A spontaneous trip to Madrid

Summer has officially begun and I am more than ready to see some more of our beautiful world starting with Lisbon... or not really???

I booked a 5-day trip to Lisbon at the end of June together with one of my best friends. As I already visited Porto last year, I was more than ready to explore Portugal a bit more and see the beautiful city of Lisbon. My suitcase was packed, itinerary ready and flights booked... but then, the morning of our departure, we got the news that Lisbon was going into a semi-lockdown. A delta variant of the COVID-19 virus was spreading all over the city of Lisbon, everything was going to close at 3 pm during the weekends and during the week it would be at 9.30 pm. This was not exactly what we had planned when organizing our trip to Lisbon, so we decided, last-minute at the airport of Brussels, to book a different trip. Our money for Lisbon was lost, but we were not ready to stay at home in rainy Belgium when our heads were already in vacation mode. So, we looked at what flights were still planned for that day, went to the travel agency at the airport and booked a trip to Madrid.

People who know me, know that I am an intense planner. Every trip I make is planned far ahead; I look up what to do, where the good restaurants are and even at what time the sun goes down to take some good golden hour pics.😆 So, this spontaneous trip to Madrid did give me some anxiety, as I was not prepared AT ALL. I asked for some paper at the travel agency and started googling away.

We arrived at Madrid very late in the afternoon and it was immediately a bit of an adventure. We wanted to take the metro to the city center as google told us this was the cheapest option, though when we finally arrived a the metro station after crossing the entire airport it turned out to be a bit more expensive than we anticipated. So, we walked all the way back from where we came from and ordered ourselves a cab via Cabify which only costed us €17.

We arrived at our hotel, Hotel Regina, that we also booked last-minute at the airport of Brussels. A beautiful hotel located in the middle of the city center, across from the 4 seasons with very friendly staff and gorgeous rooms. We got a free upgrade which left us with a superior double room, with a hugeeeee bed and even a small living room.

As we only arrived around 5 in the afternoon we decided to take our time to get dressed properly and then go for a drink at Terraza Cibeles. This is a rooftop at Palacio de Cibeles, which is a huge white building with amazing architecture. The rooftop on its own was not that impressive to me, the furniture needed an upgrade for sure as it all looked pretty dirty and stained, plus the staff was also not that friendly. The prices were "okay" compared to other rooftop prices, around €12 for a cocktail and €4 for wine. We also ordered a pizza for the two of us as we were quite hungry but had not found a restaurant yet for that night.

Another best friend of mine was also in Madrid at that time so we ended up meeting her and her dad at the rooftop of Hotel Riu Plaza. This rooftop was the prettiest one I had ever seen, it goes all around the building so you can look over Madrid in any direction, and it also had a small glass bridge where everyone was taking pictures. When you look down, when standing on the glass bridge, you can look down all 27 floors😨. We took a seat, looking straight at the Palacio Real de Madrid. I do advise going there for a drink just for the view, but to be fair the service was incredibly slow and the drinks are also a bit expensive (which is to expect at a place like this). When you are not a hotel guest you have to pay a €10 entrance fee, but I do think this includes a consumption.

Day 1 : Ultimate tourist vibes

On our first official day we decided to go all out as a tourist. We headed for Parque de El Retiro first to wander around, visit Palacio de Cristal and maybe rent a boat to row around in the pond. We arrived a little bit before 11am, which was the perfect timing as the Palacio de Cristal opened at 11. This gave us a very short waiting line and not too many people inside (perfect for the Instagram pictures). Palacio de Cristal is very small so you will be in and out in about 10 minutes, but it is definitely worth visiting. When strolling through the park we also came across Palacio de Velazquez, where an art exhibition was being held for free. The art lover in me had to go in, so we wandered around the gallery for a bit, shot some pictures and then continued our parc exploration. We were very determined to rent a little row boat, but the line was huge and the weather was too hot to be rowing around under the full sun. So we decided to skip the rowing and just watch the other people row for some time.

After that, we headed to Real Jardin Botanico, which was only a 10 min walk from where we were. Unfortunately this garden was not for free and as we already had seen a good dose of green that day we decided to skip the Royal gardens for now. Right across from the Royal gardens you have Museo del Prado, which is the national museum of Madrid. As both me and my friend are not into classical art we also decided to skip this one and return if we had some time left.

Next, we headed to the art district, called Barrio de las Letras. Here you can head to CaixaForum, which is a museum and cultural center. We didn't go in but headed there to see the architecture of the building and the vertical garden next to it. It's a cool spot to take some pictures and take in the architecture. Barrio de las Letras is a fun place to just wander around and maybe go for a drink or small bite.

For lunch we went to a place called Habanera; a huge 2-floor restaurant, decorated with a lot of plants, cool furniture and all types of cool stuff. We were seated on the 2nd floor right next to the bar, where we had an overview of the ground floor and the 2nd floor. The staff was very friendly, the food and cocktails were good and the atmosphere was amazing. I would for sure recommend going there, especially in the evening/ at night, when there is DJ present as well.

After our late lunch we went to stroll around the city center for a bit including Puerta del Sol, where we bought some goods at Sephora, Gran Via where we did some window shopping and then Plaza Mayor where we set down for a drink as the weather was pretty hot. Lastly, we passed by Palacio Real de Madrid. There was some type of event going on in the gardens outside of the palace so we passed by, because we heard some Spanish guy singing and then moved on with our city exploration.

Our last stop that day was Catedral de la Almudena, a huge church close to the Royal Palace with amazing architecture and beautiful paintings on the ceiling. There was a service going on when we were inside which, for me, made the visit even better to see all people praying and the priest in front of the altar.

At night we went for dinner at Raimunda, a very pretty restaurant close to Plaza de Cibeles. We ordered ourselves some Creamy Croquettes filled with Iberian ham (€9,9) as we didn't have any yet during our trip and we were craving for them immensely. For our main course we had Iberian pork tacos (€10,50) and "Broken eggs" with truffle (€14,50). Even though it didn't seem like much, we both felt like we ate tons of food. So, we finished our bottle of wine and headed straight back to the hotel as it was already past midnight and we couldn't possibly function any more.

Day 2: Flea markets, shopping and clubbing

The next day, we got up early to go to El Rastro, which is a flea market that takes place every Sunday and public holiday, until around 3 pm. We bought ourselves some cute necklaces, a ring and matching tops. The market was super busy, which made us feel like real locals. When walking around the market, make sure to look left and right every once in a while to look for some corridors leading into a courtyard, there you can find many antique shops (e.g. Galerias Piquer).

After the flea market we headed to Mercado San Anton, which is a 3-floor food market with a very popular rooftop restaurant/ bar. We arrived pretty early (around 1:30pm) and found that everything inside the Mercado was closed except for the rooftop. I'm not sure if this was because it was a Sunday or because of some other reason, but we went straight to the rooftop to ask for a table, where they very rudely told us that it was already full. So we went outside where there were many more cute restaurants and cafés and sat ourselves down at Sandy Barracane, an Italian restaurant with a very cute interior. We were both feeling like a light meal, so I went for a simple Burrata Salad with Pesto (€13) and my friend went for something called Bellagio (€14), which looked like a carpaccio. The staff here was very friendly and the food was great too.

In the afternoon we went to visit the Lavapies neighbourhood, where we didn't have a clear game plan, so we just walked around for a bit and visited the Mercado san Fernando, which looked cute but wasn't very busy at the time of our visit yet.

Afterwards we went to the Malasana neighbourhood, which is considered to be the hipster neighbourhood of Madrid. There are tons of cute restaurants and (vintage) shops located in the streets of this neighbourhood. The best way to visit this area is to navigate to Plaza del Dos de Mayo and then wander around. Make sure to pass by AMEN, a very cool shop, with a lot of funky accessories and clothing from brands like Obey and HUF. Just around the corner of AMEN you will find a cute square where we went for afternoon drinks at Ojala. This restaurant is decorated with a bunch of plants, old school furniture and in the basement you will even find a beach ... Yes, you heard me correctly in the basement you can also sit down for drinks at an indoor beach, by which I mean a bunch of sand laying on the floor.

At night we got ready very early as the Belgians were playing against the Portuguese in the World Cup at 9pm. We saw the match at La Mamona Canalejas, where we shared a bunch of tapa dishes between the 4 of us. After the match we went out clubbing at Club Bardot, where we had the best night ever and got really really drunk.

Day 3: Chilled hangover day and getting a tattoo

On the third day we got up pretty late as we were still a bit drunk and then went to Palacio de Liria after breakfast. Once there, they told us that the place was already fully booked for that day. We ordered tickets for the next day and then wanted to go visit Palacio Real, but this one was closed on Monday. We decided to take it easy that day and just stroll around a bit.

For lunch we met up with a girl we met at the club the night before and went back to Ojala. We had the best hangover Mac 'n Cheese (€6,50) and a bowl of Chili con Carne (€6,50). We took it easy, chatted for a bit and then strolled around some more. My friend and I had been thinking about getting tattoos for the past days, so we went to the tattoo shop to get one as we had nothing better to do and I really wanted to get one. Unfortunately, my friend is allergic to ink, so she decided not to get one as long as she was not sure if she would react to the tattoo ink or not. I got a little moon on the side of my butt.

We went for afternoon drinks at Circulo de Bellas Artes, which I already read a lot about on the internet and we also got it recommended by my friend's aunt. The view was pretty amazing, so definitely worth the visit, the cocktails were good too but the staff was very rude. For dinner we went to a rooftop restaurant, called El Jardin Secreto, which is located on the top floor of a shop, so you have to look for it a bit. If you google for it you will see a lot of different options, I went to the oen close to Gran Via, in the street that leads to Puerta del Sol. The decoration was pretty, with a lot of plants and the cocktails were very extra. The food was not that spectacular but the brownie for dessert was sooooo good.

Day 4 : Getting royal

The last day we had an appointment for a guided tour at Palacio de Liria at 11 am. Palacio de Liria is actually the house of the Duke and Duchess of Madrid, which means that it is still being occupied by them. The house is very beautiful and it gave me real Bridgerton vibes (Netflix show). We could not take any pictures or videos inside but I still was able to take some secret shots. The tour mainly talked about the family and the art inside the house, which was pretty interesting but did get a little boring after some time. At the end we saw the library and then the tour was over.

Afterwards we visited the Palacio Real de Madrid to continue our royal day. The Royal Palace was also very pretty, but again, we could not take any pictures, only in the main stairway. It was cool to see the dining area, where you could see an enormous table set, just like in the movies. The courtyard is also huge and has a stunning view. We then had lunch at a place called Frida, where the food was great but a bit small, so I ordered myself a chocolate brownie again.

In the afternoon we went to Gran Via to do a bit of shopping and also some returns of our first day shopping spree and then went for drinks at a very fun rooftop, called Le Tavernier, located at Gran Via. We filled ourselves up with lots of wine and even made new friends who took us clubbing in the gay neighbourhood of Madrid.

To conclude we ended our trip in the right way and made sure we had a lovely hangover again the next day to go back home.

Madrid was an absolute blast. A beautiful, vibrant city with lots to explore, lovely people and amazing rooftops. I also couldn't have asked for better company than my friend Luna, who made this trip 10 times better than it would have been with someone else.

A bientôt!

Bisous