Hola, M a d r i d!

Yesterday, Esther (my roommate), Samra and I headed into the city to together in the 35 degree heat... yes, you read correctly, 35 degrees! But don't worry, we were prepared for the sun! I'm not sure about the others but I applied a lot of suncream on. To enter Madrid city centre, we're required to take the bus which surprisingly only takes 15 minutes at a cost of 3 euro 60 (each way).

Selfie at the bus stop, why not?!

As we arrived into Madrid, we decided to walk into central Madrid from the bus station which took around 20-25 minutes...in fact, we walked everywhere yesterday - excellent way to keep fit! ...not so great for the feet though ^^'. Upon arrival into central Madrid, we found a Spanish restaurant to have lunch in. By this time, we were all pretty hungry...so food and drink was exactly what we needed. It was a small, compact restaurant named Tapas 44. The food was mediocre...I'm pretty sure we saw pictures of paella on the outside however when we sat down and viewed the menu...there was not one dish of paella! EPIC FAIL! Nevertheless, the food filled our hungry tummies and I was grateful to have my first 'Spanish' meal with Esther and Samra. I apologise that I cannot remember the names of the two dishes below!

 

After lunch, we walked around having a look at the different shops in the area. Little did we know, we had walked into Sol. Sol is supposedly "the best known and busiest places in Madrid". There were several little clothing shops and dessert parlours - some would describe this as heaven! 

Not that busy for a Saturday, right?

Our main aim of the day was to visit Parque de Retiro - one of the most famous parks around the world and now I understand why that is. It took us a while to figure out where we were and where our destination was on this map. 

We had the option of taking the metro to the park but we chose to be healthy, young people and walked a further 20 minutes to it. I must admit, this was walk was a little challenging...it's actually quite difficult to walk in 35 degree weather with the sun literally beaming down on you constantly! =.= a bottle of water or two is a must in this sort of heat!! We stumbled across some really cool buildings along the way too :) 

But nothing could compare to the views we had of Parque de Retiro... the park is full of beautiful vibrant green gardens and lots of water fountains. In the middle is a large lake for people to go on little boats with friends and you can also go on the boat tour(?) not the best boat ride I guess... It was mandatory for us to have a go on the little boats and try and row us across the lake! It was a really fun experience as I've never rowed any form of boat before and it was also very tiring especially in this heat - a great way to work those biceps though =P 

Having spent a good few hours relaxing and enjoying this beautiful park, we decided to walk back into Sol to find a nice restaurant to have dinner in. Another 20 minutes walk later, we stumbled across a restaurant named "Café & Tapas". This time we had a ganders at the menu before we sat down...making sure that there definitely was paella!! 

I didn't take photos of our entire dinner but we ordered, seafood paella, calamari, garlic prawns, Spanish tortilla (omlette). Oh, along with our smoothies! All three look the same flavour but they were all different...ever so refreshing ^^. This was the best meal I have had in Madrid so far... my family and friends know that I am a big eater so you can imagine how excited I am to try the different Spanish food! 

Our first day trip to Madrid was successful. Unfortunately, we did not get to spend the day with the other TA's that also went into the city that day. However we all had a great time regardless and next time we can head out together and enjoy our time here all together! I'm not going to want to leave here if every trip out to the city is as good as yesterday's ^___^

- Tiffany