Sunday, April 3, 2011

Madrid, I Love You.

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I’m a bad blogger, partly because I haven’t been doing anything interesting enough to blog about (or the photos can stay somewhat less publicly on facebook!) But, on the weekend been I went to Madrid for 6 days, and fell very much head over heels.

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I got super cheap flights through Ryanair (40 pounds return, but I’m not sure it’s quite worth it to fly Ryanair) and took a few days off of work to go stay with Reg, my super-awesome flatmate’s super-awesome girlfriend. She has a cute wee apartment in La Latina near the palace (see below.) Her friend Sarah was staying too so we had a mammoth weekend of sangria, Spanish ham, tapas and seafood! And a lot of walking.

The first night we went to a seafood restaurant for a pile of prawns, crab and some kind of sea anemone (the first two of which were YUM) and then ended up in an Australian bar – so-called because it served Fosters. No one drank Fosters, and it was Australian as the me, but great for dancing, meeting several lovely Spanish locals and a few non-Spanish locals. Oh, and this is a flaming bowl of grappa with coffee in. Massively potent, I don’t recommend. Though it was lovely and warm to combat the rather refreshing weather Madrid managed to have for the first time in a while.

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Reg cooked dinner for everyone one night at her friends apartment which was a penthouse overlooking Plaza de Espana. The photo on the left is of the Royal Palace.

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Spain has really high unemployment at the moment because of the recession. This was somewhat evident as we wandered around. This stunning building on the left was completely empty, and the one on the left had only 6 inhabitants in the apartments.

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But Madrid was beautiful. The decor, the buildings, the history of the city, and the parks (lots of trees – so pretty), the cobbled streets, the narrow lanes, the lac of commercialness in unpretentious shops hiding down alley ways, the relaxed, sleepy attitude of locals (siesta anyone?) late nights, fabulous food, small beers and good wine with tapas, LOVE. The Metro which was never crowded and only cost 2 euros, and the fact that I didn’t need English to get around,it was a proper holiday. I can’t wait to get back, and am looking forward to my next trip to Europe! Somewhere with equally cheap tickets a!

Lots of love and kisses to you all – miss you guys!

Alex

P.S. You should read this with The Cure playing in the background, ‘cos that’s what I’m listening to while writing this x

2 comments:

  1. Haha - which cure album? I have so many! It is incredible how music embeds time and places into your memory. I still recall places (and people) 30+ years ago when I hear specific songs.

    Nice to see you enjoying yourself!

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  2. For the record anything you blog about is great from this side of the world:-)
    Madrid looks wonderful...love the photos. Maybe one day I'll get there too...dreams are free and I'm good at dreamin'
    See you in 7 weeks...love 'n hugs xxxooo

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