Madrid

Last weekend I celebrated my birthday with friends in Madrid. Included in my friends list was Gina and Jess both whom work with me at cruise.co, Gina a cruise specialist like myself and Jess in our sales support team.

We took the high speed train from Malaga to Madrid on Saturday morning and was in the city center just over 2 hours later. After a couple of stops on the metro we reached Puerto del Sol, one of the main center points of Madrid. Our accommodation was just a 5 minute walk from here.  I had booked a hostel for the 7 of us, 2 x doubles and 1 x tripe room all with private bathrooms. I was a bit anxious as normally we all like to stay in 4* plus hotels, but the weekend was busy and hotels expensive. This hostel fit the price budget, location and had some reassuring reviews. Unlike conventional hotels, it turned out to be fantastic and better than some 4* plus hotels some of us had stayed in.

The streets leading up to the hotel was full of tapas bars and restaurants, so at least we wouldn’t go thirsty or hungry! The outside left a lot to be desired and a flamenco club was beneath the sign for the Hotel. But once inside a different story. The DiezMadrid Hostel was a great find, there was an unlimited amount of bottled water, a complimentary bottle of red wine, cheese and crackers for each guest (not just per room), complimentary toiletries of a good standard and slippers too. The hostel was decorated to the highest quality and recently refurbished and I would have no hesitation in staying here again or recommending to anyone looking for a central base in Madrid.

After checking in we walked around the corner and got settled at one of the Tapas bars, we had a feast of Tapas between the 7 of us and was stuffed with the amount we ordered, with drinks included, we was amazed when presented with a bill for less than €10 a head.

After finding a bar that had English football for the boys to watch the Chelsea game, the girls headed to the Gran Via for a bit of shopping and a cold beverage and gossip before heading back to get ready for that evenings meal.

It was horrendous trying to get into a restaurant that would cater for 7 of us as the city was heaving, but eventually after trawling around for an hour, we finally found a place to eat and started my birthday celebrations.

We decided on do the hop on hop off bus around Madrid on the Sunday (my actual birthday) and at a cost of €21 for 2 bus options, it wasn’t bad value for money. However, we was advised that for this particular Sunday only, we would have to wait until at least 3pm for the buses to start. Which did give us an opportunity to have a bit of a lie in after the vodka from the night before and a decent breakfast. The city was still heaving and lots of stage areas with live music being performed plotted around the city, we then found out that this Sunday morning was the Madrid Marathon, the same as in London, so now we knew why everything was so busy and hectic.

The tour itself was actually very boring and we all agreed not the best HOHO bus we had done compared to other cities, which was a shame. However, we couldn’t complain as the weather was fantastic and the company great, so we made the most of the sights and watched the city pass by.

Plus that evening, there was a small football match on – Real Madrid v Barcelona or something like that… so the Bernabeu Stadium was a bit hectic when we passed.

The boys and Jess headed off to the pub to watch the game and me and the other girls enjoyed a beautiful dinner in the Plaza Santa Anna in the main square watching the world go by.

Monday was check out, breakfast and head on back to Atocha Station for the train back to Malaga. It was a great weekend, full of laughs, making memories and great company. I think the next trip is Barcelona.. so watch out!

Dawn

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