Día Madrileño

Living in a big, exciting city like Madrid for a long period of time is a balancing act. It’s so great that there are so many cool and fun things to explore, however, I have a whole year to do them, and don't want to go too crazy all at once! I have to balance exploring/traveling around Madrid with work, good habits and real life stuff too. 

While it's nice to know there's a long time do everything I want to, I've noticed that I have this long list of “things I should come back to in Madrid." I've been putting off some of the things on this list since I arrived in August, and it's December now! So, this weekend I decided to stop talking and start doing! I lived a very typical día madrileño on Sunday, and had a lot of fun! 

I woke up, and went out on a morning run. My apartment is only 0.5 miles away from the Temple of Debod, a beautiful park with the only temple from ancient Egypt outside of Egypt! The park also has some great views of the city, and many people go there to watch the sunset. I enjoyed a nice, peaceful run around the park enjoying the sights of the temple and the city. There were hardly any people there, so it was really nice! After the run, Nathan and my first stop, in true Madrid Sunday fashion, was El Rastro. 

El Rastro is a huge, open-air flea market that takes over the neighborhood of La Latina every Sunday morning. The streets are overflowing with curious people, eager to find a deal. There are vendors selling homemade stuff, old vintage clothing, and random trinket-y antiques everywhere you look! In order to buy something at El Rastro, you have to be really dedicated and patient. There’s so much to look at and dig through to find the perfect hidden treasure. Lucky for Nathan, he was able to find the perfect winter coat that he had been wanting! 

After El Rastro, it is very typical for Madridstias to go out for Tapas and vermut in the afternoon, so we decided to do just that! There was a place I’ve been wanting to check out called Juana la Loca not to far from El Rastro, so we headed there to get some tapas! When we arrived, we knew it was a good place because Spanish people were waiting in line outside. We waited a few minutes and then were let into the restaurant. Instead of being seated at a table, we stood at the bar for the entire meal because that was the thing to do! There were only 4 tables, and you had to have a reservation to use them! But, it was a very Spanish way of enjoying our tapas. 

Speaking of tapas, these tapas were amazing! There was a huge case of pre-made toasts and tapas behind the bar to choose from, as well as a full menu. I ordered the tortilla, and Nathan ordered this toast with crab on top, and they were both amazing! The real amazing dish was a toast we ordered with melted Brie cheese, bacon, and grilled peppers. Wow! It was unbelievable, and one of the most delicious and unique things we have tried in Madrid.  

After the delicious Brie, we ordered some after lunch vermut. We didn’t really know much about vermut, except that it’s a popular after-meal drink. But, it’s the Spanish thing to drink on Sundays, so we decided to try it. Nathan did not like it at all, and I didn’t mind it. It tasted a little like sour coke to me, and I probably would get it again sometime!

After tapas, we took the metro to El Retiro park, one of our favorite places in Madrid. While we have spent a good deal of time here playing spike ball, running and having picnics, we haven’t explored everything the park has to offer. We went to check out the Palacio de Cristal, which is a huge glass palace in the middle of the park. Yet another place we have been meaning to visit. 

The Palacio was very pretty and the sun was shining through it, lighting the whole place up inside. We wandered around inside for a while and enjoyed seeing the palace from the outside as well. It sits nestled in the trees, across from a little lake with a fountain in the middle, and is very picturesque. 

I had such a great day, and it was fun to cross some things off my Madrid bucket list! The most amazing part however, is that I can do things like this every weekend! While balancing traveling and working while living abroad is difficult, it's important to take some days to just explore and embrace the local culture. It was a wonderful día madrileño, and made me want to do it all over again every Sunday!