As we enter the month of June, the weather here in Madrid seems to be going somewhat crazy. We’ve had over a week of intermittent thunderstorms, but when it’s not been making it a nightmare for me to dry my washing, the sun has actually been heating the city up rather nicely. Naturally I’ve been making the most of the pleasant temperature, and so below I share a few photos of my wanders around the city.
We’re currently on Goldilocks temperature: not too hot, not too cold.
And naturally I havne’t been on my own the whole time, with plenty of time spent amongst friends, including the traditional Taco Wednesdays – I concept which I explained just a few posts back here. As well as our Mexican feast, on Friday Loredana and Heidi also hosted drinks on their lovely central roof terrace. It was another great chance to catch up, have a cheeky sangría and, of course, take more photos…
I was also gifted a lovely surprise by Megan, who had sneakily brought back mini bottles of maple syrup when she returned from her hometown in Vermont, USA just this Christmas! It was a lovely thought, and I now have a fabulous excuse to make the batch of pancakes I’ve been thinking about whipping up for a few weeks now.
All that brings us up to date to this weekend, where I’ve been pretty lazy in all honesty. Opting to relax at home rather than head out, I’ve been suspicious as the weather, although nice, has been looking threateningly unpredictable. I wasn’t a total sloth however, as I managed to find the time to head out to my beloved Mercadona (a low cost supermarket) and procure the ingredients to try a few new baking recipes.
As you can guess, I whipped together the (rather laborious) carrot cake above, which I shall take into work tomorrow morning to share with the team at Erretres. I can also very happily report that after 8 months of struggling with dodgy ovens, overzealous baking powder and Spain’s refusal to accept that self-raising flour actually exists, I have finally perfected my spongecake recipe! Watch this space guys, I’ll be back soon with a Victoria sponge to slay those of all your grandmas.
Yes, I went there, and I’m bowing out until I return with more updates from the 640km² oven that Madrid will soon become…
So what’s been going on since I got back to Spain from my trip back to the UK I hear you all ask, and so I shall reveal the two most interesting things that have occurred since I got back. I’d make a big fanfare to reveal what these two things were, but I already gave the whole thing away in the title of the blog post, so let’s just get straight down to it…
First up was Tuesday’s trip to Manzanares El Real, a small town in the province of Madrid, but way outside of the city limits. As it was a bank holiday (which rather awkwardly happen here on Tuesdays), we jumped on a bus and headed out to see what I thought would just be a castle and adjoining lake.
As we hopped off the bus, we were greeted by a cute little castle, but as we got closer we soon realised that it wasn’t yet open for visits. I’d quite liked the idea of having a snoop around the castle, but all was not lost as our friend Loredana said we could grab a free bus up to some natural pools to dip our toes in the water.
Once this little free “bus” rocked up, however, we soon realised that the four of us weren’t going to fit in it, and with the next one not scheduled for another hour we resigned to the fact that we were going to have to walk the 40 minute journey. We set off in good spirits, although I had declared that I wasn’t going to walk for more than 45 minutes as I was wearing jeans and lugging around a tote bag – not exactly the kind of gear one wants to go hiking in!
Once we’d started off a little game to keep us all occupied during the walk, I soon realised that I had been deceived – the walk was looking more like 90 minutes than the mere 40 I’d been told! We had a break for refuelling in the form of some teddy-shaped biscuits Megan had brought along, and then I reluctantly returned to the uphill climb towards this promised land.
Thankfully though we soon crested the hill we’d been walking up, and it was then that the views and our destination came into view – and what a view it was! I took a few photos, but I was more concerned about picking up some speed on the downhill section, as me and Megan had an inkling that there might be some kind of bar down in the valley – and that meant a well deserved beer might be up for grabs.
And lo and behold, look what we found! As we returned back to civilisation, we made a beeline for a bar and grabbed a beer to sit on the terrace and recover, taking in the surroundings and discussing where we were going to head to next. After chatting to one of the guys working there, we discovered that if we headed down to the river which ran alongside the bar and followed it downstream, we’d eventually be spat back out into the town of Manzanares El Real where we’d began our long walk.
This measly caña might have been the best beer I’ve ever had in my life.
Once we’d polished off our beers, we had another spot of relaxing down by the riverbank, taking time to do a spot of sunbathing, singing and even a few minutes of yoga. Slapping a bit of suncream on when some of us began turning a touch pink in the midday sun, we soon began our trek back downstream and into a series of stunning views.
Before too long, and after another refreshment stop at a cool little bar in the forest along the way, we found ourselves back on tarmac roads and heading back to where the whole hike had started – I call it a hike now as what had started as a 40 minute walk did eventually turn out to be an hours-long trek up and back down the valleys which cradle the river Manzanares.
I can’t say I didn’t complain at all during the actual trip, but as we finished off I realised that it had been a great day spent out of the hectic city centre, and it was nice to be up on my feet doing something when I spend most of my days sat behind a computer screen.
I’d definitely recommend anyone who is visiting Madrid for a few days and wants to see a bit of nature pay the place a visit – just be sure to dress more appropriately for the journey than I did! You can catch a bus from within the city for just 1.70€ each way, so it really is an absolute steal of a day out!
And now, keeping on the theme of castles and royal locations (Manzanares El Real literally means “Manzanares the Royal”), as someone rather indifferent to football, Saturday could only mean one thing for me – it was time for the royal wedding! Love it or hate it, I saw it as a chance to host a get together and have a few cheeky drinks over a selection of British food, and so I invited my friends over to mine to watch the live stream and wave flags around a bit for a couple of hours.
We had a great time critiquing people’s outfits, singing along to the songs that we knew, and tucking into tuna mayo and egg and cress sandwiches (with the cress sneakily substituted for some chopped spinach as it seems like cress doesn’t exist here). The excitement was all over way too soon, but before everyone left, it was time to sample a British party staple – the humble scotch egg. Those don’t exist here either, so I took up the challenge of making them myself from scratch, and although they weren’t perfect I’m pretty proud of how they came out.
With the shenanigans all over and with it being a Sunday evening, there’s only one thing I should be doing right now, and it’s not sitting here writing this blog post. I shall then be leaving it here, putting on a face mask, and spending the next hour relaxing in the bath!
So now that I am back in Madrid and one year older, I bring you this update on how my life as a 23-year-old kicked off! As I mentioned last week, I did have big birthday plans, and so I have just returned from a whistle-stop six-day tour of England! Before leaving, I had a nice little birthday send-off at work, as we all clubbed together to buy food and beers for an aperitivo, after which I was eased into my return to England with a sudden downpour…
Anyway, enough with the preamble – let’s get straight to the hectic six days I spent back in the motherland!
After a frantic morning moving through Madrid, I landed at Manchester Airport before I could even catch a breath. I headed outside only to be greeted rather nonchalantly by my mum, who didn’t even bother to look up from the text she was writing! Whoever received that message should feel rather humbled, you are clearly more important than a son who lives thousands of miles away…
All joking aside though, it was lovely to see my family again, and especially lovely that I had been brought a bag full of snacks and throat spray (I had woken up with a nagging sore throat which plagued the trip, but enough of that.) After no time at all driving and catching up, we arrived in Burnley and headed straight for item number one on my agenda: going to see my grandma.
We had to leave her all too soon though, as me and my mum had a joint hair appointment, after which she dropped me off at Burnley Youth Theatre so I could be reunited with my ex-colleagues. It was lovely to see everyone there again, and a little bizarre to be back in my old office less than 24 hours after leaving my new one at Erretres!
Once I’d worked up an appetite, I hitched a ride with Bam, who dropped me back off at home for part of the trip I’d been looking forward to more than I probably should have: mum’s cottage pie. After I inhaled the delicious meal, I stopped for a chat and a quick gin and tonic before heading to bed for a relatively early night, as the next day I had an equally busy plan lined up.
The morning after I was up (relatively) bright an early and in the car with my friend Abi for a trip to the lovely city of Liverpool, which I last visited with Kevin quite a while ago last year. Once we’d arrived, we met up with my sister Ellie, who I’d arranged to meet in Liverpool as she’s currently at university in Sheffield. I think in organising myself and everyone else for this trip I got a taste of what it’s like to be a mother!
Once we were all reunited, we headed to one of my favourite areas, Bold Street, and settled in a little café for a slap-up lunch of sandwiches and bottomless chips – a deal not to be sniffed at! It was a delicious start to the trip, and as the weather was holding out quite nicely, afterwards we sauntered down to the docks for a while.
My sister really is a big fan of avocado.
Once down there we had a wander along the riverside, passing plenty of kooky street food places along the way. After a quick trip to see the Liver Building, we (perhaps inevitably) found ourselves in a bar for a cheeky 2-for-1 cocktail deal.
All too soon we had to leave the docks and head back into the city as Ellie had to catch her train, but that didn’t stop us all from grabbing some delicious waffles along the way! Once I’d waved Ellie off at the train station, me and Abi headed back to Burnley, where I had to endure the obligatory rendition of “happy birthday to you” before we all treated ourselves to a slice of chocolate cake.
The next day I was once again on the move, this time to visit all my university friends across the border in Leeds. Before I waved my mum and dad off at the train station, however, there was one more thing on my list of must-eats which we hadn’t squeezed in: fish and chips. For this there was only one place which would suffice, Grandma Pollard’s in Todmorden, where I enjoyed mine with a side of mushy peas – I seem to have developed an addiction after years of being indifferent to them as a child…
I arrived in Leeds quite late, and so made a quick visit to my friends’ house to drop off my bag, as Em and Lincoln had been so gracious as to put me up for the two nights I spent there. After another rushed taxi journey to the city centre, I was soon once again reunited with (almost) the entire graphics gang!
As per tradition, we soon found ourselves having a drink or two at Belgrave, catching up and joking around as we always did – even through the stresses and trials of our final year of university. The general consensus was that even though we had a lovely time at university, we were all pretty glad to be free of it and in the big bad world of adult living.
Because we’re all now living in said adult world, none of us could really stay out late as everyone had to work the next day – everyone except me. I had a lovely lie in the following morning, before ambling to my friend Pippa’s house, who I’d arranged to wander to campus with for a catchup over some lunch.
Eventually we decided that we didn’t fancy going anywhere in particular on campus, and so we descended into the centre of Leeds, where we made a pit stop at Trinity Kitchen for burritos and then McDonalds for milkshakes. As Pippa was heading into her last few weeks of intense final year work I had to let her go sooner than I would have liked, but I still had a trip around Leeds Docks to make and a couple of design shops to visit, so it wasn’t all too bad. Even the sun had shown its face, which made for an extra-special treat!
That same night heralded my last night in Leeds (are you beginning to get a sense of how hectic this whole trip was?), and so I headed out with Em and Lincoln for a lovely walk to one of our favourite pizza spots. After we’d gorged ourselves on plenty of fresh sourdough delights, we grabbed a bottle of wine and had a relaxed evening in, catching up and laughing about all the nonsense that we used to get up to at university.
Once more I couldn’t afford to stay up too late, as I had a 6am start to be in Leeds train station for a train I really couldn’t miss – as on Saturday morning it was time for me to head down to London! Emily was the only person missing from our graphics reunion in Belgrave as she now lives and works in the big city, and so I’d arranged to spend the weekend down there with her.
Once I’d arrived and we’d been reunited in her lovely neighbourhood of Fulham Broadway, we wasted no time in heading straight back out to visit a couple of places that I’d requested: the Design Museum and the Lush Shop on Oxford Street. After we’d paid the two a visit and I had bought myself a little something in the Lush shop (a very little something as my hand luggage bag was already bursting at the seams), we nipped back to Em’s place for a snack and to meet her housemates.
As a little gesture of thanks for letting me crash at her place, I’d brought Em some chorizo from Madrid, which went down well – maybe a little too well as we found ourselves heading out for a very late tea, and even then we couldn’t finish our pizza!
The next morning, and after a breakfast of delicious cold pizza, we headed once again into the city centre. By now it was Sunday and the last day of my tour of England, but things weren’t set to slow down, as through some stroke of divine luck it just so happened that our friends Sophie, Joe and Rhea were also in London!
Needless to say that we’d all arranged to meet up for some delicious lunch, and do so we did, stuffing ourselves with delicious Bao steamed buns until we could eat no more. After this we found a pub with a little outdoor terrace, and so we plonked ourselves down, ordered some drinks, and let the alcohol and conversation flow.
I was quite upset then when the time came for me to begin making the long journey back to Madrid, but after a round of hugs and farewells, I found myself back in the chaos of journeying from Soho to my bed in the south of Madrid. After two tube trains, a very expensive airport transfer train, a one hour delay and two hour flight, and then three metro trains which I thought I would miss because of Ryanair’s delay, I eventually made it to my flat at 3am and within ten minutes I was out like a light.
I could now moan about how a mere 5 hours later I had to be up and ready to head to a client meeting as I’d rather stupidly not taken another day off work to rest and recover, but I’d like to end the post on a happy note. A crazy busy trip it may have been, it was a delight to see everyone again, even if rather rapidly due to my timetable. I’d say that next time I’ll have to go a little easier on myself, but anybody who knows me will know that that just won’t happen.
All that’s left to say then is a huge thank you to everyone who rearranged their timetables to see me, and especially to the two Emilys and Lincoln who let me crash at their places. I hope to be having people over in Madrid soon, but regardless of that I’m currently trying to sort my summer holidays out after having had such a great time back in England!
I’ll be back again soon with more shenanigans from the Iberian peninsula, so don’t you all be going anywhere!
After I’d waved Kevin off at the bus station as he returned to beautiful Oviedo, it was straight back to the daily grind for me, as the day after I headed back to work. In order to keep myself occupied outside of the office, a bunch of us decided to start a new tradition: Taco Wednesdays! Now I know there’s no alliteration, but bear with me, as we decided on this particular day because the Mexican restaurant directly under my friend’s flat does a 1€ deal on tacos on Wednesday evenings –buzzing.
As the temperature has been climbing and summer seems to be drawing closer, we first met up for some drinks and a catch up on my friends’ lovely terrace. Once we’d drank our fair share of sangría, we descended to the restaurant and enjoyed a lovely tipsy evening of tacos, managing to bag this selfie before things got a little messy downstairs!
Later that week, we all regrouped for a wander around the city, a stroll which took us to an infamous bar I’d been meaning to check out for quite a while. Bar El Tigre is well known for the sheer size of the tapas that they gift you with every drink, so we headed in and grabbed a caña (small beer) and watched in awe as they served up three plates full of snacks!
Last Friday also saw another event happening in the centre of the city, with La Noche de los Libros (Night of Books) in full swing as the sun set. After we’d watched a video mapping presentation in the Puerta del Sol, we headed to another legendary drinking spot, Sala Equis.
“The X Room” used to be –as the name hints at– a porn cinema, but has now been transformed into a multi-use cultural space which can act as both a cool drinking spot as well as a cinema for retro movies. We all grabbed a beer, perched ourselves on the random deckchairs, and tried to make out the plot of an old silent movie which was being projected onto the screen above the bar.
That same weekend was a special one for my friend Loredana, as she’d signed up to run the Madrid Marathon on the Sunday – a week ago today, in fact. To show our support, me and Heidi opted not to join in with any physical activity, but rather to go down to the route and cheer her on with embarrassing custom t-shirts!
As Loredana had (for some reason unknown to man) chosen “croquetas” (croquettes) as the text on her bib, me and Heidi knew that we simply had to incorporate the delicious Spanish snack into our design. We secretly made a trip to Primark the day before, and then spent a good couple of hours applying our fabulous design, ready to meet up along the route the next day.
Once we’d cheered Loredana on as she passed the spot where we were waiting, we had a bite of lunch before heading to the finish line to (what could have been quite literally) catch Lore as she finished the gruelling 42km (26mi) course. As we watched on in earnest, however, one of the runners got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend right as they both finished the marathon! This proved quite the distraction, and we almost missed Loredana wandering by, but I spotted her just in time and we yelled for her to come over.
After checking that she was alright –I was shocked at how normal and not dead she looked– we left Lore to pick up her medal and an energy drink before we were finally reunited. After grabbing a stranger to take a photo of the three of us, we headed in to the city to eat some lunch –croquettes, naturally– before heading back to Lore and Heidi’s flat for a relaxing evening.
Congratulations to Loredana on such a wild achievement!
All this madness brings me pretty much up to date to this weekend, however I still had one surprise in store on Friday night! We’d arranged to meet up at their flat again, which was for what I assumed would be some quiet drinks before the two of them and Megan headed down to Málaga for the week. I was completely caught off guard then when they went downstairs to “get more sangría” and then returned with a gorgeous birthday cake!
I was really touched by the lovely gesture, but we didn’t waste any time in getting stuck in, as the cake is actually one of Megan’s speciality ice cream cakes! Having worked at Ben & Jerry’s flagship store back at home in Vermont in the United States, she is an expert in these decadent treats, and her cookie dough, chocolate brownie and vanilla masterpiece did not disappoint!
As I mentioned, that evening Heidi and Loredana headed down to Málaga for a long weekend of sandy beaches and sunshine, with Megan set to join them tomorrow morning. I really wish I was there with them all, especially after such a lovely surprise, but I’ve to relax and prepare myself for a crazy hectic week ahead…
Tomorrow is indeed my birthday and I’ll be turning the ripe old age of 23 – don’t talk to me about how the years are flying by – but there’s no rest for the wicked, so I’ll be at the office for most of the day! I won’t even get a break in the evening to head out for a celebratory drink, as I’ve to pick up some last minute goodies and head home to pack and get an early night in to catch a flight early Tuesday morning!
I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned it here on my blog before – probably not as I am notorious for forgetting to mention important information – but I’m headed back to England for a short week! It’s going to be six hectic days of intense travelling and catching up, with a day in Burnley, a day in Liverpool, two days in Leeds and then two days in London all lined up. With such a schedule I’ll no doubt be way too busy to post any updates here, but fear not as I’ll be back next week to share all the shenanigans which will have undoubtably occurred!
I guess that I’ll be back with you all when I’m another year older…
After I was up in the north (again) with Kevin just a couple of weeks ago, a mere four days later he found himself on a coach down to the capital, where we had a busy weekend of chilling in the city planned! Once he’d met me at the Erretres office on the Friday, we had a quick tour of the studio and then headed into the rather grey looking city centre.
Once we’d had some tacos at my favourite Mexican spot in the city, we headed through the centre and past the palace and cathedral, where we stopped for a while to sit down and take in the ambience of the evening. After listening to the harp and watching the sun slowly retreat by the royal palace, I whisked Kevin to watch the sun set from the Temple of Debod.
It was whilst wandering back from the temple that the rain suddenly began its attack, and we had to take refuge in a bus stop before braving he downpour and seeking shelter in a bar. A couple of beers later, we admitted that we were tired, and so headed back home for a good night of sleep before a busy Saturday!
Our explorations the next day began with a walk down the river near my flat, before hearing back to the centre and the cathedral, where we headed inside and gawked at the architecture for a good while. Once we were back outside in the rather sunnier weather, we headed to the commercial centre to make the most of the Saturday shopping hours.
Once we’d stocked up on fancy chocolate from Cacao Sampaka and toiletries from Lush, we headed to a spot Kevin had requested after a good experience during a previous visit: El Mercado de San Ildefonso. At this street food bazaar we grabbed some Guinness and a delicious plate of Korean fried chicken, before heading down into the writer’s district, where I knew Kevin would be in his element as a student of all things literary.
A Korean lunch with an Irish beer: a culture clash we were happy to let happen.
That evening, and after returning home through the indoor tropical gardens in Atocha train station, we headed into the La Latina area of the city for a drink. After putting the world to rights over a cheeky gin and tonic, we headed back home to prepare for a busy Sunday – it may be a day of rest, but I always say that there is no rest for the wicked!
Sunday kicked off in traditional Madrid fashion: with an amble up the huge street market of El Rastro. Once Kevin had picked up some goodies and we’d cleared the hoards of people, we had some lunch in Plaza Mayor before hopping on the metro for a museum which I’d discovered for the first time only when my parents visited a mere few weeks ago.
Our strategically timed visit was to ensure that we got into the Museo Cerralbo for free, and we did – just about! Arriving less than an hour before close, we still managed to tour the entire building, and the place managed to leave Kevin speechless more than once along the way.
Once we’d had a coffee for some energy, we headed into the district of Malasaña, where there was an event called Pinta Malasaña (literally “paint Malsaña”) and the name says it all. Dozens of artists had taken the streets, each one creating unique pieces on the very walls and shutters of the neighbourhood.
To soak in the buzz, we grabbed some beers and wandered the streets, stopping to watch the artists at work or sit and chat about whatever was on our minds. Once we’d finished our drinks and traversed the neighbourhood, we headed back to my flat for a rest, and I booked a table at one of my favourite places to eat for later in the evening.
After freshening, we headed to the city centre to Heidi and Loredana’s flat, where we were joined also by Kevin and Napo. After all the introductions and all that nonsense, we headed back to the streets and to Goiko Grill for some of the best burgers in the city.
There we had amazing food and even better conversation, and I felt really lucky to be surrounded by a group of such lovely people – it somehow felt like an early birthday treat!
All too soon we were back in my flat, getting ready to head out for Kevin’s final day in the city. As short as the Monday may have been, I had a pretty packed schedule lined up, and so soon I had marched Kevin into the city and up to the roof terrace of Círculo de Bellas Artes. This is my favourite spot for catching 360° over the sprawling city, and we made sure to make the most of the 4€ entry fee by taking in the sun and the views and having yet another of our lengthy chats.
Once we were back at street level we headed into Retiro park, having a quick wander around some of the most pretty sights, before grabbing some lunch and heading to one of my favourite shopping spots in Madrid: Dealz.
Now, I should preface this by telling you all that me and Kevin met whilst he was studying for a year in Leeds, so he’s no stranger to British culture. We were both equally excited to be visiting Dealz, seeing as it is basically Poundland, complete with the selection of British snacks and sweets which I so fondly miss from time to time. Napo had tagged along too, but as a stranger to life in England, he didn’t seem quite as thrilled as me and Kevin were to be there…
After this we made one quick last venture into Lavapiés, where we sat on a street terrace and had a round of vermut, all before we had to take Kevin up to the bus station to catch his coach back to Oviedo. Once he was on his way back up north, me and Napo headed into Chueca for a drink in the plaza, making the most of the sun which had finally broken through the weekend’s clouds!
As much as I enjoy my weekend retreats in the gorgeous lands of Asturias, I have to say it was an absolute pleasure to have Kevin down in the bustling capital for the long weekend. I can only hope that he had as good a time being dragged around Madrid as I did actually doing said dragging!
It goes without saying then that the two of us are already coordinating my next trip to the north, but for now I shall have to leave the post there, as I have plenty more to share but it’ll have to wait for the next update!
Ido apologise for the delays as of recent, but I am currently without WiFi in my flat due to some technical problem. Have no doubt however that I’m trying every crafty technique possible to keep you all updated – I have even had to publish this from my iPad at work. Sneaky!
