East Coast Floods

As you may have seen on the news, Valencia, Barcelona and Malaga (and many smaller places in and around these cities) have suffered due to severe rain and flash flooding caused by a weather phenomenon called a DANA – or a ‘cold drop’. This is basically when a warm front meets a cold front over an area of torrential rain. We are reading on the local news (and have heard the same from some locals) that this is getting worse with climate change. With over 200 known deceased, half the roads to Valencia have just been reopened. The Gvt has troops on the ground helping with the clean up, as well and thousands of locals turning up with shovels to help clear the debris. It truly is a very sad disaster.

MarioKart Scavenger Hunt

When we arrived last week, we started mapping out ‘the usual’ types of things to do in a new city. Not wanting to be too dull, I searched up ‘things to do with teens in Madrid’ – from this, we had a few new ideas to add to our list, including scavenger hunt, theme park (sadly only open on weekends) and illusion museum. In the last blog, Hamish briefly mentioned the MarioKart Madrid Drive (MKMD) – we quizzed him further on this. The race circuit is actually based on the real city of Madrid, complete with famous squares, buildings and statues. From there, we hatched a plan to play “MKMD Scavenger Hunt” (do not steal this original idea…).

Hamish listed the sites from the game and have walked all over the city finding them. What a great way to explore Madrid!

Here is a list of some of the sites we have crossed off the list this week:

The Prado Museum – El Retiro Park – The Palace – Plaza Mayor – The Madrid Bear – Gates of Europe – Puerto del Sol – Carlos III statue – Real Madrid Stadium – Mercado de San Miguel

Public Transport

We all agree, Madrid has the best public transport system we’ve encountered on our travels – ever. Our hosts left us a multi use card (with one fare on it) and it has been easy to top up from our metro station, which is a mere 25 steps away. You can purchase 10 trips for about 6.5 euro and we’ve used this just about every day we’ve been here. We are well North of the city, but it’s only a quick 20-30 minute metro ride, changing lines once, to reach the centre. Unlike other public transport systems we’ve encountered, the trains arrive on time, they are clean and uncrowded, there are usually seats and it’s easy to work out how to get to the next line. 5 stars, highly recommend.

Museum of Illusions

If you have been to Phillip Island, you’ve likely been to ‘Amaze n Things’ and the Museum of Illusions is similar to this. Lots of mind bending displays, rooms and puzzles. It was a bit of fun before our night tour.

Dark Side of Madrid – Night Tour

We had booked a night walking tour advertised as ‘free’ and ‘scary’ – free tours are not free, there is an expectation you pay ‘what you can afford’ and/or ‘what you think the tour is worth’ (but there’s a fair bit of pressure to pay 15 euro per person). For over 2 hours, our guide (trained actor and flamenco guitarist, Paul) regaled us with stories of torture, ghosts, murder and the Spanish Inquisition. It was a large group, with guests from the US, Germany, Netherlands, UK and Australia (us!). There’s a gentle hint of crowd participation, but Paul dropped many guests in it with his stories about blood lust from their own countries! Rod and I have since watched the Netflix movie ‘Veronica’ loosely based on Police reports from 1991 about one of the stories of paranormal activity.

Interestingly and disturbingly, the ‘garrotte’ method of death (basically a seat where your spinal cord is severed by a huge kind of wooden spike) was last used in 1974. In 1975 firing squads were used to off criminals on death row. Capital punishment was outlawed in 1978. The Spanish Inquisition was the longest running, from 1478 to 1834.

Rest Day/Explore Local Neighbourhood

After two fulls days completing many many steps, we had a bit of a rest day, where Hamish did some school work, we caught up on washing and explored the neighbourhood. There are a couple of supermarkets within walking distance we have visited: Dia and Tedi. Prices are much lower than Australia even with our poor exchange rate! My store bought sangria cost about $2.50 (plastic bottle, 1.5L, no judgement required thank you…). We are in a high density suburb, but you wouldn’t know it. There’s green spaces everywhere, wide roads with easy flowing traffic, lots of shops and cafes, as well as a very large shopping centre that takes about a 10 min walk. Rod had a haircut in the street across from our apartment. Underneath and next to our apartment block, there’s a fruit and vegetable shop and a pharmacy next to that. We feel Madrid has been well planned with its’ citizens in mind to suit the quintessential Spanish lifestyle.

Telefonica Museum/Art Gallery

This was a bit of a flop. It’s a museum dedicated to the progression of technology, which we thought would be interesting. All the signs were in Spanish, but the displays spoke for themselves. We liked the wall of mobile phones from ‘brick’ to smartphone. Rod and I discussing the pros and cons of the phones we’d once owned, got in trouble for touching the phones by a passive aggressive staff member (the second one we’d encountered in this building). We heading to the next level, which was an exhibition about something way too avant guard for my brain. Not wanting to waste more precious minutes of our lives, we dumped this museum and moved onto our next activity for the day.

Bike Ride – El Retiro Park (by Rod)

We then headed towards El Retiro Park. We had been previously, dear reader, and thought we would head back for a more comprehensive exploration on some hire bikes (e-bike for Hamish to persuade him to participate.) The bike hire place was very efficient, with friendly staff and located within 100 metres of the entrance to the park. We had a self-tour map, pointing out points of interest, but it was again in Spanish and not terribly meaningful. However, the park is full of interesting sites, which speak for themselves in any language. It was a beautiful day for a ride and we all enjoyed meandering through this spectacular park.

Boat Rowing – El Retiro Park

After this (and the worse afternoon tea we’ve ever had) we booked a rowing boat, as is per the custom on the man-made lake in this park. Most people weren’t skilled in the art of rowing a boat, but they did their best, with only a few minor collisions. Rod took the oars to begin with, with me navigating (as usual) then Hamish was keen to try his hand at rowing too. He did a great job and rowed us back to the dock when our time was up. Definitely a fun little activity to do if you’re in Madrid.

Drinks/Tapas in Sol Cafe

To eke out the last of a beautiful day, we stopped in a cafe for tapas and a couple of drinks. We chatted, did our ‘daily puzzles’ and enjoyed the general ambience of being in this gorgeous city. We have absolutely fallen in love with Madrid! After our first day, Hamish summed up our sentiments nicely: “Why can’t we live in Madrid?”

Real Madrid FC Tour (by Rod)

Hamish and I navigate our way to the home of Real Madrid – Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. (Named in honour of a former President of the club.) We are booked in for a “Premium (guided) tour” at 1 pm. As usual, the Metro is super efficient and we arrive 30 minutes early. Thankfully there is free wifi and we do a few online daily puzzles to fill in the time. Our tour guide corrals us at precisely 1 pm and we are off. There are trophies everywhere on this tour, as Real Madrid have won the UEFA Champions League/European Cup a staggering 15 times (Milan is next best with 7 wins) since its inception in 1956. There are 36 La Liga titles, loads of Ballon d’Or, Golden Boots, yada yada yada. It’s trophy city. I do enjoy the stories about some of the legends of the game, such as di Stefano, Puskas and Ronaldo, et al, and Hamish said it was fun. The view of the pitch was amazing and the museum was vast (largely due to all the trophies they had to squeeze in.) The stadium just sits in the middle of the suburb. We had lunch literally across the street and the stadium just looms large 30 metres away. It is surreal. Lunch was a couple of cheap bagels form a bakery. Hamish suggested this might not be enough food to satisfy his hunger. I promise another stop, which could include some more food.

We grab a different train to seek out another landmark on the MKMD scavenger hunt; Torre Realia, or Gate of Europe. Emerging from the Metro the landmark is unmissable and impressive. There is also another structure here, the Calatrava Column. It gets some interesting reviews on Google maps, but it catches the eye. We grab some frozen yoghurt and I notice lots of young people enjoying th food from a plaza/cafe next door. I check out their menu and find bagels for 1 Euro! Nothing on the menu is more than 3 Euros. No wonder the young locals love it. I am feeling like we were ripped off at that bakery.

Shopping

With the boys headed to the football club, I planned some me time at the shopping centre. I had a lovely day exploring the shops and buying some bits and pieces. I finally sat down for lunch at 3.45pm in an Asian restaurant and ordered the daily plate (it might not actually be called this, maybe daily menu?) which consisted of 3 courses and a drink for 13 euro. I was able to choose from a number of options, but chose: tempura vegetables, a chicken salad and a Diet Coke. I couldn’t fit in any of the dessert options after this and to note, I could have had red or white wine as my drink. We have embraced the Spanish eating hours: tonight we sat down to dinner at 845pm!

Apartment Block Fire

Not to stress anyone, but as we both return from our different outings, from different directions, we notice there are multiple emergency services heading in the direction of our street – lights and sirens. Sure enough we look up and find smoke coming from the top floor of our building. I arrive and stand in front of the Pharmacy, message Rod to say ‘there’s an emergency at our building’ – just as I press send, Rod and Hamish emerge from the front door. We wait on the sidewalk with other residents and the crew of 3 fire engines, 2 ambulances and 1 police car. After about 20 minutes, the crews head off and we are free to get on with our lives.

Exit Strategy

Today we will do a bit of packing up, then head back into the city centre for last minute souvenirs and a slow, late lunch at the San Miguel market, which we adored on our first day here (see pics below). Yes, it’s touristy, but we’re tourists! It’s a busy place with lots of different Spanish cuisine on offer. I particularly loved the huge green olives stuffed with pickled herring, Rod’s favourite dish was chorizo in pasty and Hamish loved the dumplings. We might go ten pin bowling at the shopping centre tonight and get some dinner there. Saturday we drive to Seville and are there for 6 days – currently the weather in Seville is a glorious 23 degrees!