Madrid

A few
girlfriends and me decided to go on a weekend holiday to catch some autumn sun,
so we decided Madrid.

This is
actually the first tine I've ever been to Spain - Spanish islands don't count.
We were staying at a very Central location at Alonso Martinez, many things were
in walking distance so didn't require the Metro as much. 

The hotel
was very modern, having laptop, iPod dock & shower with 3 shower functions
but annoying it didn't have the basics of a kettle with free tea & coffee,
even though I don't drink it, it's the principle!

I was not
surprised this 4* Hotel didn’t have a phone in the bathroom as my friend was
telling me I need to look out for one, I really don’t believe why hotels would
put a phone in the bathroom, is it really necessary?

The museums were not bad, Del Prado reminded me of London's National Gallery- a lot of classic oil paintings all religious; interesting to see but wasn't my cup of tea. The Sofia however reminded me of the V&A as there was modern art from Dali and Picasso in the permanent collections, and I really loved the building itself made of glass & steel, the third floor with the terrace had such a lovely view of Madrid 




Going to
Ventas to see the famous Bullring was a good trip, shame we missed the last
fight before the end of season, which was the day before, but it was a
fascinating building to see and in Madrid hear history of. The largest park in
Madrid, the Retrio was a lovely stroll, passing people jogging, stunning scultptures
including statues in fountains. We also saw a man on roller-skates dancing
around was pretty funny! We also hired a rowing boat on the lake, was a 
very
good laugh in the sun; 45min for under €4 a boat pretty good (^.^)

We checked
out the typical Spanish touristy things - flamenco dancing at Casa Platas,
though we were expecting the more extravagant dressing and less acoustic
singing, it was so chilled we were falling asleep! Unfortunately this is not
worth the €32 we paid.


What threw
us off was by the markets, in this park/ square area there a crowds of people
trading card! All kinds as well, from Pokemon, Football even Hello Kitty, to me
it’s a very 90s Retro hobby, but these people were serious with their Yellow
Pages sized books of card collections! 
The
Botanical gardens were a nice trip for €2.50 but need to be in the right season
as the flowers were dying, vegetables were ready to be harvested unless you
fancied seeing some cactus :p

In La
Latina, which is quite a trendy spot for the locals for drinking in the
evening, but also good for The Sunday Flea Market. It was a good trip to look
around selling allsorts of touristy things like t-shirts, bags, jewelry, random
trinkets and bric and brac but there were also a few places that sold antiques
too!



So many things accomplished on the trip, the long weekend
was long enough for it ^.^ 
Will do a Madrid Food Porn post too!! -^.^-

Sorry the Text layout is so crap, I am not technical enough to work how how to lay it out nicely! >.<"