From Barcelona To Madrid

After visiting Monserrat and getting back to Barcelona I had a pretty chill evening. I did however, visit a laundromat for the first time ever in my life. Pretty exciting to wash my clothes from the last week or so. It also meant that the next day packing everything I didn’t have to pack too many dirty clothes. I had a pretty easy last day in Barcelona. I just took it slow in the morning, caught up on some work, and headed out to grab something to eat. Then I pretty much just rinsed and repeated that for the day.

I decided to head out to Nevermind bar again for my last night and just chatted to a few people there. Had a great chat to one of the bartenders about music and travel, before heading over to the Betty Ford Bar with some other new acquaintance and meeting some more people. I had already had a good drink at Nevermind, as free-pouring is a thing in Spain. There are reasons I do like a mixer. However then I ended up at a bar where they serve you shots for $2EURO. I politely had my drink or two here with new people before deciding it was a good idea to be a good girl, and head home to bed. I had a day in transit ahead of me. The last thing I wanted was to be hungover at an airport.

In the morning I was pleased with my previous choices of 1. picking up extra food the day earlier from the vegan cafe, and 2. stopping and going home when I did the night before. I checked out, got picked up by my airport transfer and arrived at the airport ready to head to Madrid. Once I got to Madrid and checked into my hotel I did my standard wander to find somewhere to eat dinner, and stop off at a supermarket for some room snacks.

For the first time ever I have had breakfast as part of my hotel experience. I booked in for the 8:30am breakfast, so I get up and head to the dining hall for that in the morning. It’s been good, getting to eat some toast with jam, along with some pineapple and orange, and of course a couple cups of coffee. So instead of trying to go find somewhere to eat at the start of each day I instead just get to head straight off to do something else.

On Saturday (2nd July) I headed to the Museum. The only thing I really had on my to must do in Madrid list was to go see Guernica. They don’t allow photos on the whole 2nd floor of the The Museo Reina Sofía. It’s where they keep the Picasso’s and the Dali’s that they want to control the copyright of photos over. Well, that’s my thinking behind why it is, how it is. There is like 2 – 3 people in each room on photo snapper watch and they are ON it! They don’t even let you take photos of the signs next to pieces, so standing there making notes in your phone is the preferred option.

It was good having had breakfast before leaving the hotel. The museum was about a 25 minute walk away and I headed there for a 10am-ish start. I ended up spending about 5 hours exploring the 4 levels of the museum. There were some great exhibitions and even though not all had English translations there were powerful messages that transcended language.

Once I finished looking around, I got a bit peckish so headed off in search of something to nibble on before retiring back to my hotel room.

Sunday was all about the market. There is a huge street market on Sunday’s filled with locals and tourists alike. I wandered down for a stroll around and ended up buying myself a skirt that also doubles as a dress, looks super cute and only cost $15 EURO ($23AUD). This skirt would cost double if it was at St. Andrew’s market.

After doing some shopping I headed back to my hotel to drop off my shopping and rest up a bit as I was off to see Crowded House that night! Yep. That’s right. Over Christmas I just happened to spot that they were playing in Madrid at the same time I was going to be there so I got myself a present. It was an amazing show and of course I bumped into Dom & Jack, (the other 2 Aussies in the crowd at the front) and we all got to enjoy this epic experience together. It was so surreal to see the crowd on the other side of the world that had come out for the night to sing along and celebrate Crowded House.

It was an outdoor gig held at a botanical gardens venue. It was set up so well, with food, drinks, and market stalls. I got myself some earrings. Note to anyone that goes to a gig like this in Madrid, don’t take your drink bottle. Even an empty drink bottle can not enter the gig with you. So I ended up cloaking my drink bottle for $2EURO. It’s a Tupperware one. It’s got a lifetime guarantee on it, I’m not turfing it. To be honest though, I don’t really notice people using reusable drink bottles in Spain that much. I do feel that pulling out my drink bottle is my neon sign of ‘Hey, I’m not from here.”

On Monday, I decided to be pretty chill and mostly spent the day in my hotel room. I had a day trip planned for the next day, so took this as an opportunity to do some work and catch up on some TV viewing. I was starting to get a bit exhausted with feeling that I had to be moving and doing things constantly, so was content with myself just leaving my room to go and eat some food. To be honest, I even just went and got some chips, and came back to my room to eat them while watching TV. It was one of those days, which I think after about 2 weeks of travelling and exploring, I needed. Just a day to myself and to switch off a bit from concentrating on all the things. It’s been nice just letting myself live in Madrid a bit more than rush myself to see and do everything. There isn’t any reason I can’t come back here again in the future.