Our trip to Madrid was 'memorable' due to the actions of protesting baggage handlers that delayed our incoming flight by an hour; and our outgoing flight by just under the 2 hour trigger point for Easyjet to offer compensation.
Anti-austerity sentiment was the driver for the industrial action. However to a plane full of tired tourists, with only one working toilet and a desire to get home quickly - there wasn't a lot of sympathy offered for their cause. Nevertheless, it was a sobering reminder that future weekend travel may be at risk if there are ongoing Euro issues.
Madrid Airport is located close to the city centre, with two convenient transport options available: Metro or Shuttle Bus. We decided to use the Metro after buying the Madrid tourist board's 48 hour public transport value ticket that allowed us unlimited travel including the airport route. The Metro route to our hotel required us to take three different lines but it was easy to navigate thanks to Tube-style colour and letter references.
Beware Pick Pocketing
The petty crime that happens on the Madrid underground is perhaps on par with the infamous Las Ramblas pedestrian way in Barcelona. Luckily for us, a close call on a previous trip had made us slightly more street smart/aware of how our fellow passengers are behaving. We noticed that something was 'wrong' when a large number of people boarded the train and started to push the crowd inwards. This action is a signature for pick-pocketing gangs that then start to tap up on people's values within their trousers or bags. As the cramming continues, wallets / phones are stolen from unsuspecting tourists and passed on to members of the gang that then exit the train. The middle aged couple next to us ended up having their wallets stripped of contents just as the train passed the interchange of Sol. We kept our bags on our backs and up against the train wall, so that we were facing inwards at the crowd. We also had our bags locked and had stripped our pockets of anything valuable.
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| The bear and strawberry tree - symbol of Madrid |
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Falling plaster - a sign of austerity measures
leading to crumbing public buildings? |
Hotel Cortezo
Our hotel, Hotel Cortezo was located in the central city area - next to a nightclub and cinema, but also close to the tapas area of Barrio de La Latina. After settling into our room and realising that Madrid was a good 7-8 degrees warmer than London, so off came the down jackets.
Lamiak
We went exploring the neighbourhood to find a tapas place - Lamiak that had been recommended by Olie's colleague. On finding the place, we settled down for a beer and a variety of pintxos - bread covered in ham, onion and tomato.
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| Types of pintxos |
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| Grilled cheese and aubergine |
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| Jamon and grilled onions |
Puerta de Sol
After being fuelled up on amazing Spanish food, we headed towards the centre of town - Puerta del Sol, a large square where street entertainers try all sorts of tricks to get tourists to part with their coins. We considered taking a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus, however we didn't in the end because a lot of the route near the Santiago Bernabeu (home stadium of Real Madrid) had been closed to traffic due to the evening's football game.
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| Puerta del So |
Palacio Real de Madrid
Instead we headed west towards the Palacio Real de Madrid (The Royal Palace of Madrid) and although the building was majestic, it was a poor cousin compared to Versailles or Buckingham Palace.
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| The rainbow of tree leaves in autumn |
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The fountain outside the Palace, the calculations used
to ensure the horse statue can balance on its hind legs
was done by Galileo Galilei |
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| The Royal Palace |
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| The gardens next to the Royal Palace |
Sightseeing
From there, we headed passed the Opera House, Plaza de Isabel II and headed back up the Arenal Street where we passed stores packed with jamon iberico and cheese. This made us quite hungry and we decided to seek out a restaurant in the Plaza Mayor for dinner.
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| The painted tile street signs |
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| Outside the Opera House |
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| Plaza Mayor |
Plaza Mayor
Our first choice was Botin, famed as being the oldest restaurant in the world. However, due to its popularity, it was full. Instead we found a small restaurant that specialised in 5J jamon (the authentic acorn fed, melt in the mouth variety) and although the waiter's English was about has fluent as our Spanish, sign language got us through the menu - which included paella negro and a fruity red wine. Later that night, we found a small bar nearby to enjoy the Real Madrid game whilst enjoying more beer and complementary pinxtos.
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| Jamon Iberico |
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| Spanish red wine and paella negro |
Chocolate San Gines
Then around 11pm, we started to walk around the main square and found the entire city in Madrid's version of rush hour. Children were out walking with their parents at this late hour. We also located a great place for dessert - Chocolate San Gines; that had been serving heavenly churros and chocolate to supermodels, politicians and celebrities for many decades.
Mercado San Miguel
The next day, we headed to the Mercado San Miguel, the Madrid equivalent of Borough Market for a tapas feast of chorizo, olives, spanish omelette and croquettes.
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| Outside Mercado San Miguel |
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| Olives galore |
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| The sweet counter |
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| Croquettes |
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| Smoked salmon and baby eel pinxtos |
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| Spanish omelette |
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| Baby chorizo |
Walking Tour
Then as the rain cleared out, we joined the Tourist Board's walking tour of Hapsburg and Bourbon Madrid where we learnt more about the architecture, the Islamic forts and the influence of French rulers on the city.
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| Statue in Plaza Mayor that little birds used to fly into and die |
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| A Hapsburg square |
Plaza Mayor Again
After all the walking, we didn't feel inspired to try somewhere new for lunch, and we returned to the same restaurant in Plaza Mayor that we had eaten dinner at. Lunch was tasty pork mixed grill - including a questionable body part that we believe was kidney.
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| Baby squid |
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Chips and pork and a sign to tell you which part of the pig
you are eating |
Prado Museum
Next stop was the museum district of Madrid for the Prado museum. Possibly the equivalent of Louvre in terms of artwork, the Prado contained a number of royal portraits that we recognised from BBC documentaries, as well as a Mona Lisa that was painted by Leonardo da Vinci's pupil.
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| At the Prado |
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| Geronimo Church |
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| The beautiful buildings of the museum district |
Homeward Bound
After our cultural experience was over, we headed back to the hotel and took the metro back to the airport. The outward flight departed quite late at night and we were glad when boarding commenced. However our happiness was soon dashed when the flight crew announced that the baggage handlers were protesting and we would spend a further 2 hours on the tarmac waiting. And in a show of customer service, the pilot even allowed a tour of the flight deck for little and big kids - Olie joining in to have a look.
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| Inside the flight deck |
By the time we eventually landed in London Gatwick, it was close to 1am, the usual Sunday crowds at passport control were long gone and we ended up with a 1.5 hour commute back home and finally to bed.
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