City Break - Madrid (part two)

With 4 full days to explore Madrid I decided to use my feet, always reckon the best way to see a City is by walking and to be fair its a City that doesn't let you down, some lovely plazas and many interesting buildings.

Before travelling i'd purchased a guide book that had a few recomended walking routes so i followed them with a few of my own variations with of course a few coffee stops.







Obviously as I had a Metro ticket i used the trains to get to and from the starts of the various walks.

First full day i spent around the Medievel district which is the main city centre, my first route took me from the Sol plaza along the road to Plaza Mayor, then down some steps in the south west corner of the square.

The route took me around many churches, small Plazas and along many narrow streets with cafes and taverns along the way. Also visited a couple of indoor markets along the route (good place to find a toilet because Madrid is a little short of public toilets).

After a Lunch lunch i arrived at Isobel Plaza then along to the Palace and its amazing grounds. Did intend to go in the Palace but the queue was riddiculous so gave it a miss and just got a few pics from the outside.

Next day I started at Plaza Espanya on a walk that took me along the Gran Via and its amazing buildings eventually came to a big roundabout where i turned right along a road full of museums eventually finishing near the botanical gardens.

Take note if you go straight on at the roundabout (near the arch) about 50yards on your left is a cracking Irish Pub called the James Joyce, had done my homework and had lunch there.

Must admit should have gone back one night as they had live music on but was a bit away from the hotel and involved changes on the metro.

Did take note the the Spanish Naval museum was along the road incase i ran out of places to visit or it started raining. Just interested to hear the Spanish version of events during the Armada.



Third day the weather had cooled (first two were hot and sunny) so it was off with shorts and on with the Jeans for a visit to Retiro which is a big park.








Spent lots of the day in the area and was plenty going on, a couple of footie matches for a start which i stopped off and watched for an hour or so while recharging the batteries.



Although Madrid is walker friendly it has a lot of subtle hills add to that all the stairs to get to the Metro my legs were starting to feel it.

Also that day was a big charity cycle ride going on around the city, many ending up in the park, bits of entertainment (music) scattered about.
Turned out a nice relaxing day.

On last full day I got metro to the Bernabou (Reals stadium) for a couple of photos, didn't do the tour though as on principle not going to pay anything towards Ronaldos wages, will leave that to the many Japanese tourists that were there.

Afterwards got Metro to Lago where there is a massive lake you can walk around with many lakeside restaurants.

Not just the lake the area is a a massive area with lots of bike and walking trails, a big one around the area is 15km so any keen walkers take your boots.
Its what i would call dry scrub land but i did walk a section (2km or so) to the Casa de Campo (near the Zoo) metro stop before getting train back to the city centre.

Nightime twice i went into the City and twice tried a number of the bars close to my hotel. Was a Irish Pub (Molly Mallones) within 10 mins and lots of other interesting places including a couple of Rock Bars.

Must say as a solo traveller i found Madrid and the people very friendly, everywhere i seemed to stop ended up talking to someone which doesn't always happen.

I would recommend anyone to visit, very nice and i would say safe place for us tourists.

On my return home i set the alarms off at both Madrid & Heathrow, had my hands, belt and shoes swabbed then tested in a machine.
I asked if it was drugs at heathrow assuming i'd touched something in a bar but was told it was explosives that was alarming.
However the chap at heahrow said it was a very low reading and could be anything such as some soaps or shower gels causing the alarm.