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I uploaded a few photos from the last days in Madrid, without any particular theme. They are mostly from the walk I took in the western part of Madrid – going from Plaza del Sol on Gran Via.

There is also one food pic inside, which is a new thing for me.

After 6 days spent in Lisbon and around I returned to Madrid. It was interesting to re-familiarize myself with the city… From the familiar metro stations – nuevos ministerios, tribunal, sol, tirso de molina…. – to the language which I definitelly understand better than Portuguese. Feels a bit like home.

The hostel in which I’m staying right now definitelly is the best I saw – I really should post some pics to do it justice. Suffice to say it is located in a building in the national patrimony (almost like a paradores), with a common area resembling a mosque cloister or hi-tech key access. Oh, and it also has a bar. And a beer vending machine (from which I had the pleasure of drinking a dark voll damm). Lovely.

Now I will go visit Thiessen Bornemisza museum, and find something to eat – as I am starving.

weather in Madrid

I think I didn’t get the occasion to talk about the weather here. Yes, lovely weather – sunny and warm. Incredibly nice!

The view from hostel

Spring in Madrid

I went to the weekend flea market – full of useless stuff, pretty interesting nonetheless.  Lots of people browsing / shopping but the items for sale were mostly the classic tshirts, purses, belts. There were a few …. more exotic items, but those I will post about tomorrow.

After the flea maerket I decided to stroll toward El Prado and La Reina Sofia. However, I decided to visit the Prado later, as after 5pm the entrance was free.

Also found the nice Retiro park, with it’s Velasquez and Crystal palaces.

The queue to El Prado

The Rodin exhibition at Caixa Forum

Later, after running to the hostel to change some batteries  for the camera I went back to El Prado. And at that moment I realized my folly. Just as I thought to take advantage of the free entrance, so did a few hundred other people. The queue was I’d say longer than the one at San Pietro in ROme – and that is an achievemnt!

However, things changed for the better as leaving the Prado I found in the vicinity a temporary Rodin exhibition at Caixa. The 4 or 5 statues were outside the building, which itself was housing a fauvist painting exhibition. Too bad photography was not permitted inside, as there were a few nice paintings.

There was also a modern art exhibition, and I really enjoyed some of the exhibits. And for me, modern art doesn’t always make sense.

Before ending this post and going to sleep, I post a few more pictures. Enjoy!

Hostel living room

Waiting for a mocha frap

Starbucks grande mocha frappucino - the fuel I run on

Cervantes building

I must say that Madrid is amazing in the evening / at night. There are so many people strolling, drinking at cafes or bars, preparing for clubbing – it’s really incredible. At times the streets or plazas were crowded!

You can see some first photos in this album: http://andreinicoara.com/blog/photos/madrid/

delicious-looking freshmade bread

yummy

I found a small open-air market selling local products – some kind of peasants’ market.

Pretty interesting, and even though I am not into healthy food I could not resist a glass of cider.

After this, I continued my way toward Plaza Mayor and Palacio Real, which were my first targets for the evening.

As the evening progressed my camera started to have problems with the low-light levels. And oh, the photo oportunities were at every step.

I finished the evening in Plaza del Sol, which is in a way the heart of Madrid. There was a huge crowd – amazing how life here seems to start after 8 or 9 pm.

I ate a kebab on the move, as I was too tired to enjoy staying at a cafe, but I could not resist going to the mothership of icecream. Yes, Haagen Dasz. Umm, delicious – however this morning my throat is a bit sore. Hope it passes soon.

Speaking of party life here, I sort of met my room-mates. Actually I found them sound asleep at 9 pm, but later they left for drinks and clubbing.

And now I leave, probably for Prado. In the meantime, enjoy the first Madrid photo-album.

From the airport I took the metro to Madrid proper. Pretty simple layout, I love cities where the metro is extensive and useful My hostel – Las Musas Residence – is centrally located, very near the “Porta del Sol” (which is the center of Madrid).

Pretty nice area – no more Chinatown around me (like it happened in Rome).  The hostel seems nice, can’t wait to meet the roomies. Now I will go to find  something to gobble. Why not start the evening with some tapas?

Visit often as soon I will post new stuff, right as it happens!

Madrid metro cow

Airport metro station

Tirso de Molina metro

Street view with the hostel

My room

The lovely living room - sofas, huge tv, free WIFI

Ola a todos! As the title implies, I just arrived in Madrid, and because I needed to do a bit of research about what to see today / early tomorrow I decided to also post some bits about today.

I woke at the ungodly hour 6am, in order to prepare the baggage. Of course that last night, instead of resting and putting things in order I went with 2 lovely friends (they know who they are!) to a cafe and then to a Chinese restaurant. So early morning I was very sleepy, and obviously I forgot some things at home.

To cut a longer story short, I awaited a lot of time in Otopeni airport, dozing about 1 hour.

The plane was pretty colorful and nice – it even had a soft background music! Of course, some security guy had to point to me that I’m not supposed to take pictures in an airport. Ha!

Otopeni airport mall

Orange Easyjet plane

In-flight literature