Once Em and Lincoln had headed back to England, one of my first free weekends in a good while ensued. I didn’t feel like doing much, preferring to sit at home alone to recuperate and save a bit of money, but Bogar managed to convince me to head out for a little picnic down by the river.

After a lovely spot of sunbathing and a proper catch up, a week of work then ensued which then ended with my next summer activity – a visit from Danni and Abi! The last time they visited was back in 2016, when they flew over for a few days whilst I was completing my internship was Erretres, so it was exciting to have them back again!

Their visit began with an epic battle in the airport, as droves of people had poured into the arrivals lounge for the arrival of what I assume was a big flight or possibly some kind of famous person. Once I’d managed to find the two of them and plucked them out of the crowd, we headed straight for my flat and spent the rest of the day relaxing and chatting.

That evening, however, it was about time that the three of us had a good few drinks and headed out together – it’s been a while since we all last went out as a three! Heading once again to my favourite cheesy karaoke bar, the three of us sang along to Queen, Bowie, and – of course – the typical cheesy local hits.

We didn’t head to bed all too late, so the next day we were up bright and early(ish) and full of energy, heading to the park for a picnic with the food we’d picked up from Mercadona the day before. From there we headed down to Malasaña, as the Pinta Malasaña (Paint Malasaña) event was well underway, with local artists renewing the street art which coats the vibrant walls of the neighbourhood. I caught this event last year too, when Kevin visited me in Madrid, but this time I didn’t think to take a single photo of the shenanigans – oops!

The next day we headed down to Parquesur, a shopping centre in the south of the city, but we managed to end up way off course! Just when we thought we couldn’t walk through any dodgier areas, I realised that we’d headed the wrong way, and so we had to perform a u-turn and head all the way back through said questionable area! After having to make a dash for it across a slip road, however, we did eventually make it to Parquesur in one piece.

Later that evening, and once back in the city centre, I decided we should try to do something a little different. For the first time since me and Kevin made the creaky journey over the trees of the Casa de Campo, the three of us jumped on the Teleférico (cable car), taking a little trip to enjoy some of the best views back over the city.

With a lovely evening meal to conclude Abi and Danni’s visit to the city, we headed back to my flat for an early night – they, like visitors gone by, would be up early to catch a taxi to the airport, and I’d be up to see them off and get myself off to work.

I had a fabulous few days with two of my oldest and dearest friends here in the city, and I can only hope that they’ll be able to come back and visit again very soon. If nothing else, however, I will be back over to see Sigrid live in Leeds with Danni in November, so I do at least have that to look forward to for now!

Now I must wrap this blog post up, as the next weekend saw the arrival of one of my summer’s last visitors – I shall once again leave it as a little surprise. Until then, it’s time for me to head down to Murcia for a weekend relaxing with my parents!

Just two days after returning to Madrid from Tenerife, I had an exciting Thursday evening to look forward to!

Some of you may remember that I spent a lot of last year hanging out with my friends Heidi, Loredana, and Megan, with the four of us forming a group we like to call Cake Club. The original plan of meeting up to make cakes and share recipes was soon scrapped, with the four of us spending more time eating tacos, scaling the mountains surrounding Madrid, and generally chatting many an evening away with a drink in hand.

I was, then, very upset in the summer of last year when one by one they all eventually left Madrid back to their home countries – Heidi to Norway, Loredana to Austria, and Megan to the USA. We all made sure, however, to stay in regular contact, with our Cake Club WhatsApp group lighting up at least once a day. I even, if you remember, managed to make a trip over to Oslo last year to visit Heidi!

As you can imagine from the above paragraphs and the title of this post, the weekend of a few weeks ago was a rather special one, as the four of us were to be reunited at long last in Madrid!

The first to arrive was Megan, who had already been in Europe for some time, flying in from Rome after spending a few days there visiting Loredana. After many hugs in my flat, the two of us headed out for pizza, and then for an early night as I was working the next day.

The next afternoon I arrived at my flat to find that Heidi had also arrived during the day, having flown in from Oslo, and the three of us anxiously awaited the arrival of Loredana from Rome. She arrived just in time for the four of us to head out for tacos at our old haunt, a taco restaurant just below what used to be Heidi and Loredana’s flat!

Loredana and Heidi just had to have a photo stood outside their old flat…

The next day was Friday, and so I headed off early in the morning, leaving the girls to have a lie in and do what they would with their day. We did, however, have a plan set, and just before we all left work, they arrived at my office to check out the new space and make the most of our new garden!

After chilling at the office for an extra hour and enjoying a few games of ping-pong, we headed back to the city centre and to Bodega de la Ardosa, one of my favorite spots for a proper slice of Spanish omelette. From there we decided to wander through Malasaña for a while, with the girls resolving that they’d return the next day to check out the shops along the way, shops from which I had to half tear them away – I was getting tired and wanted to go home!

Well, I soon had to recover from said tiredness, as that evening we popped open a bottle of gin and started up the music in my flat – it was time for us to all head out together! After many laughs, some questionable dancing, and a round of tipsy selfies, we hopped on the metro and wandered to one of my favorite haunts – a tacky little karaoke bar.

After further questionable dancing and even more dubious singing, we all made it home in one piece. The next morning I didn’t feel up to moving too much – shocker – so the girls headed out to watch Loredana’s football game and indulge in a spot of shopping around Malasaña. I did eventually move, however, and whipped up a carrot cake to celebrate my fake birthday.

The main part of said celebrations involved the evening meal with the four of us plus Bogar and Napo. We headed out to Goiko Grill – the same spot as last year, in fact – and then enjoyed a relaxing evening of drinks on a terrace in Chueca.

With the next day being a Sunday and the lack of things to do, we decided to make good on a plan we’d organized in advance, and headed to Retiro park for a repeat of the picnic we had just before they all began to leave last year. We sat on our picnic blankets for a good few hours until, in a sad repeat of last year’s picnic, it was time for one of us to leave – this time Heidi. We saw her off, waving and nearly sobbing, as she hopped in a taxi and made for the airport.

The three of us who remained then headed back home to drop off the leftover picnic supplies, and then made our way down to a place we’d never visited as a group – the lake in Casa de Campo. There we dragged out the picnic blanket once again, this time opting to take a siesta by the water’s edge – all after a little photo shoot, of course.

As the sun began to set, the three of us then headed up to the Templo de Debod, grabbing a beer and watching the sun set from one of the most picturesque spots in the centre. Another early night then ensued, as I’d to head to work the next day and Loredana was up early to catch her flight back to Italy. I bade her another sad farewell that evening, and then there were just the two of us – Megan and me – when I returned from work on Monday evening. 

After another relaxing evening putting the world to rights, the two of us once again headed off to bed early, as the next morning it was Megan’s turn to head off in the early hours and catch her flight on to her next European destination – Paris! There’d be no rest for me, though, as that same day I’d arrive back from work only to find another set of visitors already in my flat – but I’ll have to save that for the next post!

All that remains to say is the obvious: that I can only hope that Heidi, Loredana, and Megan had as much fun visiting me as I had having them all back in the city! I am hoping to visit Loredana in her native Austria later this year, and I’ll be sure to hop across the pond next year and spend a couple of my summer weeks with Megan in Vermont and Kevin and James wherever they may be…