10.07.16 — Travel

Lounging by the Lago

It’s a very sunny and sleepy weekend here in Madrid, and so yesterday I could think of nothing better to do than to head down to the shade of the Casa de Campo, a huge public green space which is just a 10 minute walk from my house. I however, being lazy as I am and the weather being as hot as it is, opted for the air conditioned bliss of the Metro to take me to the imaginatively named “Lago” stop. Lago means lake – so you can guess where I went.

On my way to the lake
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It turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous spot for a lovely sunny day, with the trees along the shore and the light breeze providing some relief from the otherwise relentless heat. I even afforded myself the luxury of an ice cream and a cool can of pop, although the sickly sweets I bought didn’t go down so well and hence soon found their way into a bin.

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You can see all the way up to the Plaza de España from the lake.

Having done my obligatory tourist-like snapping from every possible angle (you should all thank me for not inundating you with every photo I take on this blog or you’d be here for hours), I moved along to a patch of empty grass and sat in the shade of a tree and watched a family paddling around in their boat. I was jealous for a split second, but then I realised that in the centre of the lake they had no respite from the sun. Ouch.

Drink?
If only they could go under the fountain

After an hour or so of lounging around and really not doing that much I decided to wander leisurely back to the Metro to head back to the city for some food. With just over a week left in my current flat I have questionably convinced myself that it’s too late in my stay to start buying more ingredients for cooking, and so I will just have to continue my stint of trying all the delicious Spanish food I can lay my fattening hands on…

Heading home

I wound up stumbling upon some form of practically dried-up manmade water channel, arched by an unsafe looking wooden footbridge, and decided to go check it out. The views from and around it were surreal – I felt miles away from the city, in fact miles away from anywhere. I felt like if I were to discover some kind of magical creatures in Madrid, I’d probably find them here.

Greenery
Otherworldly

After helping some very lost looking Brits find their way back to Ópera on the Metro and a hearty helping of patatas bravas, I wound up back in bed for the siesta and then proceeded to head out for a lovely evening with the owner of the flat I used to live in to see some live Spanish music. I did a terrible job of taking photos but here’s the one almost-in-focus one I did manage to grab…

A wonderful evening of music

The evening was amazing and it was lovely to join in with the singing and get chatting to plenty of the locals – and it was lots of fun cycling home in the cool 3am air! With that lovely thought though, and as I sit here sweltering in the rising afternoon heat, I shall bid my laptop and blog farewell – if I keep this thing running much longer then its internal fans may actually explode…