Between Holidays

After landing back in Madrid after a wonderful weekend in Vienna, I’d not long until my next holiday came around. Despite this and the increasingly unbearable sun and heat, I wound up doing all sorts before I headed off for my big summer trip.

One afternoon I headed out for a wander around my neighbourhood., something which always leads me to discover new sights. Sure enough, I ran into some abandoned shopfronts down a street I’d never visited. From there, I spent a good half an hour searching for somewhere to buy a notebook, before ending up spending the evening down by the river sketching and having a cheeky drink.

I laid on the grass under this cool tree to watch the sun go down.

My self-care weekend continued after this with a Saturday spent in the centre of Madrid. I headed off to indulge in something I don’t usually do unless people come to visit: I went to have churros for breakfast! This took me to the infamous churrería named San Ginés, where I grabbed myself a plate of fresh churros and dipping chocolate and watched the tourists come and go for a while.

San Ginés is a Madrid institution that I can’t believe I don’t visit more often.

The next day I was back down by the river by my flat, where I went for a wander both in the morning and then later in the evening, spending the time in between relaxing at home under the air conditioning. July is always a bit of a challenge for me here – I’ll never get used to the summer heat!

Not sure why these keys were nailed to a tree…

That week I then had the chance to meet up with one of my old Spanish teachers – quite the throwback! He was visiting Madrid and so I spent an afternoon catching up over some tapas and beers. It was lovely to see him again after what must have been about ten years at least!

I then had another busy week, between a cocktail evening with Sara, a couple of calls to Cake Club, drinks with some friends from swimming as the course ended for summer, and then finally a reunion with Nacho. I went to visit him in Prague earlier this year but now was his turn to return to his home city of Madrid. We met up and spent a lovely evening drinking cocktails, munching on pizza, and having one of the fabulous chats that we usually do.

I don’t usually nip up to the centre but it does have some lovely buildings.

The weekend then arrived and I spent most of the Saturday packing until Luis invited me to join him down at his family’s finca, or country house. I did the exact same thing last year before I left for Canada, so a visit down to the finca just before I head off for a big trip seems to becoming somewhat of a tradition!

That’s all for now, as my next post will take us much further away from home than just Luis’ place on the outskirts of the city…