Quick hit-and-run trips to the Spanish capital, to break the monotony of everyday life. Organised as always by ourselves in just a few days and at a truly modest cost. If it hadn't been for the weather, it would have been a perfect holiday. Below are a few details, then a short day-by-day account of what we saw and the emotions we experienced.
Flight Alitalia flight from Rome. We left on Friday evening and landed in Madrid around midnight; we flew back on Monday evening, arriving in Rome around 8.30 pm. Punctual both outbound and inbound, a smooth flight, nothing to comment on or complain about.
Hotel We booked a very central hotel from the Accor chain, the Mercure Hotel (a stone's throw from Plaza de España). The hotel is close to the metro (which stays open until 2 am) and on foot you can reach the Royal Palace, the Gran Vía and the historic centre of the capital. The hotel has cosy, very clean rooms. Wi-Fi in the room is free but you have to ask reception for the code. The bathroom is spacious, clean and equipped with every accessory; towels are changed daily, LCD TV in the room... I'd say perfect. The only thing: breakfast isn't included and costs a fortune! €16 per person is not an acceptable price, so we decided to have it at the many cafés around the hotel. For a maximum of 2/3 euros you can have a good breakfast, in defiance of the hotel and its crazy prices! Metro It's perfect! 12 metro lines to explore the city stress-free and, above all, very comfortably.
A single ride costs €1 but there are many travel-card options: 1 day €5.20 – 2 days €8.80 – 3 days €11.60 – 5 days €17.60 or 7 days €23.60 for zone A, i.e. the one where all Madrid's possible attractions are concentrated. Be careful, because the pass is valid for calendar days and not from the time it's stamped; that's important: if you stamp it at 11 pm you've lost a day, since one hour is worth a whole day (until midnight). The London Tube pass, on the other hand, is valid from the stamping time and seems to me much better! If you don't have a pass but a single ticket to go to the airport, you have to pay €1 extra when you leave the metro (the line is the pink one, number 8, and it takes about 40 minutes). Restaurants The food is very good, similar to Italian but with the advantage of decidedly lower prices.
You eat for €12-15 and even going overboard you won't spend more than €25 each. Of course there are also much more expensive restaurants, but if you feel a bit peckish, walk into a bar and order a caña (a 0.3-litre glass of beer) and they'll serve you a few tapas for free. There are also happy hours, moments of the day when caña + tapa cost €1! So be careful not to get drunk. As for the typical dishes, I recommend: cocido madrileño, Madrid's signature dish. Served strictly in winter and only at lunch (because it's hard to digest), it's a noodle soup in broth followed (or accompanied, depending) by carrots, chickpeas, chicken, blood sausage (morcilla), beef, lard and other cold cuts. €15 for 9,000 calories!! Another dish is callos a la madrileña, i.e. tripe in sauce.
Besides the typical jamón (sold in every possible form and way, at prices that vary with both quantity and quality) there's also cochinillo (roast suckling pig), cordero asado (roast lamb) and tortillas. One of the streets with the biggest offer of typical restaurants is certainly Calle de la Cava Baja, but the Latin Quarter too. Climate The winter climate isn't bad; let's say it's affected by the nearly 700 metres of altitude. A Spanish proverb about Madrid's climate fits perfectly: nueve meses de invierno y tres de infierno, i.e. nine months of rather harsh winter and three of total hell when summer arrives. So don't expect Barcelona's mild climate: here it feels like the mountains. We never had a daytime high above 4 degrees; at night it always dropped below zero, and arriving by plane we saw vast snow-covered expanses, although a proper snowfall in the city is rare.
We had two days of freezing rain that gave us absolutely no respite and, I must say, didn't let us fully enjoy the beauties of this city. Everyone knows that wandering around in the rain isn't quite the best thing in life, but the risk, when you set off in February, is obviously part of the deal. Movida Compared with the dead Barcelona, here we saw the true Spanish movida, the one you often read about in books and newspapers and that seems to be a legend. The one with restaurants that fill up at 10 pm, offices that come to life at 10 am, young people moving from one bar to the next without a break, or squares full of half-undressed sixteen-year-olds (despite the harsh climate) drinking rum and Coke.
Well yes, this is the right place, the place where all this isn't legend but truth: so you'll have trouble eating at 2 pm because there's a queue (while at 12.30 they're not even open) and likewise in the evening… this is the Spanish winter movida and we can't imagine what might happen on a July weekend! Incredible!! So much for Barcelona!
Well, not much to say. We arrive late, close to midnight we take the metro and go to the hotel. We cross Plaza de Espana and find thousands (I'm not kidding) of young Madrilenians camping out in the gardens of the square drinking rum and coke and waiting to go to the club (unmistakable from the girls' skimpy little outfits). We go to the hotel exhausted, also because for us it's been a working day.
It's a magnificent sunny day, the only one we get in Madrid, so we don't waste any time. After breakfast at a bar we set off to discover the city. Plaza de Espana and then we head up toward the Gran Via, the shopping street. We reach El Corte Ingles and go, through the alleys of the old city, toward Plaza de la Puerta del Sol, the nerve center of the city, where it seems everyone (tourists and locals) meets up every day (and every evening). From there, another 10-minute walk to Plaza Mayor, one of the most beautiful squares in the city, charming and stunning with its style and the balconies of the buildings. From there we head down toward the Cathedral of Madrid, Nuestra Senora de la Almudena, which, on the other hand, is a real disappointment.
It's a cathedral that's too recent (inaugurated in 1993) and unfortunately doesn't convey many emotions, perhaps also because of those freshly painted walls and those recently polished marbles. The Royal Palace is beautiful, right next to the Cathedral, but unfortunately a long line to get in made us give up. Next to the Royal Palace, the Jardines de Sabatini are very beautiful (but surely enchanting in summer), as is the Plaza de Oriente, which lies between the Teatro Real and the Royal Palace.
The weather changes and becomes rather unpleasant... It's raining and cold, and going around is definitely less fun... We treat ourselves to half a day at the El Prado Museum. Very beautiful, very interesting and surprisingly with no line at the entrance. The museum has enormous rooms, truly very welcoming, so even inside there are no crowding problems. If you want, there are audio guides available, or actual guides, including in Italian. At the entrance you'll have to leave your backpacks at the cloakroom, but there's nothing to pay. The entrance fee is €8 and honestly it's worth it. Inside you can't take photos or film, and be careful because they're very strict about it. We then decided to have lunch in the medieval part of Madrid, that is, in the area of Calle de la Cava Baja, Plaza de San Andrés.
The places follow one another without interruption, all very nice but super crowded and always full and booked... luckily we find a spot toward Plaza de San Francisco because we were really in a bad way... the rain gives absolutely no respite and we decide to take a short break at the hotel to dry off, also because at 8:00 pm we're going out, headed for the Santiago Bernabeu! We bought two tickets from Italy on the Real Madrid website for the league match Real Madrid – Villarreal. The tickets must be collected using the same credit card that was used for the online purchase, at the automatic ticket machines outside the stadium near gate 14. You swipe it and the tickets come out! Then you enter the ultra-modern stadium of the Merengues and the show begins.
To go up to the top tier there are very convenient escalators, and even a few minutes before the match they turn on giant heating systems for the crowd. Incredible. Inside, the atmosphere is festive but never excessive, and the match flows along beautifully: Real wins by dominating 6-2 in an entertaining game that's worth the €35 ticket.
Last day in Madrid. Rain again without respite. We see the Salamanca area with the Puerta de Alcalá and the elegant shopping streets of international and Spanish designers. Then Plaza de Santa Ana, in historic Madrid, we let ourselves be taken for a stroll through the little alleys to buy some classic souvenirs before heading to the hotel to pick up the suitcases and go to the airport. Strictly under pouring rain!! Hola Madrid, we'll meet again!!
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