Roaming Around Madrid

At first glance, Madrid was quite a busy city as compared to Valencia.

It was, again, a change of scenery.

It actually seemed more congested than Barcelona as well.

There was an even a protest/gathering being held when we arrived though it was too far away for me to see what it was for from our taxi.

If I were to make comparison, I think I very much prefer Barcelona's open space.

Sure it was busy and sometimes packed with people especially during the summer but the wide layout of the city makes it less stuffy.

Madrid felt like every other busy, you need to really watch out for vehicles or get run over, type of city.

I definitely prefer the road and traffic plan in Barcelona.

The roads were wide and the way they organised the traffic made it really easy and safe to walk around.

I never felt like i was about to get run over by vehicles, unless I jaywalk which of course is my fault.

Our first stop was obviously a restaurant after dropping off our luggage in the hotel.

Such pigs we are.

The restaurant is called El miniBar and the food was pretty good but the only thing i found special was this dish below:

I have no idea what this is called but it is really cheesy and comes with a sauce thats sweet like jam?

Whatever it was, I liked it though it wasn't for everybody as some found the cheese to be too strong.

The peeps had sangria for almost every meal.

We didn't really have a concrete plan as to what we want to cover in Madrid except for the food market and for the boys, the Real Madrid Stadium.

We decided not to go in to the stadium but instead took pictures from outside and went to the Adidas store that sells Real Madrid trinkets instead.

The all famous Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Adidas store located outside the stadium.

Is it just me or do the mannequins look like they are about to scratch their butt?

With the football fanboy.

Though the jersey were pretty nice, I didn't get any.

I would rather use the money to eat more food, which I really did.

Since we only had 2 places we really wanted to go to in Madrid, we spent the rest of our time roaming around to places we found on TripAdvisor after accomplishing those two.

Temple of Debod

Templo de Debod, in spanish, is an ancient Egyptian temple which was dismantled and rebuilt in Madrid, Spain. (Wikipedia)

To be honest there's really nothing much to see here.

But if you are willing to head to the temple anyway, you will be rewarded with this view of Madrid behind the temple.

And if you are lucky, policemen may come over with their horses.

They were pretty nice and allowed people to touch and take pictures with the horses.

Them British policemen need to learn a thing or two from these friendly Spanish policemen.

Santa María la Real de La Almudena

It is a Catholic cathedral in Madrid, the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madrid.

It was consecrated by Pope John Paul II in 1993. (Wikipedia)

The Royal Palace of Madrid

Palacio Real de Madrid, in Spanish, is the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family at the city of Madrid, but is only used for state ceremonies. (Wikipedia)

The Royal Palace and cathedral are located right opposite each other so you can visit them both together.

Plaza Mayor

Plaza Mayor was built during Philip III's reign (1598–1621) and is a central plaza in the city of Madrid, Spain.

It is rectangular in shape and is surrounded by three-story residential buildings having 237 balconies facing the Plaza.

It has a total of nine entrance ways. (Wikipedia)

The only drawback about this place is, because it is a tourist hotspot, there are many people in costumes in the plaza.

So sometimes they will take advantage of tourists that are already posing and jumped into the picture without warning.

I will admit it is a good strategy to earn cash as people are less likely to decline when they are caught off guard but I still find it very rude.

This guy did exactly that but at least he put in some good poses.

Botin Restaurant

Sobrino de Botín, founded in 1725, is the oldest restaurant continuously operating in the world. (Wikipedia)

Certified by Guinness World Records too.

We didn't get to dine in here though as we were pretty broke with Madrid being our last stop in Spain.

Lastly, below are some of the random places we passed through that I thought were pretty but could not identify and also the awesome food we had.

Squid Ink Risotto.

Some prawn thing.

Cant remember what this was but it was pretty nice.

Foie gras which they gave for free.

These were from Txirimiri Restaurant.

They are known for their tapas.

Overall we really liked everything we had there especially the risotto.

It took us quite a while to get to the restaurant from Temple of Debod on foot.

And, we also had to climb a really steep hill to get to it.

Was it worth the effort?

Definitely yes but while climbing, I was regretting my decision all the way.

More prawns.

Cant remember what meat this was but it was pretty good.

Pork served with chips.

This had brinjal/eggplant in it.

These 4 were from Taberna el Sur.

The restaurant and bar is really small and boy was it packed to the brim with people.

We had to wait and queue outside the restaurant.

The food was pretty good too.

Overall:

Madrid, out of the three places I have been to in Spain, was the best for food.

Not only were they really affordable, but they were also really good.

Unlike Barcelona where a lot of eateries hiked up their prices as it is a tourist hotspot, it was always a hit and miss when it comes to food for me.

I have had really good food and also some that were not great.

Conclusion:

Madrid offered the best eating experience for me.

As for activities and things to see, Barcelona is definitely at the top with endless of attractions.

Valencia on the other hand provided the most peaceful and relaxing environment during our trip which we really enjoyed.

I had a good time in all three cities but if I had to pick a favourite or a city that I would go back to out of the three, Barcelona is always number 1.

Photo credits: Eric, Ryan and myself.

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