Spain – Madrid 13/10/16 – 15/10/16
A short flight from Gatwick and we were in Madrid – Spain. Once out of terminal 1 it was a 30 minute shuttle bus ride to its central train station costing only €5 pp, then in a taxi to our digs. We’re staying at the Hostal Florida right in the centre of Madrid in a double ensuite room. We’ve only got 3 nights booked and it was around 3pm when we arrived, and as we’ve got an early flight when we leave, we’ve only got 2 full days to explore.
Madrid is a relatively large city, but easy enough to get around by foot, metro or hop on hop off bus. We chose the latter at a cost of €21 pp for a 1 day ticket. This bus has 2 routes and we had plenty of time to do both, and go sight seeing. Like any other city hop on hop off bus it takes you around all of the tourist attractions, and like any other it was an “opened top bus”. As its mid October, the day was cloudless and sunny, however there was certainly a cold nip in the air so take a scarf! We visited all that was on offer, taking snaps of everywhere, with such beautiful architecture, culture and shopping, Madrid has it all. It’s a very clean city and very comfortable to get around I.e. not threatening in any way. Even at night, the streets were bustling with crowds, and there was plenty of street theatre on every corner. On our first night, we went to a traditional flamenco dinner/dance show. We paid €35 pp for entry and the first drink. You choose what you want to eat from there and pay the balance at the end. We of course went for traditional food and drink and made our way through a huge pan of Paella washed down with 2 jugs of Sangria. This show was great the venue packed and as you would expect prices were high. However a great night full of the best Spanish culture you can find.
On day 2, we did a bit of shopping, more sight seeing and was able to get tickets for a musical called “The Hole Zero”. The theatre where it was playing was only 100m from our digs. It’s a prequel to “The Hole” and “The Hole 2”, this one told the story of how Studio 54 started out in America. What a fantastic show, (we didn’t understand the jokes or story telling), but we really loved the acrobats, dance routines and of course the music of the 70’s and 80’s. It was like Cirque Du Solie meets a circus meets glam rock meets debauchery. It was brilliant, all the famous songs from Donna Summer, Bacarac, Gloria Gaynor, Tina Charles and many many more. We sang our hearts out as we watched in amazement the actors. One of which was a ballet dancer high up on a tight rope going to and fro on her toes, another was trapeze artists doing their stuff to the Bee Gees “Tragedy”. The list went on, all joined together by an MC (who looked and sang like Donna Summer), and even she had a “mini me”, a dwarf who was dressed exactly the same as the MC. A truly magnificent night out.
Madrid is a great city and both Tina and me think this has been the best city we’ve travelled to on our trip so far. Again its a place where we wished we had more than 2 full days in, and if we’re ever doing long hall again we will definitely be back for a longer stretch. 2 days in not nearly enough to see the city in all its grandeur.