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I'm off to Madrid on Thursday for work for a few days. Knowing my colleagues, I think I'll have a couple of spare hours on the evenings to mooch around, what should I do? I'm staying and working around the Plaza Major in the centre.
Apparently dinners are already booked but I'm not averse to a snack before dinner if there's somewhere awesome to raise a glass and have a small bite.
There's not a lot to 'do' in that context.
Me, i'd sit there in the Major and just watch the people... the cultures, the differences.
The places to sit and eat were just generic cafes/bars really. No better or worse than any other major city.
Or, take train and do the Santiago Bernabau tour which was great 🙂
weeksy - that's my usual thing. Last couple of trips have been Budapest so I've done a lot of random walking, sitting in cafes etc rather than doing any sights as such.
The Raina Sofia museum is great and has more interesting funky modern art than the Prado or Thyssen, and is open in the evening.
The food stools in the mercado de san miguel off Calle Mayor also worth it, if a bit of a yuppy tourist place...
The Prado's open until 8PM if you like art. I haven't bothered to check but I imagine both the Thyssen and the Reina Sofia have similar opening hours.
Otherwise what weeksy says - I'd probably avoid the Plaza Mayor itself as it's an overpriced tourist trap, but there are plenty of other bars available.
And you could also visit Europe's largest Primark on the Gran Via 😀
One last point - there's a cold spell about to hit here, minimum temperatures for Thursday are forecast to be around -3. It won't be warm!
I wouldn't pay for anything in Plaza Mayor as it's a total rip off in the bars, I'd people watch in Plaza Santa Ana (still touristy, but less rip off than Plaza Mayor) or Plaza Dos de Mayo.
For sight seeing, get down to Atocha station and have a beer there, wander around El Buen Retiro, C/Serrano. More beers and people watching to be done in the bars on Recoletos.
Another cool area is just beghind Plaza Mayor to the left of C/Mayor as you head towards the cathedral.
Malasaña and Chueca are vibrant and you should have a wander up and down C/Hortaleza and C/Fuencarral.
Spoilt for choice really.
Yep - staying in Chueca for a weekend in May and looking forward to it 🙂
Yep - staying in Chueca for a weekend in May and looking forward to it
The weather will be a lot nicer then, too!
minimum temperatures for Thursday are forecast to be around -3. It won't be warm!
It's -4 here today so I'll just dress like I do at home 😛
It's -4 here today so I'll just dress like I do at home
🙂
It was a "just in case" warning - I've met people who seem to think Spain is permanently warm, which might be the case in the Canaries but certainly isn't true in Madrid!
Ha ha, friends of Mrs Gti have moved to the Costa and were beginning to annoy us with their smug emails. Suddenly they've gone very quiet though and the last email mentioned that they planned to install heating in their ostentatious gin palace.
Thursday? take a coat its below freezing at this time of year,
Sol, Plaza mayor, opera and grand via give you the big sights (and they are not that big to be honest). There's a fab cake shop on the west side of Sol and a great group of food shops and bars in an old iron market just west of plaza mayor.
But Madrid is more about the vibe for me. A wander linking plaza santa ana, fuencarral, plaza de san ildefonso over towards plaza de las comendadoras will give you good range of the vibe giving atmosphere and people watching.
-5 today and the wind chill is taking it down further. Madrid is 10 degrees. I'm going in shorts and a tshirt.
Thanks for the recommendations. Walking tour and an occasional glass of wine then unless I find somewhere doing craft beer.
Thanks for the recommendations. Walking tour and an occasional glass of wine then unless I find somewhere doing craft beer.
http://www.fmaravillas.com/ in Malasaña, lots of other little bars around there. Near Plaza Dos de Mayo which captainsasquatch mentioned earlier. Here: https://goo.gl/maps/zeh9y9zXRYP2
By all means wear shorts and a tshirt if you wish. It'll certainly be refreshing and you'll amuse the locals.
mogrim you bastard, that craft beer place is a few hundred metres from my hotel. Guess my walk ends there. Chub club progress is not going to be pretty at the end of the weekend.
If you get peckish...
mogrim you bastard, that craft beer place is a few hundred metres from my hotel.
Here's another one a little bit up the road, then: http://www.thestuyckco.com/
https://goo.gl/maps/sWTad8hhj2n
(This one serves food too).
😈