Hola!

Madrid has officially leapt to the front in the top cities for this trip, from the moment I checked into my Hostel to the moment the man at the airport threw out my contact lens solution the people were awesome.

The city is clean, charismatic and friendly. Sit down for a beer and you always get a bowl of food with compliments, and im not talking about touristy hang outs, im talking everywhere.

Some places its just a bowl of crisps, but I had potato salad, salted pork sandwiches, olives, nuts all sorts of stuff and all on the house.

Language barrier was never really an issue, but at the same time I was never really carrying on a conversation i guess.

And i was eternally grateful to the man in the farmacia who saved me from a bout of pink eye. He didnt speak a word of English, but i pointed at my eye and said infection, but pronounced in-fex-see-on, he nodded, produced a little vial and i was cured by that afternoon!

Modern, yet retaining classic buildings, both of historic importance and gerneral apartments the vibe was described to me as Parisian Spain and I can get the description.

Given that it is still Summer, I actually was suprised by the verdant green zones that were present around the city.

As the centre is elevated you can cast your eye out to the mountains in the distance and see that the landscape transforms into semi arid country, but while sitting on a rowboat in the middle of the Central Park you could be anywhere.

Eating late is the done thing again, but I was in the groove after Barca. Light breakfast at the markets, sightseeing, 2-230 lunch, 4-6 siesta, 6-9 wander around with some well placed stops at appropriate bars, 930/10 dinner, sangria and more!

There are a lot of things to like about Madrid, and as im meant to be scouting out places I can potentially live whilst Jess does an apprenticeship with some Devil Wears Prada type Madrid is right up there.

Suprisingly a place that is not up there is London...