Lounging by the Lago

10.07.16 — Madrid

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.

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.

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.

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…

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.

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…

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…

Mack & Madrid Pride

06.07.16 — Madrid

I come to my blog to quickly get you all up to date in very high spirits, as it’s been about two weeks of non-stop enjoyment! My new flat is lovely, the weather has been getting slowly warmer, and I have been eating a lot of ice cream. The newly warm air means that I have been staying up later to escape trying to sleep during the intense heat, and so lots of siestas and nighttime wandering – including a trip down to the Matadero cultural centre to explore it’s eerie and unique nighttime lighting…

I also headed out for an evening of beers and great Spanish food with two of my new flatmates, and we wound up at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the river at the west of the city. A few beers, fried squid and huevos rotos (chips with lightly done eggs and cured ham) later, we headed for the five minute walk home and ended up eating ice cream until 1am in the 38° heat…

But now I divulge from delicious evening meals on a terrace to the arrival of an ex-semi-flatmate all the way from New Zealand no less! I have been absolutely delighted to welcome my friend Mackenzie to the city, as she is stopping by with her dad during a wine tour of pretty much the whole of Spain!

After a catch up meal and lots of chatting, we headed down to the big event dominating Madrid this past week – Orgullo, or Pride Madrid! Naturally I had to buy myself a flag (and I ended up with a fan too) and get involved in watching the parade go by. Firstly though, I went for an amble through the gay district Chueca, taking photos and getting the opportunity to get involved with my fellow community – and the party atmosphere was amazing!

An old lady considers attending one of the events

The main fun to be had however was down at Paseo de la Castellana and Cibeles, where the parade floats were passing by and the processions were in full swing. Me, Mack and her dad Clive spent an hour or so revelling in the atmosphere, flying the rainbow flag and dancing along to the music – generally having a big happy celebration!

Waving my rainbow cape, we made our way back up to Sol in the centre of the city and found a stage erected with crows of people joining in with some live pop music, and I somehow managed to catch a moment where the front of the Real Casa de Correos (one of the most iconic buildings in the city) was free for a pic…

After it was all over it was time for some margaritas at my favourite Mexican joint before heading on the picturesque walk back home – a walk on which I took this lovely photo of the warm sunset just a few days ago! I hope to see Mack again this evening before her and her dad head back home to New Zealand during the night, and I shall be sure to report back shortly with even more updates as I begin to conclude my time here in Madrid – just over three weeks left to go now!

Danni & Abi Visit

24.06.16 — Madrid

Rather than sitting in my bed melting in the summer heat, I thought I’d instead decided to sit in bed and melt in the summer heat whilst typing up a blog post whilst the red-hot underside of my MacBook burns my thighs. All this is worth the sacrifice though, as I am excited to report that two of my favourite people, Danni and Abi, came to visit me here in the sunny Spanish capital for a good few days just this past weekend!

After snatching them from the airport and heading through the city, I had to nip back to work for the afternoon, but in the evening we were sure to grab some delicious tacos and margaritas and wander the night away in the evening heat. Once we’d had enough, we all headed back to the hostel together, as I lived with them for the five days to make it easier and cheaper for us all.

The next day I headed back to work once more, leaving the troublesome twosome alone to explore the city and shop to their hearts’ content, but sooner or later they arrived at the studio to pay a visit – and naturally everyone had to stop working to have an aperitivo on the ping pong table…

During the weekend we spent time wandering round some of the picturesque areas of the city, binging on some lovely food and generally sitting around sipping drinks and having a catch up about what’s been going down back in Burnley and Leeds.

Sooner or later it was Sunday, and of course we walked out of our hostal right into the throws of a big Catholic parade making it’s way down the street, a little like every day of Semana Santa. We followed the smell of incense and the huge effigy being paraded down the high street for a short while, but then we jumped on the Metro and headed towards Casa de Campo for a food market I’d discovered on Instagram…

The food market in question was Madreat, and consisted of a huge area of food trucks and bars in the middle of the greenery of the Casa de Campo in the west of the city. I grabbed some Peruvian food, Abi and Danni grabbed hotdogs, and we sat down to soak in the rays and have a good old relax…

After finishing off our food, we grabbed some ice cream as the heat of the day wore stronger, and sat in the shade of a tree to chatter away and take a selfie (naturally), all before heading back towards the Metro to visit the Matadero down in the south and have a tinto de verano by the river.

Just like that however, it was their last night here in the city, so we all got packed up and headed down to Ópera and Royal Madrid to soak up the last of the sun and enjoy the calm ambience of this laid back city.

The two of them are now back on home turf, and I have managed to get to my new flat after an evening of carrying my ever-heavier suitcase right across the city. I am now living right next to my work in a shared flat with three lovely Spanish girls, and we’ve already had a good couple of evenings laughing and chatting away in both languages – which can get quite confusing!

I leave you now as I have to get showered for an impromptu picnic by the temple, but I shall pop this photo of the spire of the Royal Palace which I can see peeping out over the trees from my window. What a lovely view!

Sunny City Skulking

15.06.16 — Madrid

Today, fellow readers, I am very pleased to be writing to you whilst I being caressed by the cool breeze of my very own air conditioning unit – but all this luxury came from a right royal fiasco in which I realised I hadn’t booked a flat for the dates when I needed one, and hence had to jump on the first thing I could find which I could afford – which just happened to be a lovely modern room in some student-style accommodation in the east of the city. Oh well…

As I basque in the excitement of Danni & Abi’s visit in two days time, for the past week I have been sensing quite acutely the sudden spike in temperatures, but I somehow managed to survive a day peaking at 36° whilst commuting in my jeans. The sun may be doing it’s worst and the air conditioning unit at work may sound like it wants to break through the ceiling under the strain, but the strong light and bright evenings have made for some beautiful photo opportunities…

As you can see, the metal chairs are out on the streets and the trees are in full bloom, and the area around work benefits from the relief of a slight breeze. The best time of day during this weather, however, is in the evening once the sun has set but the air is still pleasant, and to this end I managed to snap a couple of lovely pics of the royal area of Madrid basking in the embers of the day’s sunlight.

Just this evening I was sat in the Oriental Gardens enjoying the evening ambience, when the sky was suddenly filled with dark grey clouds, which naturally I took as a warning of imminent downpour – but I was informed that they come and go frequently here and rarely signal rain. The contrast of the sun illuminating the buildings and the sky in it’s eerie darkness provided an interesting mood…

I am, as I said, now tucked up in bed after a lovely evening visiting my ex-hostess from my old flat, Pilar, with whom I stopped for a caña and a chat as I picked up a bag full of snacks that I’d left at hers over a month ago… Oops. We have arranged to meet up once again soon for a proper drink and some tapas and as we say here, lo que sea – meaning whatever might take our fancy!

Until then, though, I have to pack and prep for the arrival of Danni & Abi just this Thursday… Did I mention I am excited!?

Burnley Youth Theatre in Spain

10.06.16 — Madrid

Every now and then I like to add a soundtrack to my posts, and this one’s is Hello by Martin Solveig. Click here to play it in another window while you have a read through – you’ll see why as you read on.

In my flailing efforts to get my blog back up to date, I’m back with the news that just last weekend my good friends from Burnley Youth Theatre Jess and Amber (Bam) landed at the stupidly named Aeropuerto Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas, which I tend to just call Madrid Airport.

Having talked about it way back when I was working with the Design Council and Burnley Youth Theatre, we used to dream about how cool it would be if I ever got the chance to work out in Madrid, and now here I was all stupidly excited and making a sign for the dramatic airport greeting…

After lots of screaming and hugs at the airport, we headed down to the Metro and got on our way to check in at the hostel, and then I set them off exploring whilst I headed back for work, where we met up just before closing so that they could meet the lovely team and have a snoop around the studio space.

After milling around in the studio, we headed out into the centre for the evening, grabbing some tapas and finding ourselves getting dragged into participation in a Spanish pub quiz! I somehow managed to translate our way through it, and although we didn’t win so much as a free shot, we had lots of fun and ate lots of lovely food.

Another day of exploring the city and eating delicious Mexican food ensued, and before we knew it Saturday had arrived and we were trawling the shops for contributions to a lunch that the owner of my flat, Cati, had graciously invited us to. We were very honoured to have been invited to join the family gathering, and so we grabbed a bottle of red wine and a generous helping of jamón iberico to share and hopped on the bus to the flat.

Once there the Spanish feasting began, with delicious homemade tortilla española (courtesy of Cati and a bag of potatoes from Galicia), jamón, wine, homemade hummus, gazpacho, bread, cheeses, and salad. It was truly delicious, and we snapped this kind of awfully blurry but lovely selfie to remember the occasion by!

Then we retreated to my room so I could change my shoes and shirt, all in preparation for something super exciting – a huge music festival! As Erretres had done the brand design for the first ever Utopía Festival here in Madrid, we were all offered free VIP tickets, so I grabbed some for us three to attend on the Saturday night, where we’d party with David Guetta, Alesso and Martin Solveig!

We headed on foot (which may have been a mistake in the relentless afternoon heat) to the university campus where the festival was taking place, and after jumping the queues with our tickets, wound up relaxing on some picnic benches and outdoor sofas in the VIP area.

We arrived as Solveig was playing, and soon ended up in the little front-row area, dancing and singing along – especially when he played one of my all time electronic favourites, Hello, which you’ll be listening to if you followed my advice at the beginning of the post… or it may have finished if you’re a slow reader.

After another spot relaxing and working out the bar’s token system, we headed back to the main stage as night fell and David Guetta was due on. Suddenly there he was, and we were deafened by a great mix of classics and new material, including the official Euro 2016 anthem that he’s just released – it was the first time it’d ever been played here in Spain, and everyone loved it! Here’s a link to listen, but it’s just not the same as live in front of 20,000 people!

All too soon, though, it was getting late, and we all conceded that we really didn’t know much of what Alesso was playing, so I devoured a burger and we headed back home past a sea of light. We all decided not to rush up on Sunday morning, and after a nightmare trying to hail a cab (after a festival we should have preempted that one a little better) we were all home in bed.

On Sunday their return journey was approaching scarily fast, and so we spent the day chilling out at El Rastro, then heading back to Chueca to sit for a big chat and drinks on the roof of the Mercado de San Antón. It was a lovely chance to find out about what’s been going on back at the theatre, in Burnley and just in England in general – I do get quite disconnected living and working here!

As I said, all too soon Amber and Jess had to leave the city back for home, and so we spent the final evening having our 5000th tinto de verano (similar to sangría) and plate of patatas bravas (a Spanish potato dish) down by the river, before emotional goodbyes had to be said as I jumped in a taxi back to the flat.

I have since been told that Jess has spoken so highly of Madrid that her parents are coming out in a few weeks on a visit of their own! ¡Hala Madrid!