Madrid! Out of all of the places we're visiting in Spain, Madrid wasn't one I was really excited for. It definitely proved me wrong!
We arrived in at about 6pm on Thursday, checked into our hostel and headed out for dinner with a group of people from Busabout, about 15 of us. We wandered around afterwards before heading to bed.
Friday morning we did a walking tour of Madrid after breakfast. Madrid has a lot of 'ham museums', they're pretty much like a butcher setup but with all different salamis, hams and processed meats like a deli. They have a long bar where you can have a beer or wine and order different little dishes too- usually selections of meats and cheeses, savory croissants, sandwiches and other nibbles. We went to one for lunch and got a croissant with salami and cheese, only €1.50 for a huge one. We explored Madrid some more and did a bit of window shopping. That evening we went to the 'Mercado San Miguel', a food market. All the stalls sold tapas, but at fairly inflated prices so we had a look but didn't eat dinner there. We ate dinner at a €1 montadito restaurant, there's a few around Spain. They serve little rolls with all different fillings- sort of a version of tapas. Flamenco time! My blog photo is of the flamenco show we went to. It was amazing! We somehow ended up sitting right on the stage, in a little restaurant- really beautiful place. There was two female dancers, a male dancer, plus the Spanish guitarist and the singer. The passion and emotion evident in the show is amazing. Definitely one of my favourite moments in Spain! We joined 80 something others from busabout on a pub crawl that night, to 3 bars and then finishing up around 4am at a club.
Saturday we had a late start and did a bit of wandering before having a late lunch. The afternoon we didn't do too much, a bit of window shopping again. And just hung out with others from busabout. Athletico Madrid- a football team- had won a game the previous night so they come through town on their bus and then parade around one of the squares and celebrate with the town. We watched them come through and then went for dinner.
Next stop, San Sebastian!