During a cold sad winter’s day, the Hunk and I, yearning for sunshine, decided to head to Spain for Valentine’s weekend.
However, flights to Madrid, Valencia, Seville or Barcelona were all horribly expensive.
How to beat the flight prices?
Booking 2 one-way flights. I booked a flight from London to Madrid, and a flight from Seville to London. Then we just needed to work out how to get from Madrid to Seville..! This ended up costing us around £80 return for Valentine’s weekend, purchasing just 1 month ahead. The train from Madrid to Seville (on the RENFE train) took 2hrs 20 mins and cost us £40.
Madrid’s weather was not meant to be great – a whopping 10 degrees celcius (50F). But with Seville forecast to be sun, sun, sun, our trip plan was one-mega-day in Madrid, and 3 days in Seville enjoying the rays.
Our one Mega day in Madrid looked a little something like this:
Madrid Walking Tour with New Sandemans Europe Tours
Our walking tour started at 10am at Plaza Mayor. It was raining and not a good day to be a tourist, but them’s the breaks. After finding our way to Plaza Mayor we picked up a Jamon Bocadillo and a coffee, and we checked in for our tour. Here’s our official photograph with our fantastic guide!
On the walking tour of Madrid we learnt about the history of Madrid. For instance: the pure filth and undesirable smells of Plaza Mayor before it was cleaned up for our modern day. Parts of Madrid covered along the walk included: La Latina, the Santa Maria de la Almudena church, the Royal Palace, the Austrian part of the city and much history of the Austrian royals, finishing at the Theatre Real.
Doing a walking tour of a new city always helps to put perspective on a place and it’s history and knowing why a place is how it is. I can also say now that I know what Moorish architecture is – boom.
After our walking tour, we stopped at Puerta del Sol for a photo with the statue of the symbol of Madrid – the Bear and the Strawberry tree, because that’s just what tourists to Madrid do…
Lunch at Juana La Loca in Barrio La Latina
On the flight to Madrid, I sat next to a lovely Sevillan man that frequently visits Madrid who gave me tips and tricks for both Seville and Madrid. The one thing of everything he said, was that we had to go and have
“the MOST EXPLOSIVE Spanish omelet you will ever taste!”
After learning about Juana La Loca (Joanna the Mad) on our walking tour, we asked our guide about this restaurant named after her. His response?
“oh yeah, they have the most amazing Spanish omelet!”
So with that, we tootled on over, through the rain, for our explosive meal. We ordered red wine (vino tinto), the famous omelet, and the volcano dessert which our waiter highly recommended we try.
PRAISE!!! The food was amazing. The wine was amazing. The dessert was amazing.
If you are in Madrid, please eat here!!
Guernica inside the Reina Sofia Museum
There are some superb museums in Madrid. So if you only have time for one – please make it the Reina Sofia!
Guernica is my favourite painting. It just had so much going on and says so much. With one day in Madrid – I had to see it for myself!
The Hunk and I paid our 8 Euro admission and spent about an hour wandering the 2nd floor of the museum for Guernica, passing Dali’s and Masson’s and many other Picasso’s, until finally we found the Guernica. It is hard to miss standing at over 3 metres high and almost 8 metres wide.
We could have spent another few hours inside the Reina, but we had a flamenco show to get to so the rest of the Reina will have to wait for another day!
Flamenco at Cardamomo Tablao
We arrived at 5:50pm, and were expediently shown our seats. Soon, our drinks order was taken, naturally we ordered Sangria, and it came to our tables, ready for the performance.
We booked in for the 6pm-6:50pm show because well, it was the cheapest. It ran for the same length as the 8pm show though so we didn’t feel like we were losing out, and then were still able to go out for a nice meal after the show.
The show itself consisted of 4 men who sat on chairs and played instruments and sang whilst another man and woman came out and danced. They each had a passionate solo as well as a dance together. We couldn’t get enough of the flamenco and could have easily watched for another hour – or more!
The passion and intensity was amazing and I really felt like the dancers could not have given an ounce more energy to their performances. Highly recommend this flamenco.
Sangria & Red Wine at Vinoteca Barbechera
We stumbled upon this enoteca near the flamenco show and decided to stop for a glass of wine. We had 3. The wine was cheap and completely delicious! And the great thing about Spain is that it is the law to serve snack food with your drink, so we had olives, and chippies, and nuts while we drank our vino tinto & sangria!
By the time we decided to leave in search of more substantial food, the place was crowded (in a good way), we had obviously stumbled on a popular place! Also, the Sangria was the best sangria I drank in Spain.
Here is the website so you can find it: http://www.vinoteca-barbechera.com/
Tapas/Pinxtos at Mercado de San Miguel
After our wine, we were in the mood for some food in the way of pinxtos. We spotted a fun looking indoor market, which had pinxtos everywhere and so our dinner was had standing in a market surrounded by glorious food and yummy wine!
Mercado de San Miguel was very cool and everyone in Madrid seemed to be there (or at the Vinoteca!) enjoying their Friday evening with a roaming glass of vino tinto and pinxtos from different stalls.
You could go up to any stall and see what was on offer and order one or many of the little creations! We had a meat, capsicum and cheese concoction first, with a glass of wine from a roving waitress. It was delicious. We then kept walking and had just one item from a few more stalls, including the mozzarella stall!
Once we’d filled our bellies of pinxtos, it was time for dessert.
San Gines famous spanish chocolate
We ended our day with what I had imagined to be a high of highs – the famous chocolate and churros of San Gines! However, after trying really hard to enjoy it, both Hunk and I looked at each other and said “it’s terrible…!”. For us, Spanish chocolate (which is mixed with water, not milk) was tasteless.
I read on-line after leaving that we could have ordered the chocolate to be mixed with milk instead – however that’s the ‘French version’. So, if you are looking for the Spanish experience, it’s got to be the water-based version. I won’t be trying that ever again.
This didn’t ruin our day or evening though as we were on such a high from how much we loved Madrid that we wandered back to our hotel in a state of bliss.
Te Amo Madrid
All in all we had an absolutely amazing day in Madrid. I don’t think we could have fitted any more in, and we also had downtime to chill and enjoy life! Madrid is an amazing city with plenty to do/see/eat and I can’t wait to venture back for another Spanish spree!
Have you been to Madrid? What do you recommend to add to my next trip?!
Australian expat, married to a Dutch guy, living in Amsterdam. Previously lived in London for 3 years, too! Lover of travel, coffee, brunch, beaches, fresh flowers, and family. Now a new mum, navigating life with a baby!
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Ola supermerchado, telebanco por aqui
Yass! Let’s get Spanish