Back North to Madrid

So after my trip down to the south of Spain, and ending in Granada where I ended my last blog post on a bus, I did indeed head back northwards to visit my capital and second home. Once I’d landed in the bus station I hopped straight onto the Metro and headed into the heart of the city to bed down in my hostel for the night.

The next day I set about doing some of the things I really miss about living in Madrid, starting the day off in a bar with a coffee and some tomato coated bread. After this I headed up to Chueca to buy a few bits and bobs and explore some of my favourite shops, including a chocolate boutique, a disco lighting specialist, and a tacky shirt shop. Soon though, and with a lightbulb holder, chocolate selection and new shirt in tow, I headed down to the south of the city to visit the design centre in the Matadero – one of my old haunts.

Once I’d had my fill of tinto de verano (a drink similar to sangria) and a snoop around the exhibitions, I headed back for the sunny centre to grab some awesome pizza on the roof of one of the buildings, where I also splashed out on a drink and admired the views of the city below.

After a relaxing evening of tacos with old friends, the next day I head eastward on my way to visit the team at Erretres for a catch up and to head out for some lunch as we always did last year. I ended up taking it so easy through the picturesque gardens of the royal palace in the sun that I rocked up pretty late – I guess I switched to Spanish time…

Arriving back at the office was lovely, with plenty to catch up on in my gradually worsening Spanish. Once I’d had a snoop at a few ongoing projects and had a laugh about a translation quip, we all eventually headed out to the nearby cafe where I spent many a Thursday when working with the team on my year in industry.

After a lovely meal I had to leave everyone to get on with their work, and so I headed down one stop of the Metro to have an ice cream by the lake and just watch the world go by for a while.

The day which proceeded was very lazy, but after all my travels around the south I felt like I’d earned a break. Many cañas and tapas later I found myself having a beer in the park which overlooks the east of the city, watching the sun go down before heading back into the centre for some food.

All too soon it was my last day in Madrid once more, and so I grabbed my camera and went exploring after settling for some beers for the evening. In the evening I wound up down in the south of the city, where I had some lovely tacos and found some street art along the way – as well as discovering an old ruin of a building which I’d never stumbled across before!

The first thing the next morning I had to grab a Cercanías train to the airport and soon found myself flying over France with a glass of overpriced red wine in hand. Since then I’ve been busily away with my final university project, but there’ll be a few more updates over the coming weeks as things like my final year degree show inch slowly closer…