The Travel Diaries / Madrid

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't been so active on my blog this month, to be honest I'm feeling like I have a little bit of bloggers block at the minute, the inspiration to write anything just isn't really there but I'm hoping I'll get back into it soon because I miss it so much! Also I just wanted to add a little up date in for those who asked about this on my last post, but I did get my university results and I can now confirm that I will be graduating with a 2:1 in Psychology from uni which I'm so happy about!! My graduation ceremony would be this Friday but I decided a while back I wasn't going to it, uni wasn't the best experience for me plus getting up on stage in front of everyone really isn't my thing, so I'm just having my certificate sent to me but I've still got that really satisfied feeling of finally being done! Anyway a while back I booked to go to Madrid with my boyfriend Matty which coincidentally was really soon after I got my uni results so it was like a little treat, so I thought I'd do a post on my trip there because I love writing these and I love looking back on them even more! 

We only went for three nights so we flew from Stansted airport on the Tuesday morning, it's not close to us at all but it's ridiculous how much cheaper it is to fly from there than from say Newcastle airport which is so much closer to us in the car. We booked an apartment from booking.com on a street called Gran Via which is so central and close to everything, plus it's so easy to get to from the airport, we just got the metro rather than a taxi which saved us lots of money. Honestly the apartment we had is definitely up there with my favourite accommodation we have stayed in, it was amazing! If you are ever going to Madrid I'd 100% recommend them, they were called Gran Via Capital apartments, I think they only opened at the start of this year, they were so modern and you had amazing views of Madrid, we were right up on the 12th floor which I love because it's so much quieter and on the 13th floor there was a really nice pool and sunbeds and then a terrace with couches on the other side so you could watch the sunset.

We were all settled into the apartment by about 2pm on the Tuesday so we went out for food and did a bit of shopping and looking around the area we stayed in, There was a place that did these chips really close to our apartment where you picked from about 10 different sauces and they were honestly the best chips I've ever had, it was a Spanish style spicy sauce on them and I know chips definitely are not exotic but we were so hungry and went to the closest place near us and I don't regret it, I've actually got a chip obsession haha I eat them ALL the time but I feel like they're so underrated! After we'd had some food we looked round the shops a bit and I FINALLY for the first time ever got to visit a Sephora and it was amazing! I'm actually so sad we don't have them in the UK, they had such good stuff in that I can't buy in the UK, I go to Orlando in November though where I know they have a much bigger selection of brands I can't get at home so I can't wait to go crazy in a Sephora there! I bought a few face masks and some of Sephora's branded make up items which I really like so far.

 We were getting really tired at this point because of the heat so we went back to the pool for a sunbathe which was really nice, the sun loungers on the roof were so comfy, to be honest it was so nice to be just to be able to sunbathe, we usually go on a beach holiday where I turn into a sun worshipper and we aren't doing that kind of holiday this year so it made me so happy even to have a little time just to chill out on a sun bed. We didn't actually intend on going to Madrid to even bother with  the pool and a sunbathe but being out in the heat all morning does get tiring plus everyone goes out late at night so from around 3-6pm when it is really hot it's so nice to chill by the pool. After that we just went back to our room and had a quick shower and went out for some food, we found a cute little place that did lots of Spanish cheese and meats so had our meal there, also the croquettes in Spain are my favourite thing ever! I love cheese so much and they are all hot cheese croquettes so I ate so many while I was there, they're so nice. We went back to our rooftop after this to watch the sun set, the view you had was amazing and it was such a good way to spend our first night.

The next day we had an earlier start as we were going to Real Madrid's football stadium, we were actually so excited for this we'd been talking about it for a while before and it really didn't let us down, it's so much bigger in real life and on the tour you get to sell the trophy room which was insane, the view from the highest point in the stadium, the locker rooms, you get to go on the pitch and you can sit in the dug out, so if you like football you should definitely do this, it's only 20 euros for an adult ticket for the tour which I don't think is expensive considering how much you see and how long you're in there. Definitely go as early as you can though, it was really busy when we left and we were there for about half 10, when we left the queue was insane! 

We did my favourite part of the trip after this, which isn't a shock because I'm obsessed with food, Matty had said he wanted to go to the Mercado de San Miguel which is a really popular food market in the centre of Madrid, it's in a big glass building and I had no idea what to expect but the food was amazing! I think it's such a good way to try lots of different things as all the portions were small and there was so many different stalls to try from. I had quite a lot of breaded Camembert which is one of my favourite things, lots of fresh juices, chorizo, Spanish pastries and more croquettes, I was so full after it was so much cheaper than going to a restaurant and you get to try so much more so you should definitely go here if you go to Madrid. We had another couple of hours by the pool after this and went out for a wander in the evening, it's such a lovely place to just walk around because you see so much more than just hopping on those tourist buses, so glad we explored on foot.

I was so gutted when it came to our last full day, I really wish we had done 4 nights now instead of 3 but we still got to do everything we wanted, On the last day we spent the majority of the day in Retiro Park which is one of the largest parks in Madrid. It was about a 20 minute walk away from our apartment and we saw quite a few sights on the way there, it was such a gorgeous place when you got there, so huge with such a nice atmosphere and it was so pretty. We hired a rowing boat on the lake here which was really nice, you get 45 minutes out there and there is lots of fish jumping out the water and musicians busking around you plus the weather is so nice to top it off. Definitely another one of my favourite parts of the trip was being on the lake there. We had another couple of hours back at the apartment after staying here having a sunbathe then we went out for the evening for a meal in Plaza Mayor square which I probably wouldn't recommend, eating in the square is lovely but the restaurants there are quite expensive and the food isn't even that nice which was a shame. But after this we went to a famous churro place in Madrid called Chocolateria San Gines, it's really easy to find and the churros are amazing! You get a big cup of thick melted chocolate and six churros for about 4 euros I think it was and it's such a nice place to sit outside and chill out.

We had to fly home on the Friday morning which was so depressing, I absolutely loved it here and definitely want to go back at some point, thankfully I have Rome to look forward to in late August which I'm so excited for so if you've been and have any tips or suggestions I'd love to hear them! This was such a long post so if you made it to the end then well done haha, let me know in the comments if you've been to Madrid and what you thought!