Trip to Spain Part 1- Madrid
I'm just going to be real with you all, Madrid might honestly be my FAVOURITE city in the world...so far. I mean I'm probably being dramatic, there are still plenty more places for my exploring ass to visit but right now Madrid well and truly has my heart. I could live there and be the happiest lil Hun ever. Just waiting for my Hollywood acting job to sweep me up and I will buy myself a place there for sure! From the incredible views to the beautiful architecture to the delicious food I can honestly not recommend it enough, Madrid is a MUST VISIT!
Planning the trip
One of my bestest friends of all time- Emma- asked me if we could book a holiday together for a week during September, she had seen me being a little Dora the explorer in Thailand on social media and wanted a trip of a similar kind as she was very used to just beach holidays so we agreed that we would go on a trip that was affordable but meant we could combine exploring whilst still being somewhere with good weather. We chose Spain and decided to plan Madrid and Barcelona within one week, we booked a flight from Manchester to Madrid and decided we would spend the Friday until the Monday in Madrid and then we had a flight booked from Madrid to Barcelona and then we would spend Monday to Friday in Barcelona and then fly home from there. This was honestly one of the best trips I have ever, ever been on. We had SO much fun.
Hostel Helena, Madrid
For couples and families I understand the idea of a hostel is unthinkable but for two friends we decided a hostel was the perfect way to keep it affordable and to be honest I am SO glad we chose to stay in a hostel. We had the most incredible view from our hostel that I genuinely wondered if anywhere had a better view in comparison. Our hostel was right in the centre of Madrid which gave us easy access to all transport including the airport bus and we were completely immersed in the bustling city surrounded by shops, bars and restaurants. We were in the perfect spot to get anywhere and we saw most of the sights there were to see by foot.
For a cheap place to stay with the most beautiful view, I would highly recommend staying here. One night we decided before going to watch a flamenco show we would buy a cheap bottle of wine and snacks and chill on our terrace and watch the sunset and this was the view I managed to capture.
So for anyone that knows me you know I love to be a lil active Hun, I can't stay still for too long or I get really bored so aswell as spending days on end walking around the city in awe of all the beautiful buildings and scenery we managed to sneak in an hour of cycling on these cute bikes we hired. (The story behind these bikes is actually that Google maps mugged us off for a solid four hours whilst we wandered aimlessly trying to find a park then to wander around the park trying to find the place that did bike rentals, only to then find it following two wine stops, YES TWO.)
Just to prove to you all how gorgeous this City is and how much there is to do, see and of course my fave thing ever- EAT- here are some pictures I took whilst we were being Dora the explorers.
The most amazing outdoor book shop
One of many street performers
The most famous churros shop in Madrid
The most amazing flamenco show in the cutest bar
I'm just going to be real with you all, Madrid might honestly be my FAVOURITE city in the world...so far. I mean I'm probably being dramatic, there are still plenty more places for my exploring ass to visit but right now Madrid well and truly has my heart. I could live there and be the happiest lil Hun ever. Just waiting for my Hollywood acting job to sweep me up and I will buy myself a place there for sure! From the incredible views to the beautiful architecture to the delicious food I can honestly not recommend it enough, Madrid is a MUST VISIT!
Planning the trip
One of my bestest friends of all time- Emma- asked me if we could book a holiday together for a week during September, she had seen me being a little Dora the explorer in Thailand on social media and wanted a trip of a similar kind as she was very used to just beach holidays so we agreed that we would go on a trip that was affordable but meant we could combine exploring whilst still being somewhere with good weather. We chose Spain and decided to plan Madrid and Barcelona within one week, we booked a flight from Manchester to Madrid and decided we would spend the Friday until the Monday in Madrid and then we had a flight booked from Madrid to Barcelona and then we would spend Monday to Friday in Barcelona and then fly home from there. This was honestly one of the best trips I have ever, ever been on. We had SO much fun.
For couples and families I understand the idea of a hostel is unthinkable but for two friends we decided a hostel was the perfect way to keep it affordable and to be honest I am SO glad we chose to stay in a hostel. We had the most incredible view from our hostel that I genuinely wondered if anywhere had a better view in comparison. Our hostel was right in the centre of Madrid which gave us easy access to all transport including the airport bus and we were completely immersed in the bustling city surrounded by shops, bars and restaurants. We were in the perfect spot to get anywhere and we saw most of the sights there were to see by foot.
For a cheap place to stay with the most beautiful view, I would highly recommend staying here. One night we decided before going to watch a flamenco show we would buy a cheap bottle of wine and snacks and chill on our terrace and watch the sunset and this was the view I managed to capture.
Things to do
Okay, there honestly was NEVER a dull moment in Madrid. Our feet almost fell off because we walked around so much and my feet were sooo blistered & gross, it was disgusting. Just keeping it real people. But there was so much to do! I never ever wanted to leave.
Parque Madrid Rio
So for anyone that knows me you know I love to be a lil active Hun, I can't stay still for too long or I get really bored so aswell as spending days on end walking around the city in awe of all the beautiful buildings and scenery we managed to sneak in an hour of cycling on these cute bikes we hired. (The story behind these bikes is actually that Google maps mugged us off for a solid four hours whilst we wandered aimlessly trying to find a park then to wander around the park trying to find the place that did bike rentals, only to then find it following two wine stops, YES TWO.)Just to prove to you all how gorgeous this City is and how much there is to do, see and of course my fave thing ever- EAT- here are some pictures I took whilst we were being Dora the explorers.
The most amazing outdoor book shop
One of many street performers
The royal palace & gardens
Almudena Cathedral
Parque Del Retiro
Yaaaaasss this gorgeous park had a beautiful lake that we could rent a boat on for 45 minutes for about £6, absolute BARGS.
The most famous churros shop in Madrid
Kilometre Zero- marks the official time in Spain according to Urban legend
The most amazing flamenco show in the cutest bar
Because food is the best freaking thing to explore in new countries...
Yes, we found a cat cafe...
This was honestly the cutest place ever, we paid around 4 euros each to spend an hour here (the price also includes a hot drink which is accompanied with little chocolates) all the cats had been rescued and had some form of disability, they all just wanted some love and as you can all imagine I wanted to stay there forever.
The literary quarter
This was just the cutest area, the floors were filled with famous Spanish literature quotes, there were lots of little bars and cafes with beautiful interiors that you can imagine writers sitting on their stools with their espressos or glasses of red wine and writing the next best novel (I have a vivid imagination okay) and also a HUGE theatre that unfortunately wasn't advertising jobs or you know Hun would be straight in there applying.
One of the nights we spent dancing away at a Spanish club which was really close to our hostel, we walked into a space that was a gym in the day but had a room converted into a club in the evening, they had a live band on aswell as a DJ and everyone was literally salsa dancing which was my absolute FAVE so I was completely in my element, no ugly weird grinding or creepy boys over here, just good fun and dancing old school style, just the way I love it.
Museo Nacional Del Prado
Emma might disagree but this was one of the most amazing cultural experiences I've ever had. This museum was HUGE and Emma being the massive con artist that she is managed to get us in for free! They said if you were students you got in for free and it mentioned being between the ages of 18 and 25 so we informed the girl at the ticket office we were students between those ages and we had our passports to prove our age but we didn't have our student ID's because we were from English Universities so the girl asked if we had any emails from our university. Emma is still at University so she showed markings for her work, however I just showed a simple marketing email from my University that said "Fast track your PG application" and it worked! Having looked around the museum, I would personally say it would be worth the money were you to pay it.
And of course I can't not mention the beautiful Hun that helped make this whole trip possible, we had the most incredible time exploring and drinking sangria and eating and chatting and laughing and dancing, we did not stop the whole time. She has been my best friend since we were five years old and I'm so glad we got to make more memories together in this beautiful City!
I will be following this blog with another post on the beautiful Barcelona where we spent the second half of the week. However Madrid is definitely up there with one of my favourite ever cities, it was just incredible and I could honestly not recommend it enough.
Thanks for reading lovelies x
