinner. I carried the Lonely Planet travel book for Madrid all the time because they had good maps and information to help me decide where I wanted to visit and eat. Unfortunately, it would have some incorrect information and I would have to find some other place to eat or visit due to the inability to find the places or closures; respectively. I experienced both good and not so good food in Madrid so just like any other place in the world you have to know what to order as well as where to go eat. My favorite dishes and places to eat in Madrid are the roasted suckling pig at Restaurant Botin (the oldest restaurant in the world- founded in 1725), gambas a la plancha & al ajillo (shrimp pan fried & with garlic) at La Casa del Abuelo, bacalao (cod) croquettes at Casa Labra, and the pumpkin & leek soup at La Gloria de Montera. I am sure there were other good places to eat, but I was always eating alone and I don't eat much so I had limited places I could eat at due to those constrictions along with being turned away due to no reservations or really long wait times to get a table or they didn't cook the dish I wanted at the time of day. My favorite art museum is the Thyssen-Bornemisza art museum because of my personal taste in art. I thought the art museums were like mazes because there were so many paths to take and I wasn't sure if I had visited all the rooms and seen all the works of art. I would have to back track sometimes and eventually I would have to decide that I had spent long enough time there and seen almost all the pieces. I would spend around 3 hours at each museum and my feet would be tired from all the standing and walking. My favorite attraction is the Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace) because of the beautifully decorated rooms with the gold, marble statues, tapestries, paintings, and ornate ceilings that differed in every room. I also enjoyed the royal armory, which housed the weapons and armor the royal army and their horses used so many years ago. My favorite park is the Parque del Buen Retiro because it is so large with plenty of places to sit and ride bikes, pretty fountains, and I liked the glass building (a work of art from the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia collection). My favorite view was from the Templo de Debod park of the Royal Palace & Cathedral along with the view of a town below. It was not just my favorite because I saw a bride and groom take pictures with that view as their background one of the times I visited the park. I thought the metro was quite extensive because as I walked to my destinations I would see a metro stop before too long and I would wonder why people wouldn't walk the distance as it wasn't very far. I think the longest trek I took was from Plaza del Sol to the Atocha train station, which only took me 25 minutes to walk there. I think that Madrid is different from the rest of the smaller Spanish cities because it is so busy with businessmen and tourists. I found that many places of business stayed open even on holidays so people could get food and shop in Madrid, whereas other places everything would shut down so if you didn't get food the day before you were stuck with whatever you had or you didn't eat. I prepared ahead by purchasing some items from El Corte Ingles and was pleasantly surprised to find the city wasn't completely shut down for the holiday. I don't know much Spanish, but I was able to get around and even though many people said they didn't speak much English I was able to communicate enough to find my way and get what I needed. I knew the most essential phrases to get around and used the travel book and once the internet (it was more complex to talk with the people at the train station to tell them what train I wanted to take, what time, and where I wanted to go) to translate what I wanted to say. I enjoyed traveling in Madrid alone for the most part, but I would have liked to have someone to eat meals with me. :)
so I wouldn't need to look at my map much, if at all, while I was on my way to my next destination. It helped to allow me to get to my destination faster without having to stop and look at the map and figure out where I am and where I need to go. I found out that many times the street names weren't posted or there were multiple signs posted so I wasn't sure which was the name of the street, which resulted in me getting lost or turned around and I had to then refer to my trusty map and determine where to go next. I would speed walk everywhere because of the crowded streets and people just wandering around aimlessly due to the huge number of tourists in the city. There were so many tourists in the city I had a hard time determining who was a local. I really liked El Corte Ingles because the store had everything from books to prepaid cell phones to clothes to groceries (the stores are separated by categories in Madrid because they are so b
ig). I went to El Corte Ingles on a regular basis because it is like Wal-mart in the U.S. I found the city to be very busy both day and night, but I am not a night owl nor am I into dance clubs anymore so I didn't do any all-nighters or bar hopping until the wee hours of the morning as many younger travelers & locals do. I
would wake up, eat breakfast and begin my day of sight-seeing from around 10am to 7pm. I would either find a nearby restaurant to get lunch or return to the hotel to eat something I picked up from El Corte Ingles. Then I would return to the hotel after my long day of exploring the city and rest or nap before dinner time. Then I would venture out again to try to locate the place I decided to eat at for dinner. I carried the Lonely Planet travel book for Madrid all the time because they had good maps and information to help me decide where I wanted to visit and eat. Unfortunately, it would have some incorrect information and I would have to find some other place to eat or visit due to the inability to find the places or closures; respectively. I experienced both good and not so good food in Madrid so just like any other place in the world you have to know what to order as well as where to go eat. My favorite dishes and places to eat in Madrid are the roasted suckling pig at Restaurant Botin (the oldest restaurant in the world- founded in
1725), gambas a la plancha & al ajillo (shrimp pan fried & with garlic) at La Casa del Abuelo, bacalao (cod) croquettes at Casa Labra, and the pumpkin & leek soup at La Gloria de Montera. I am sure there were other good places to eat, but I was always eating alone and I don't eat much so I had limited places I could eat at due to those constrictions along with being turned away due to no reservations or really long wait times to get a table or they didn't cook the dish I wanted at the time of day. My favorite art museum is the Thyssen-Bornemisza art museum because of my personal taste in art. I thought the art museums were like mazes because there were so many paths to take and I wasn't sure if I had visited all the rooms and seen all the works of art. I would have to back track sometimes and eventually I would have to decide that I had spent long enough time there and seen almost all the pieces. I would spend around 3 hours at each museum and my feet would be tired from all the standing and walking. My favorite attraction is the Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace) because of the beautifully decorated rooms with the gold, marble statues, tapestries, paintings, and ornate ceilings that differed in every room. I also enjoyed the royal armory, which housed the weapons and armor the royal army and their horses used so many years ago. My favorite park is the Parque del Buen Retiro because it is so large with plenty of places to sit and ride bikes, pretty fountains, and I liked the glass building (a work of art from the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia collection). My favorite view was from th
e Templo de Debod park of the Royal Palace & Cathedral along with the view of a town below. It was not just my favorite because I saw a bride and groom take pictures with that view as their background one of the times I visited the park. I thought the metro was quite extensive because as I walked to my destinations I would see a metro stop before too long and I would wonder why people wouldn't walk the distance as it wasn't very far. I think the longest trek I took was from Plaza del Sol to the Atocha train station, which only took me 25 minutes to walk there. I think that Madrid is different from the rest of the smaller Spanish cities because it is so busy with businessmen and tourists. I found that many places of business stayed open even on holidays so people could get food and shop in Madrid, whereas other places everything would shut down so if you didn't get food the day before you were stuck with whatever you had or you didn't eat. I prepared ahead by purchasing some items from El Corte Ingles and was pleasantly surprised to find the city wasn't completely shut down for the holiday. I don't know much Spanish, but I was able to get around and even though many people said they didn't speak much English I was able to communicate enough to find my way and get what I needed. I knew the most essential phrases to get around and used the travel book and once the internet (it was more complex to talk with the people at the train station to tell them what train I wanted to take, what time, and where I wanted to go) to translate what I wanted to say. I enjoyed traveling in Madrid alone for the most part, but I would have liked to have someone to eat meals with me. :)
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