minimunchkin: Madrid

I hardly have any memories of Madrid from our last visit. We thought big city, not much to interest the kids, and so we just set aside one night here as we had to return our car here before flying to London. But in the end with all the changes to our original plans, we ended up staying two nights in Madrid. And when it was time to go, I wish we had had another day or so in this city.

Fuelling up on churro and hot chocolate as we start our drive.

Amateur car wash service. Still under training 😆

We stayed in a very pleasant airbnb in Malasana. Walking around the neighbourhood reminded us of being back in somewhere like Smith Street or St Kilda, with a kind of edgy but also trendy feel to the people and the place. We must have been near a university because every evening there were all these young people were out having drinks at the may bars and restaurants around us.

Entrance of our airbnb

Inside...

Funky shops

A tiny fishmonger just up the road from us.

Our neighbourhood playground

Finally we found a juice place to satisfy someone's mango juice craving!

Are those juices spiked??

Lovely buildings as we walked through the different neighbourhoods.

Our apartment was close enough for us to walk down to Plaza Mayor. Closer to the touristy areas we saw a much heavier police presence, armed with big guns and protective gear, compared to Barcelona. It was both a little worrying but also reassuring to see the police out there. It was pretty quiet when we got to Plaza Mayor, probably because it was only past 7pm, still too early for dinner! We found a restaurant on the quieter side of the square and people watched from there.

Two stand out dishes at dinner. Our appetiser was especially tasty, crispy fried mini squid smothered in creamy yolk. The rabbit paella was pretty good too.

Our happy bunny

We've been operating on Spanish time for awhile now. Breakfast around 10ish, lunch at 2ish and dinner at 9pm. These monkeys have been going to sleep so late, past midnight on some nights. Waking up in the morning is quite an ordeal!

Hardest one to wake up most mornings.

Bed buddies

Breakfast... tortilla de patatas. Yum!

When in Madrid, this place is definitely not to be missed. Mercado San Miguel. We thought it would be a produce market but it's a full on foodie fantasy. Stall after stall selling delicious morsels of yummy goodness!

We had to drag Mia away from here!

So much to choose from!

First course!

Time to chomp down

A small part of our spread

Sharing is caring. Actually she was just feeding her brother so she could control how much of her cake he ate!

Ok, we didn't just eat while we were here. We also walked around and tried to get a feel of local life, did some sightseeing, and also shopped a little.