First Day in Madrid!

I just arrived home from Paris late last night, and I wanted to begin my recap of second break by detailing what I saw and did in Madrid.  I honestly did not know what to expect when I booked my flight to Madrid, and I did not even really know what there was to see and do there.  Thank goodness one of the girls I was traveling with received a guide to Madrid from one of her friends studying abroad there.  It was seriously a lifesaver and helped us plan out our five days in Madrid.  Madrid exceeded my expectations tremendously, and I absolutely loved seeing the city and experiencing the Spanish culture.

Getting to Madrid was interesting to put it mildly.  I am crazy about being extra early to things, and I always make sure to get to the airport at least two hours before my flight.  Well even with two hours to spare, I almost missed my flight to Madrid.  Because we were flying with the lovely Ryan Air, we had to have our visas checked before we could go through security.  We waited in line for about an hour and finally had only two or three people ahead of us when the machines decided to break.  All the employees left, and everyone in line raced to another check in area.  We ended up waiting about forty five minutes to get through that line and then made our way through security and to our gate.  When we got to our gate, no one was there.  Yikes.  I thought for sure we had missed our flight, but luckily we found an employee who told us our plane was still on the runway.  She scolded us for being so late, opened the doors to the runway, and told us to run.  And run we did.  I think our plane took off a minute or two after we got on, and I cannot express how happy I was that we made it. 

Our first stop in Madrid was the Museo del Prado, the main art museum in Spain. 

{The Museo del Prado}

{Outside the Prado and in front of the Iglesia de los Jerónimos}

The museum features European art from the twelfth to the early nineteenth century and is famous for its large number of works by Velázquez, Francisco de Goya, and El Greco.  My favorite piece of art that I saw was Las Meininas by Diego Velázquez.  My grandparents have a copy of the painting hanging above their piano, and I remember looking at it every time I played the piano at their house. 

 

{Las Meninas}

After seeing the Prado museum, we headed to El Tigre.  El Tigre is a famous tapas bar in Madrid and is a short walk away from Gran Via.  Two things are guaranteed if you go there:  the cheapest tapas in town and crushing crowds to prove it.  The bar is always full of young people, and there are no tables so you just squeeze into any spot you can find.  We all tried Tinto de Verano, a drink similar to sangria, along with our tapas. 

 

{So crowded!}

{Trying Tinto de Verano}

Afterwards, I was still a bit hungry, and we decided to go to 100 Montaditos to get another snack.  100 Montaditos is famous for its list of 100 different options for bocadillos—little sandwiches that are full of everything you could possibly imagine including tortilla and jamón to shrimp and eel to chocolate and jelly.  I decided on a sandwich with chicken and a red salsa, and it was quite tasty!

 

We went back to our hostel for a siesta after lunch and got ready to head out for the evening.  We went to dinner at a typical Spanish restaurant by Plaza Santa Ana, and I tried dishes like grilled green peppers, tortilla española, mixed paella with chicken and seafood, empanadas, and more.

 

{On our way to dinner}

{A few of the dishes from dinner}

{Paella!}

We continued our evening by hanging out in Plaza Santa Ana before heading to Club Kapital.

{Before Kapital}

I normally am not one to go to clubs, but I figured it was worth going to one while I was in Madrid.  Club Kapital is absolutely insane—it is one of the most famous clubs in Spain and has seven floors. 

Each floor was overflowing with people, and I don’t even want to attempt to guess how many people were squeezed into the place.  To give you an idea, going down the stairs from the sixth floor to the ground level took us a good thirty minutes, and I got elbowed and shoved more times than I can count.  Despite the fact that it was crowded, I am so glad I went and got to see it.  It made for an incredibly fun first evening in Madrid!

 

{In the sixth floor lounge}

{A view of some of the seven stories}

Our last stop that evening was at San Gines Chocolatería—a famous chocolatería known for its “churros con chocolate.”  Of course, we ordered the churros, and we were served a plate of hot churros (without cinnamon sugar on them as you would typically find in the US) and a teacup full of hot chocolate.  You are supposed to dip the churros in the hot chocolate, but I personally liked eating the churros and then drinking the hot chocolate better than mixing the two together.  All in all, a great late night treat!

{Enjoying our churros!}