My Aunt & Uncle Visit

Since my Auntie and Uncle last visited Madrid in May, when they stopped by during their journey by car back up to the UK, they’ve been living in England during the summer. With the return of the cold weather, however, it was time for them to head back down to their Spanish home in Murica, meaning they passed by for another visit!

After a rather rocky arrival involving them getting lost whilst looking for their car park, we finally had the chance to catch up over some food at my local bar. The navigation dramas, however, didn’t leave us much time, and so we were soon in bed and getting rested for the next day’s exploration.

The next day was a Monday that I’d taken off work, and so we were sure to make the most of our time and set about visiting some of our favourite spots around the city centre. We passed by the royal palace, through the streets of quirky Malasaña, and even wondered into a church and its crypt that I’d never noticed before.

The atmosphere of the crypt was very different from the lively streets above.

For lunch, I could think of no better place than Casa Julio, a vibrant local bar in Malasaña. It’s famed for it’s delicious traditional Spanish dishes, and so we were sure to order some picadillo (spiced minced pork), ensaladilla rusa (a potato salad dish with tuna) and croquetas (croquettes).

Once we were full to burst, it was time to relax, and for that we headed down to the lake. I’d taken my parents down for the first time when they last visited, and they’d spoke highly of a jar of sangría that we’d shared by the water, and so we took a couple of hours to kick back with a beer.

After we’d recharged, I thought it would be a good idea to follow the lovely river walk back home, a trip that I thought would only take 45 minutes at most. After we’d passed by the remnants of the old Atlético de Madrid stadium, however, it soon became clear that Google Maps had tricked us – there was still a long way to go!

Once we’d sped up our return journey with a train, we headed out to a local bar for tea, having depleted all our energy during the walk home. I’d then to turn in early for the night, as the next day I had to head back to the office.

After work, I met back up with my auntie and uncle, who’d enjoyed a relaxing day meandering through the centre. We’d arranged to have some drinks in the centre, involving some wine and nibbles at an old sherry bar, and then found another local spot for some meatballs and patatas bravas in Lavapiés.

On Wednesday morning, I sadly had to wave my auntie and uncle off again as they headed back to their car and down to Murcia. It was lovely to have them stop by in Madrid again, and I’m hoping to head back down to Murcia once again in very soon to kick back with them by the coast.

The week which then followed at work consisted of lots of working hard and then playing hard, which I will update you all on in my next blog post, but for now I plan to spend my Sunday doing as little as humanly possible – except maybe a spot of baking…