Euro Trip Part 1: Madrid

Day 1: Wednesday April 5, 2017

My journey to Europe began on an early Wednesday morning. My friend dropped me off at Tampa International Airport around 9:15 am.

I took three flights, had two layovers, and traveled for a grand total of about 18 hours. By 8:00 pm EST, it was time to board my six-hour flight to Madrid.

The on-flight meals weren’t terrible. First I had Indian-style curry chicken with rice and a glass of chardonnay and for breakfast I had a croissant and yogurt. I slept a majority of the way and boy oh boy was it freezing. I had five layers on and I was STILL cold.

Day 2: Thursday April 6, 2017

I landed in Madrid on Thursday morning around 10 am and went through customs where they didn’t even check my passport before they stamped it.

I waited in the airport for Sameera to get out of class at 1:30 pm. Once we found each other, we took the metro to her host’s apartment in a part of Madrid called La Latina.

Side note: I didn’t realize how good her Spanish was but obviiiiiiously it’s great! She lives there, duh Amanee.

Madrid looks exactly like I imagined it would. Just like in the movies. There were stores and shops on the first levels with dance studios on the second floors and apartments above them.

The weather was so exceptionally beautiful. Upper 70s with sunny blue skies.

That evening, we went out for a night on the town. First we went to a bar and had a drink, then we stopped to get pizza. It’s one of my favorite foods and I make it my point to eat it in every location I go to.

Next, we walked to Teatro Kapital, a seven-floor nightclub. One of my most vivid memories was when Sameera and I stopped into one of the many crowded bathrooms and while we were waiting in line a drunk girl threw up on another girl’s head.

Yes, you read that correctly. I could’ve died.

By this point, it was around 5:30 am and it was time to go!

We decided to walk to get churros and chocolate. They were very sub par to say the least.

After that, we walked back to the apartment and called it a night.

Day 3: Friday April 7, 2017

The next day we went to get tickets for the Real Madrid soccer game and after we stood in line for an hour, we were told the tickets were sold out. Awkward.

We had lunch at a cute little café. We sat on the patio and people watched while we ate chicken Caesar salads and shared a turkey quesadilla.

Spanish people don’t eat enough for my liking. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and everything shuts down and people go home to eat with their families. They don’t really eat breakfast and at night they might have a snack… No wonder I didn’t see many overweight people.

After lunch, we walked about 30 minutes to Parque el Retiro. If there was one thing I did a lot of on this trip, it was walking. I swear we walked all over Madrid, London, and Paris.

This park is huge (and I do mean HUGE) with rowboats, people having picnics and sunbathing, taking walks, rollerblading, skateboarding, and just enjoying the weather.

We walked around this monstrosity for about two hours looking for these peacocks that Sameera claimed were just roaming around… I thought she was hallucinating after the first hour.

Just when we were about to give up, we FINALLY found them and it was a beautiful sight to see. There were about 20 peacocks just walking around. The colors in their feathers were even more vivid in person. The pictures don’t do them justice.

After all that walking, I had to go home and take a nap. When I awakened from my slumber, we went to a little restaurant around the corner to have tapas. We had a potato dish with a red sauce over it… I was not a fan. It was soggy and needed more seasoning.

And of course I couldn’t leave Spain without having paella. It’s pretty much their national dish. I had seafood paella, which included rice, shrimp, muscles, squid, cuttlefish, and lobster. It was excellent!

Day 4: Saturday April 8, 2017

On Saturday morning, we had brunch at a quaint little restaurant. (Remember, I said brunch is my fave!) I had regular American food: pancakes, scrambled eggs, home fries, bacon, sausage, freshly squeezed orange juice, and a mimosa. It was pretty good! No complaints.

After that, we went to a shopping area. We were on the search to find something to wear in Paris for Sameera’s birthday. It was super crowded with lots of stores like H&M, Zara, Mango, just to name a few.

That evening we went to Rio de Madrid. It’s a river and a park. We swung on the swings and took pictures on the bridge.

Next, we went bar hopping. We began the night at an Irish bar. The crowd was a bit older. Next we went to a bar down the street with a crowd more around our age. We stood in a corner people watching for a while until I heard a guy walk past speaking English and I said, “Are you from the United States?!” As it turns out, he was from an area of Virginia just outside of Maryland. Such a small world!

Side note #2: I took Spanish from the first grade all the way through high school and my roommate is Puerto Rican, so I'm exposed to the language all the time, but I didn't realize just how much I absorbed! I could understand pretty much everything that people were saying. Sameera only had to translate for me a few times. The only problem was that I couldn't speak it back... A work in progress! 

Day 5: Sunday April 9, 2017

On Sunday morning, we went to brunch again. On the way there, we walked through a street market where people were selling all kinds of goodies. We both bought the rings we’re wearing pictured above.

We ate at a restaurant called La Infinito and it was such a hidden gem. Sameera literally just found it by googling it. I’m going to write a whole separate post reviewing this restaurant because it was actually one of my favorite meals I had the whole time I was in Europe.

After brunch, we went to the Prado Museum. It’s one of the world’s greatest art galleries, one of Madrid’s top cultural sites, and the main Spanish national art museum. They have artwork dating back to the 12th century. It was huge and had so many great pieces. I wish I could’ve taken pictures.

That evening, we had more pizza for dinner and stopped to get gelato on the walk home. I’m pretty sure we ate gelato every day... But I had no reason to watch my weight because we hardly ate. HA! When we got back to the apartment, we packed our bags for London and Paris and rested before our flight in the morning.

I really, really loved Madrid. The culture and architecture were both so beautiful. It’s definitely some place I would love to go back and visit again.

Next up: London! 

-A.