The Short Stay at Madrid, Spain

I screwed up.  While planning our vacation I thought we wouldn't like Madrid as much as the other Spanish cities that we were planning on visiting, but now that the vacation is over I realize that I loved Madrid and regret not staying there an extra day.  Hopefully this won't be the last time we get to go there. I also blame AirFrance (and the complicated Paris airport) for cutting our Madrid time 4 hours short by not letting us board the plane even though we made it at exactly 10 minutes before departing time.  So we missed our flight, but managed to make the best of it by eating some delicious macaroons at the Laduree shop at the Paris airport, and we also got a complimentary sandwich and drink from AirFrance.   Either way, when we finally made it there, it was beautiful, clean and a bit too calm for my taste, but it just so happened that we arrived at siesta time.  Bummer.  Because I was in major party mode.  

Our Hotel

We stayed at the Vinnci Soho.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of our room, but take my word for it that it was pretty awesome. The room was very clean, modern and comfortable.  We really have no complaints about this place.  Also, it was located in a very central and safe area.  We highly recommend this place.  

Places we Visited

With such limited time, and not going by the regular tourist book, we probably missed out on a lot of interesting sites, but we did end up at random places that we probably would have not found if we went by the book.  

Plaza Major was our first touristy stop.  Beautiful!

Monument to Felipe III.  Supposedly a horses position tells a story about the rider.  A horse with one leg above ground means that the rider was wounded in battle.

After the plaza we stumbled on a great find: Mercado de San Miguel.

A foodies dream come true.  It was less market and more a collection of small specialized restaurants that cooked up some fabulous tapas.

Rossy really wanted razor clams, so our first stop was at the seafood shop. A pack of these were drenched in an olive oil and garlic and microwaved for a couple of minutes.

Microwaved razor clams.  I am not sure if microwave would have been the cooking method of choice, but either way Rossy liked them.  They were a little chewy and long for my taste though.  I might have also eaten it incorrectly.  I was a little scared of choking on it, so I chewed and chewed and chewed until I though it was safe to swallow.  Not sure I will repeat razor clams any time soon.

Pork lovers heaven.   I gave it a shot....but given that I can't stand the taste of pork (except for bacon), as expected, it was not very delectable for me.  Rossy loved it though.

These were my favorite.

The pastry shop. We didn't eat anything here, and I kind of regret it.  It seemed worth the sugar overload.

Part of the trip was trying new foods despite their appearance, so we went for the tapas that looked a little weird for us.   I was surprised that Rossy didn't like this one; for me it was definitely better than the razor clams.   I can't remember the name, but they were strings of some little fish, but it was imitation.  It tasted similar to imitation crab.  Would I have it again?  I would...but it was not my favorite for sure.  

And some stuff we just couldn't taste.  This big boy/girl was not on sale to cook onsite.  Wish we could have a taste it though.

Yum.

 Zoomed out view of one of the many seafood shops.

 We stopped by the cheese shop for some local Manchengo.

 On our walk to the palace we found this little dude. I wanted to buy him, but the shop was closed.  But I will forever have a memory of him.

The palace.  I got in trouble for taking pictures inside, and the one and only pic I took was blacked out because my ISO was too low.  But there have been others that have successfully managed to take some pics and you can see the palace inside pictures here.   I personally liked it, although part of me thought it was kind of unfair for Kings and Queens to live so ostentatiously.  If you go, don't forget to stop by the  Royal Pharmacy too (it's off on the side and easily missed).  

Gorgeous.  

The Palace's church. 

A view of Madrid from the Palace. 

Next top was the Museu Reina Sofia, which showcased an impressive collection of modern art.  

And the last place we had time to visit was the Retiro Park, which I will forever remember as the young lovers park.  

They were everywhere....

You will feel out of place if you are not making out.

Looking back, having a beer, taking pics and staring at the young lovers might have seemed a little creepy.  But truthfully, they didn't even notice our existence.  

It was hard to leave Madrid without eating bull testicles, visiting the Prado Museum,  shopping,  a soccer game, and enjoying a flamenco show, but it also gives us a reason to go back.  If there is ever a city that I will go back in a heart beat it is Madrid.  Clean, safe, beautiful Madrid.  You will be missed.