In front of antiques store while visiting El Rastro Flea Market

I spent my weekend at Madrid, Spain. The city is walkable with a very reliable metro. The only thing that you need to watch out are the pick pockets in the Metro (which are typical if you travel in large European cities like Rome, Madrid, Eastern Europe, etc) and the amount of alcohol they put in your mixer drinks (They don’t measure – there isn’t single or double shot, they use their ‘instinct’ instead i.e. generous quantity).

Getting away from London, I was trying to make my pounds work harder but didn’t find anything other than a local Spanish boutique which made nice shirts and blazers.

Here are some highlights of what I spent my time doing in Madrid other than lots of vermouths, parties and shoppings:

• Relaxing in cafes at Plaza Mayor
• Experience Bull Fighting at Plaza de Toros Las Ventas
• Visiting Royal Palace (Palacio Real)
• Visited the church (Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Almudena) located across the plaza from the Palacio Real.
• Strolling Parque del Buen Retiro (Park) where we saw a path lined with statues originally from the Palacio Real and other interesting Statues. Also spent time at some of the gardens around such as the Rose Garden (La Rosaleda) which has no rose at the time I visited.
• On Sunday, we visited El Rastro flea market which sells interesting things. This is also a heaven for pick pockets as it’s very busy.
• Visited Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (museum) where we quickly glanced over the international masterpieces such as Picaso and Van Gogh to name a view. I would love to spend a little bit more time on this next time I visit.

I wanted to also fit in the Flamenco dance show (although we saw glimpses of it when we bar hopping and feasting on tapas) and David and Victoria Beckham’s house (David played for Viva Madrid Soccer/Football team) but ran out of time.

Related posts:

1. Nice blazers at Madrid, Spain
2. Bull Fighting, Madrid – Spain
3. Spanish Food 101, Madrid, Spain