Winter Wonderland stroll down the Paseo del Prado

It is fast approaching Christmas, and I have been living in a black hole of work and fiestas and managed to pretty much forget it. I have been going out a lot but to the houses' of friends and pretty much avoiding the city. I am usually one to try to ignore the fact Christmas is coming but there is one thing I love about it is the tasteful lighting!



Now there is a difference between tasteful lighting and tacky lightning. Anything with a direct reference to Christmas or completely overdone is my idea of tacky, which is one thing that drives me nuts about the UK around this festive time. Britain doesn't do very good Chrismas lighting outside of London.



Germany was nice and most of it felt like you had walked into a Christmas postcard, but Madrid has a more of a magical feel to it. I feel I have walked into a fairy land or a dream. I was on my way home from Atocha when the lights at the roundabout between the station and the Paseo del Prado caught my eye. I saw a bunch of artificial cherry tree with blossoms in the centre, but the blossoms were lights. I was entranced and decided, sod walking home along the boring Ronda de Valencia but to walk up the Paseo del Prado to Plaza Cibeles and take the bus from there.

The lighting was stylish, elegant and beautiful. It gave a wonderful fantasy feel to the city, and was even more special to me for walking down there and I ADORE Madrid by night! The Prado was lit up beautifully and also had some of those luminescent cherry trees! I continued to stroll down on this lovely crisp, cold, refreshing winter's night till I arrived at the Ritz which was lit up so glamourously as usual. I feel the temptation to dress to the nines and just go there to partake of a drink and watch the rich and beautiful. The entrance too spares no expense in lighing decoration.

The Thyssen too is also contending for eyecatching lights with its fairy light garden around the entrance shimmering with silver light.



At Plaza Cibeles where the Paseo de Recoletos and Gran Via meet there are dazzling golden lights hovering above the streets. I highly recommend the Paseo del Prado at night, especially at Christmas.

Eating vegetarian in Spain

Its so hard being vegetarian in continental Europe, meat is such a dominant part of the cuisine that a lot of people (until recently anyway) would see vegetarianism as being something alien and wierd. Some countries are easier than others, most northern european countries despite having a very meat based local cuisine are accepting of vegetarianism, in Germany, Holland and the UK its easy to find places that cater to vegetarians. Eastern Europe I found to be the worst as my Hungarian family believe a chicken counts as vegetarian!

Southern Europe too is pretty hard, however Italy and Greece do have some lovely vegetarian local dishes. Spain most of the food is centric around meat and fish. I have made my life easier by being a pescatrian (I have a reaction to pork and just dont like meat), but 90% of my diet is vegetarian since I only really like fish in form of sushi.

Asides from cooking vegetarian for myself I have made an effort to try to find good eateries in Madrid that cater to vegetarians.

My first and favourite place, is also my only excuse for a fast food venture is the chain restaurant knowns as Maoz Vegetarian, specialising in the falafel. This place does not just cater to fast food for veggies, but also healthy fast food for anyone wanting a more nutritious option than Maccy D's. They are originally a Dutch chain, however you can find a couple of branches in Madrid and Barcelona. For under 4€ you can get either a falafel salad (consisting of 3 falafel balls and salad from their delicious salad bar) or a pitta bread with falafel and salad. The best bit is you can go back to the salad bar as much as you want and you get a delicious, healthy and 100% vegetarian (or vegan meal even depending on your salad bar choice) meal really cheaply. There is one located in Calle Mayor just off the Puerta del Sol and another in Calle Horteleza just of Gran Via. Maybe others exist but this I do not know about this.

Looking for some spanish tapas but daunted by the amount of meat and non vegetarian dishes to offer? Well I have some help for you. Near Cuatro Caminos there is a lovely new tapas bar called Cueva de Bandoleros which has been recently opened. And by tapas I mean the traditional buy a glass of wine or a beer and get a free little tapa. To make matters better you can chose your tapas when you order a drink. Now before my vegetarians had some problems there since none of the food included was previously veggie. However after pursuading the chef (a really lovely guy!) to include more of the herbivore market in his establishment he will now do vegetarian tapas on request. And it is fabulous. He really made an effort at creating new dishes to cater for us: garlic mushrooms, vegetable stews with wonderful spices, vegetarian revueltos (scrambled egg dishes with other stuff included in it). So if you ever go in there and order a drink, mention you are vegetarian and you will get something tasty and spanish and veggie. Also with 3 glasses of beer you will no longer be hungry and have spent about 6€! Not a bad deal eh?

Finally I want to talk about some fine vegetarian dining. The other day me and friend wanted to find a good vegetarian restaurant to do some elegant dining at. Well just off Recoletos we found a lovely place called La Galette II (there is another near calle Serrano). This is a lovely elegant yet homely restaurant with a wonderful vegetarian menu at good prices. Sure some things made us laugh as a one of their veggie dishes included bacon and another tuna, but asides from that it was above board. The cooking was great and we had a lovely dinner. Nothing was to be complained about. They do a menu in English so can double check it. They also do a non vegetarian menu so its a good place to go with any carnivorous friends of yours. The atmosphere was lovely, elegant and classy without being snooty. Could take a date, your parents, friend or more than one friend there and it would still be great. Highly recommended.

Dinner - somewhere cheap, beautiful with tasty food?

No problem! With all the restaurants in Madrid you dont need to settle for a place which is cheap and nasty, or expensive or beautiful, or with great food with the view of a nice busy road. I was doing a course in Madrid (yes I know I live here, but I just finished an interuniversity course which took me all over Spain, one course being in Madrid) and on one night with a group of my friends from the course we naturally wanted some dinner.

We tried to get a table in the Museo del Jamon off Puerta del Sol but at 11pm they told us it was due to close soon. A dilema! However we are blessed by the multitude of fast food shops around the area, including the wonderful Moaz Falafels (a vegetarian fast food place with is tasty, cheap and relatively healthy) and if you want more traditional you can pick up a cured ham and cheese sandwich from the museo del jamon.

We all went to our fast food place of our choice (me - I took the tasty falafel salad!) and took our food to the plaza Oriente. This is right in the centre in between the Opera house and the Palacio Real. Now who can complain with a view like this:



We were infact seated on the benches at the foot of the statue pictured. It was lovely to sit there eating our cheap fast food of our choice with a spectacular view where a restaurant would have charged us 20% for the pleasure. It was awesome!



I highly recommend it to anyone who fancies a nice picnic in the city centre. Maybe with a date? I could imagine this being highly romantic on a lovely moonlit summers night.

Debod Temple and the Parque Oueste

Some cities have some interesting suprises, and Madrid is one of those cities. One of it's many parks and gardens, the Parque Oeste in the centre has a very interesting feature - A whole Egyptian Temple. Crazy I hear you say, and I concur, but after seeing this in real life a couple of times I have had to accept it is real.



Apparently the Debod Temple was a gift to Spain from the Egyptian government, so I guess it's not so bad as a whole Temple stolen by some of the other countries in the world (Britain and Germany I am looking at you!) which are concealed away in public museums.

It is rather surreal to walk off Plaza España into a park which greats you with a monument built by the ancient Egyptians, but at least the weather is more comparable in Spain so it doesnt feel too surreal (as opposed to if it was in London or New York). But still it is an interesting and pleasant sight. I have never arrived at the park in time to go inside the temple, and I intend to make it a mission in the future when I have time to explore Madrid again.



The park around it is lovely, with wonderful views of the Palacio Real and the Cathedral which are a must see for any budding photo-snapping tourist, or a romantic who adores gorgeous views. I think that the Parque Oeste is one of the more under rated parks in Madrid. Most visitors will go to Retiro, which while Retiro is grand and has a certain "je ne sais quoi" about it, Parque Oeste also has some wonderful features which are definately worth seeing. I mean, how many parks have an Egyptian Temple and a breath taking view of the palace? Not many I wager.

Huertas and All that Jazz

Its been a while since I have updated this journal, but it has been a while since I have been in Madrid for a long period of time. I have been running up and down the country doing courses and I have not had such an opportunity to get out and about. Last night after some great falafels me and a friend of mine went to Calle Huertas to take some great cocktails and its a place where I enjoy to go out sometimes.

Huertas is close to Sol and the bottom C/ Huertas comes up from the paseo del Prado through the old part of the city. It has a very bohemian feel to the area and I love it. Its full of bars and some tapas places with different themes, calibre and people. It buzzes as much during the day as at night. You can take a beer and a tapa in one of the little squares off the street in the hot Spanish sun or you can go out for a nice quiet night or party hard there.

A couple of my favourite haunts was introduced to me by a good friend I met in Germany who is a Madrileña herself. She introduced me to a wonderful bar called "La Trocha" near the bottom part of calle Huertas. It is a small, cosy bar which specialises in the glorious Brazilian cocktail "caipirinha". For those of you who do not know what this is let me introduce you to the way this place makes this delicious cocktail (and sold at the bargain price of 5€). They take fresh lemons and limes and crush them up in a class with a wooden pestle kind of thing, squeezing all the juice out of the fruit. They then add lots of ice, some sugar and top it off with a generous dose of Cachaça (a wonderful sweet Brazilian liqour). They are strong and give you a lot - so take care with the quantities! But it is so sweet and tangy to drink you can hardly taste the strong alcohol. The bar is nice with sofas around, they have a mix of Jazz and Brazilian music playing in the background so a good place to start before heading off to the Populart Café.



Populart is a jazz bar just up the street from La Trocha. It has live music every night from 11pm and is free to enter. The music is usually top notch and is mainly Jazz and Blues of all types. For more information check the website for the program and how to find it: http://www.populart.es/. There is always something going on with exception for christmas and new year more or less. It does get really crowded so if you want a seat or a place at the bar go early. This place practically spills out the door on busy nights. For any lover of live music must check this place out as they standard of the bands are superb.

Gallery Review - The Reina Sofia

Before, I reviewed the Prado gallery, now going to head a little further down the Paseo del Prado to the modern art gallery - one of the big "three" art galleries in Madrid. This here is home to Picassos, Dalis, Miros etc. The Reina Sofia is close to the Atocha station, and is a little tucked in away from the main Paseo del Prado, and marks the beginning of the old neighbourhood of Embajadores, only a stones throw away from Lavapies.

The Reina Sofia is situated in an old square dotted around with many beer taverns, tapas bars and cafés. The Museum building itself is an interesting blend of modern and old, with its grand old fascade tastefully blended with the modern glass elevators. Personally I think this combination of modern and old works; it is my favourite style of architecture if it is done right.

When I went in the summer last year it was the anniversary of Picasso's Guernika returning to Spain after the death of Franco, so all the galleries had a Picasso special. The Reina Sofia is in fact the home to Guernika, and it was done by showing in the rooms where this masterpiece is showcased the sketches and ideas leading up to this painting. Maybe this is a more permanent feature, but to my shame I have not really been back to this gallery since the summer. It was very interesting to see how the painting developed, on the back of napkins from Parisian cafés, old sketch books. Seeing ideas used in their original state, changed, or not included at all. It was like seeing the jigsaw puzzle and the DNA for this truly powerful painting.


Now what of Guernica? It is pretty much one of Picasso's most famous masterpieces, an excellent piece of modern art with a powerful and horrific message. No words can describe the effect this painting has on you when you stand in front of it. It is huge, it takes up a whole wall. The pain and the horror feels so real when you see it right in your face brush stroke for brush stroke. I have seen this picture many times in books, documentaries, on the internet but nothing had prepared me to see it live. Art that inspires emotions, the senses and not just a picture that gives you pleasure to look at it goes beyond art. It is a powerful message expressed through an alternative medium, I guess the ideal of what modern art tries to express often (and usually fails). It is not a pretty picture, I felt very uncomfortable looking at it, but sometimes art is like that. I have watched films before which made me feel like shit afterwards, yet there was no denying it was a good film. Its kind of that feeling. Worth seeing if you are in Madrid, just visit the gallery to see this painting.


Other works in the Reina Sofia includes Dali, Miro and other modern artists. I wont lie when I say I am not the biggest modern art fan. I love one or two artists and I consider Picasso and Dali some of my favourite artists. When modern art is good it is superb and the best form of art, however when its bad, it is terrible, abysmal. One of my reasons I am in no hurry to visit modern art museums, unless they have trippy art installations which are just fun or Dalis or Picassos. Now the Reina Sofia does not dissapoint. It has some fantastic Dalis too, which I was very happy to find.

So if you are a modern art lover - you will love the Reina Sofia; if you love art but not so keen on modern all the time it is still worth the time to visit.

Romantic Retiro

At the heart of this vast city (well a little bit off the heart as Sol is official km zero), there is a wonderful big green lung that is the Parque del Retiro. A vast park with lots of trees, a few lakes, glamorous monuments, decorative mini-palaces etc. Everything you could want in a park.


Especially during the summer months, Madrid is like a desert with temperatures up to 40 degrees C and its dryness and pollution a green refuge is much appreciated. I arrived in Madrid in August, the worst month in the summer. I decided it would be a nice idea to take my boyfriend at the time there for a romantic picnic while he was over in Madrid. Packed the bag with Tortilla Espanola, Patatas Aioli, various hams and cheese, a bottle of wine and some crusty bread. It was a rather decadent picnic sitting opposite the Estanque monument and lake, while relaxing in the shade.


In the heat of the august sun, we decided to take a boat out onto the lake and cool down a bit. It was a very fun and cliched romantic thing to do, but it was great. Unfortunately the lake was over crowded so had to make sure not to have any run ins with the other boats. It was a lovely way to pass a hot afternoon.

Asides from the Estanque there are two palaces in the park, the Velazquez Palace and the Crystal palace. The crystal palace is my favourite place, as it looks out over a lovely cool lake with a fountain and some interesting swamp trees. Its a really nice place to just cool down if you get over heated (like I did that day).


We walked out around a bit, taking some naps in the shade (well I did, he ran off everywhere like an excited 5 year old). The park is also home to a collection of fountains and statues and contains the only public sculpture in existance depicting the fall of Lucifer.


So when the Madrileñan sun gets to hot and you want some shade and greenery, the paque retiro is the perfect place to find it. However a word of warning, there are a lot of theives and dealers around in this park (the dealers are very polite though), so best to keep a guard.

El Rastro - your local buzzing street market

Apologies for the tardiness of this next post to those who do follow this journal. I have been preoccupied with work and Spanish bureaucracy to write much here. I have also been quite ill too. Mother is here this week, so will also not be updating this frequently.

However a week or so ago I met up with some friends for breakfast near my house, their house and El Rastro! So after a heavy brunch of two mixto con huevos (Spanish toasted sandwich with ham, cheese and egg - yum yum) and lots of cofffee we headed off to the Rastro. El Rastro is a famous Madrid street market in the district of La Latina and held every Sunday in the morning. It dates back some time, to medieval times I believe when the leather tanners would sell their goods, its all there in my Madrid guidebook all the way on the other side of my newly cleaned bedroom, however due to laziness I will not reach over and check. So I cannot guarantee my accuracy. Anyways it has been running a long time, and is now more famed as an antique market and a market where anything goes.

Want a new hippy table cloth? A tacky woodcraft thing which you have no idea what it does? Posters? Painting? Creepy Antiques that only your dead great grandmother would love? You can get it here. However I like to sometimes come for the atmosphere. I am one of these masochistic people who loves to get crushed in a crowd of sweaty strangers on a hot summers day (probably why I like carnivals, if you see my German entry on Cologne). If you dont like crowded places - avoid the Rastro.

Its a vibrant place of life with interesting sites and lots of crap you would never buy as well as lots of crap you buy for friends for presents and even for home. Sometimes you might even find something that is useful. It has some old bohemian romance to it, the old time street market. I think its one of the reasons I love it. Anyway if you are looking for some souvenirs in Madrid come here, or want some random hippy stuff or some nasty smelly antiques (I dont hate antiques, I like them, but the stuff here is flakey as hell!). Or if you like me and want a sensory overload of colours, sounds and people then I highly recommend it.

Only - look after your wallet. Thieves thrive in the Rastro! Dont feed the thieves thank you!

Atocha - The main (or one of the main) stations

I know what people will think - has she finally lost it and is writing about train stations? Is this girl a closet trainspotter with no life? No. I don't have a fetish for train stations or watching trains but bare with me on this one.

Atocha is a train station, no denying that fact. It is also a train station with a nasty near-past too. However Atocha is no ordinary train station - it is part train station/part botanical garden. Yes I know that sounds strange but its true. Last summer when my boyfriend at the time was visiting me, we came here together. We had spent the day in the Reina Sofia museum (which is located next to Atocha) and came out looking for a coffee/beer. I saw the station across road and remembered something odd about it from my guide book. I suggested we investigate it since we were right there. We ran across the road while the little green man on the traffic lights was flashing and bleeping and found our way into the station.

I knew there was a garden inside, but not this! From walking inside what seems like your bog-standard 19th century style train station into a colonial-tropical haven! The humidity hits you in the face as you walk in (its so dry in Madrid - especially in the summer) and you look up to see palms and other tropical trees and plants. Look down you see little terrapins swimming in the pond below. The whole grand setting of this iron-wrought train station gives it that glamorous colonial appeal. You feel like someone out of a Kipling novel. We found a bar on the top of the station over looking the gardens; this too was done in colonial style and had a kind of Indian theme to its architecture. We sat on the terrace drinking our cool beers enjoying the view of the palms below us forgetting we were in Madrid; and that we had been transported back in time and across the Indian Ocean. Its not the most beautiful garden I have seen in my life, nor is is the most beautiful in Madrid. However its most unlikely setting does add a kind of quirk appeal to it though. If you are ever passing buy do pop in and take a beer!

Gallery Review - Museo del Prado

Madrid is definitely a city to do if you are into art; as it is the home to three amazing galleries: The Prado, The Thyssen-Bornemisza and The Reina Sofia. All three galleries are very different to each other; with the Prado hosting art from the renaissance times up until the early 19th century, the Thyssen is good if you want impressionists and art from the 19th century (but the collection is very varied and contains old and modern art too), and the Reina Sofia is entirely modern art. When people ask me which is the best one to visit its hard to say - it entirely depends on your taste in Art. All three are worth a visit if you can, and are conveniently located within five minutes walking distance of each other.

Out of all three of the museums though, the Prado un-doubtably has the most impressive building. With its neoclassical facade and statues looking out onto a glamorous tree lined boulevard, the Prado is an impressive sight even to pass in your car. Inside it is filled with some wonderful artistic treasures too. The ground floor is mainly Renaissance art - especially Italian. Here you will find Raphael and Botticelli. It also houses Renaissance German and Dutch paintings too so if you are in search for some Durer or Bosch this is the place to look.

Botticelli - The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti

Bosch - Garden of Delights

My personal favourite is the classical sculpture rooms. Filled with treasures of Grecian and Roman art from all over the mediterranean. This is the reason I have been to the Prado a grand number of five times! I have a definite weak spot for Greco-Roman statues so this place was like artistic heaven for me. Most of the statues are in such good condition as well with beautiful detail. Absolutely devine!

On the upper floors you come to later art consisting of Caravaggio, Titian, El Greco, Rubens, Rembrandt etc - you get the idea. As well as a lot of Spanish art like Velázquez and Goya.


Sometimes they also have temporary exhibitions in the central part of the ground and first floors. I was very lucky last summer to catch the Picasso Exhibition there which focused on his reinterpretations of famous paintings including the one featured on the right (originally by Velázquez - Las Meninas).

Some Beautiful Pictures of Downtown Madrid

Perusing through the blog of one of my friends I came across a link for a website for a photographer called Alfredo Garcia. I was bowled over by his pictures of Madrid and are by far the most beautiful I have seen. I have taken a small sample to show you here of the area just around Plaza Cibeles. This square is one of my favorites in Madrid especially at night, in fact I think Madrid is the most beautiful at night. You can see why I am so enchanted with it from these photographs. There are many more of his photos on the website I have linked in this entry or in my general links on the side panel. Do check them out they are just wonderful!

Palacio de Comunicaciones (aka the post office)

Cibeles Fountain

Plaza de Cibeles looking up towards Gran Vía

Enchanting Metropolis by Night
(Now see why this is my favourite building ;-) )

Not your normal Sunday - care for a little Hedonism?

While most people enjoy a nice relaxing day in front of the telly on a sunday, I opted to do something a little different to my usual Sunday afternoons. My friend had invited me to go clubbing at the "Space of Sound" - an all day nightclub just above the station Charmartìn. I had been meaning to check it out, and I have never been clubbing during the day before so thought great could be loads of fun.

It was one of the most surreal, interesting and fantastic experiences I have ever had from clubbing. It felt weird, if not slightly wrong walking into a club at 2pm on a Sunny Sunday afternoon but as soon as I walked inside I was transported into another world! A world of an electronic dream and a ravers paradise! To not talk about the clubs and bars in Madrid would not give the correct impression of Madrid, and for me personally its nightlife (or daylife in this case) is a big thing in my life here. Sometimes a good dancing marathon to an awesome beat is as good as destressing as a day of relaxation in front of the sun for me.

Space is probably the most jaw dropping club I have been too. I have not been clubbing like have done in Madrid before, but this place took my breathe away. I forgot the time, the space where I was then. Time did not exist inside here. You are hit with the amazing electronic sound as you come in through the door (while I am a goth/rocker by heart, I am a sucker for pretty much all electronic music!), music with so much depth and intensity that you do not only hear it but feel it through your body, and all of this without being deafened. There are amazing laser shows, dancers, fiber optic lit coffee tables next to really comfy sofas, space age looking bars and most importantly of all - lots of people just having a great time!

The thing I liked about this club is people came there to be free, no one cared what you looked like or how you danced. You didn´t get sweaty, nasty guys humping your leg, nor bitchy girls glaring at you because you are not trendy enough. I went in t-shirt, jeans, no make up, messy hair and no one treated me any different. It was a really liberating experience to feel like I was not being treated as a piece of meat and I could truly be myself. The atmosphere was euphoric and you did not want to stop dancing until 8pm. Sometimes I just stood back and admired the amazing laser shows and sat on the comfy sofas with my eyes closed and let the music wash over me. It was rather surreal to pass the front door when you would go to the toilet to see the sunny outdoors, which to me seemed like the dimensional gateway to reality. Certainly and odd experience but much worth it. Absolutely pure, liberating hedonism. I loved it, and would certainly go again! The best thing about it being in the afternoons is by the next day you are refreshed and ready to work again. I feel like I have just been on holiday.

An adventure today which started out in La Latina

Fed up with the poor quality of the vegetables at my local supermarket, I decided to seek out a typical Spanish style Mercado (market hall). Combined with the fact I had to go to La Latina to pick up a parcel I decided to try out the Mercado de la Cebada. Walking past the Puerta de Toledo and the Cathedral San Francisco el Grande to get to my local postal depot and do my shopping made me realise how lucky I am to be living in Madrid!
















I met with my friend at La Latina and we went to the Mercado. The Mercado is a massive market hall full of stalls of fruit and veg, butchers, fishmongers, cheese sellers - essentially everything! I brought a lot of nice fresh veggies from there, so I was happy. Its nice to know that it's not far from my house. We then went and relaxed with a beer on a plaza nearby looking out to another old Spanish style church on a medieval square. Sitting out there watching the world go by, having a good conversation and blowing bubbles in the sun was just delightful. It's times like this that I appreciate and love about living in Southern Europe. Time seems to go so slowly! We had Patatas Alioli and a glass of Rioja later. Yum.

I had planned to go back to my apartment, clean, relax etc. but my friend mentioned a deadly word to me - "Ooh a hot chocolate would be nice!" as we passed a cafe which said "Hay chocolate caliente". My mouth started salivating at the very thought, but she and I admitted - her hot chocolate is the best! However we would have to travel across Madrid to her apartment as she lived in the North, I in the South. I also had tonnes of shopping so we decided to walk to my house, dump my stuff and go. Our next problem was how to get to her house...

A normal person would have taken the metro, however I thought we could change lines at Atocha and take the bus from my house. It was rather impulsive as the bus was right there when we got to the main road so jumped on it. When we got to Atocha the metro entrance nearest to us was closed, the nearest one was up on the Paseo del Prado. It was very nice in a way though, as my friend had not really seen Atocha (or appreciated it really) from a walker's perspective. Walking up the paseo we decided to take the bus up the Castellana and get off at a stop near her house. Becoming distracted at Nuevos Minesterios due to an outdoor market which was there we alighted from the bus and went to explore... eventually we got to her house and had the best hot chocolate. My legs are tired, but I love to walk around the city. Taking the local bus can also be a treat as you get to see the city and get some perspective of where everything is located; using the metro all the time it is all just names and doesn't mean anything.

Bar Districts

One thing Madrid is famous for is its bars and nightlife. A night out for cañas y tapas is a typical Madrileña experience. But in Madrid there are so many areas to choose from and so many bars to pick! I thought it would be a fun idea to summerise the bar districts in Madrid and some places worth seeing.

Sol:

This is the very centre of Madrid, the mile 0 for Spain. But apart from being very central there are a lot of old winding side streets with tonnes of great bars for cañas y tapas. Its easy to get lost in the windy old streets behind sol, but there is plenty to choose from. A favourite street of mine is Calle de Cadiz which contains many good tapas places, which are fairly cheap and also tend to give a decent tapa with your caña/cerveza (Spanish beer, small and refreshing). A tapa is something you get in all the bars. Its basically a small snack which is given if you take wine or beer to prevent you from getting drunk. Bad bars just give crisps or olives, but the good ones give you canapès, empanadillas (little pasties with tuna and tomato inside), a little Iberian selection of cheese and ham etc.

If you want tacky and touristy but cheap - check out the "Cañas y Tapas" bar next to Plaza Mayor, it serves pretty much all your standard tapas, in different sized portions, so you can buy a lot of small dishes to try a variety or a big one to satisfy your appetite (or your group's appetite!). You have to sit/stand at the bar, but this is very Spanish style, the bar itself has a nice authentic feel to it.

La Latina

La Latina is in the old part of the city. Full of charm and character; just walk down from Plaza Mayor and you are pretty much there. Its an interesting mix of classy bars, traditional cervezarias and hippy places. La Latina is very trendy, but also very chill. Its not a place to do rowdy pubcrawls, but more like going out for a beer and chilling with friends. I like this area a lot, especially the fact its 15 minutes walk from my house!

Lavapiès

I could call this the downmarket version of La Latina, but that is not entirely true. Lavapiès has a more down to earth and ethnic feel than its trendy neighbour. Its full of very casual student type hippy bars, as well as the traditional bars as well. Its very vibrant as its full of all sorts of interesting characters and bohemians. It has a high immigrant population so its also a good place to get some ethnic food! The places in Lavapiès are cheap and nice. Good if you are a broke student.

Chueca/Tribunal/Alonso Martinez

I am going to lump all these 3 into the same catagory as they are all very close to each other and I don't know where one ends and the other begins. If you go north of the Gran Vía you will come to these neighbourhoods.

Chueca is the gay district, and is also really trendy to go to. Full of crazy clubs and bars its a great place to go and just party on down. Everyone is so liberal there its great! Asides from hardcore party clubs and swinging bars, there are also some nice chilled out elegant bars with comfy couches and chandeliers.

Right next to Chueca is Tribunal and Alonso Martinez. This too is full of a lot bars, and mainly the type catered to students. They are grungy, cheap and great fun. You can order a mini mojito (take care! Mini means a litre) and sit on a beer drum instead of on chairs with the urban decoration of graffiti adds to the ambiance. You can get lost in a drunken oblivion amongst the bars and pubs there, hang out with other grungy students/young people who are on the street drinking cheap beer out of plastic cups. If you want a messy pubcrawl where your brain feels raped afterwards - this is your area!

However saying that near Alonso Martinez there is a very nice chilled out bar called Aereia (I am not 100% sure on the spelling) where you can get great cocktails, ethnic food, slob out on a futon and listen to chilled out music. Nice place to go to unwind in the evening, and also functions as a restaurant during the day.

Bilbao

Go a bit further north from Tribunal you come to Bilbao. Not the city, but the district. This too is also a very nice area to explore tapas and some bars. Its a good place to start the night off with some beer and tapas and then venture into the nearby areas of Tribunal/Chueca.

Huertas

Just off the Paseo del Prado is calle de Huertas. This street leads up to the area near Sol/Plaza Mayor and is also a good place to go at night, particularly if you are looking for live music. The Café Populart is a good venue if you like Jazz because every night from 11pm onwards there is live music there from different artists and bands of jazz, blues etc. Its free entry, but it gets really packed some nights! Especially on weekends. If you like your cocktails I highly recommend La Trocha just a few meters down the street where they serve the best caipirinhas!

Memories of my first Night in Madrid

I am not entirely sure where to start with this, so I guess its obvious to start with my first night I arrived here last Summer.


I arrived at Barajas airport where my friends had met me to give me a lift to my new flat. When I greeted them I offered the very British handshake to which they replied "no no no, you are in Spain now you will greet as the Spanish do". So I was introduced to the traditional Spanish greeting of the two kisses on each cheek. Its not so uncommon and unusual for me, in Hungary they do the same, but only to friends you already know - not to people you meet for the first time. But I like it, I think it helps overcome a lot of awkwardness between new people when they meet and everything feels more open.



We dropped my stuff off at the apartment and drove downtown to a street Fiesta. Coming from the North of Madrid, you have to pass the Castellana which is a long main road running from the north to down-town as far as the Prado and Atocha station. Madrid at night is really when the city is at its best. All the buildings are lit up beautifully and gives more detail to the delicate intricacies of the architecture, it has a more glamourous feel to it. I love Recoletos and the Paseo del Prado with its tree lined boulevards and its elegant prominades. Recoletos is filled with elegant, classy cafès which look like something out of the 1920s.











Then continued down to the Paseo del Prado passing Plaza Cibeles, until we came to the district of Lavapiès. This is an old part of the city, with old flakey townhouses (but I love this type of flakeyness - so much character!) It really has such a bohemian feel to it, I absolutely loved it. The street was filled with stalls to buy food and drink. The streets filled with people either sitting outside cafès or bars taking a beer or in the square making "botellòn" (taking their own drink and just drinkinig together one the square). The air was warm and musty, I love the feeling of the warm air in the summer's nights.

The Prologue

I have been playing with the idea for sometime to write a journal about my life in Madrid. Not as in a personal journal about MY life, but about experiences in this city, its flavours, its ambience, its character. I have wanted to do this project of "travel writing" since I have arrived in Madrid but never actually did so. Now I am going to try to achieve this.

This will not be my personal journal. I have one on livejournal already so if you are interested to peruse that ask me as its locked to friends only. This blog is intended to express my experiences in Madrid, about its places, events and general life here from the perspective of an English/Hungarian girl.

I hope you can join me here in my adventure in getting to know this wonderful city.