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.

At the Palacio Real

Our shopping loot. Pink shoes for the little lady (there was no talking her out of buying these 😓).

Young man's Made in Madrid cat shirt.

We ended our stay here with yet another excellent meal. Madrid turned out to be a wonderful end to our European road trip. 

Modern Spanish tapas 

Here ends our 6 weeks European road trip.

Seville

Seville was all about resting and taking it easy, giving Mia time to recuperate. We slept in, took short walks, ate well (at one restaurant in particular), did a little sightseeing, watched a flamenco dance, and did some shopping, well one little did.

A cool walk along the river after dinner.

Inside the Catedral de Sevilla

Tomb of Christopher Columbus

She found a perfect way to cool her arms down!

Seville was filled with little lanes like this, with little shops, restaurants and flamenco houses.

La Giralda - the tallest landmark in Seville 

Dancers at La Casa del Flemenco

 So inspired after the show, she needed her own costume! 

We're getting used to the Spanish lifestyle... dinner at 9pm after the show.

I read about this restaurant on one of those travel blogs about Seville, supposedly one of the best modern Spanish restaurants. After a quick check on TripAdvisor, great reviews here too, we went for lunch the next day. The place, which was fairly small, was packed with lots of people waiting for tables at their small bar. Most of the people were locals, definitely a good sign. We waited for over half an hour for a table, it was definitely worth the wait.

Burrata salad and tuna potato salad 

Everything was delicious!

This little girl has been so brave throughout the whole ordeal. She was in so much pain when she fell yet once she calmed down and was given some pain relief, she was chirpy and in good spirits during the eight hour hospital stay. She whines and whinges about how uncomfortable and hot her hands are, and yes she goes on about how she "misses her old life before she had to wear the casts" 😆 but she's been a real trooper. We really thank God that she wasn't hurt more seriously and she's healing well.

Granada

We'd initially planned on doing the golden triangle, but that changed after Mia's fall. We had less time so decided just to go to Granada to visit the Alhambra. This was all decided at the last minute, and I only looked online to try and book tickets as we were driving there. I had a panic attack when I looked at the official ticketing site and all the tickets were sold out for that day! But thank goodness I managed to find a combo ticket that we could buy.  Imagine if we had driven all the way here and couldn't get in to see this historical site 😱. 

So different from the western style churches that we've seen so far.

Beautifully intricate carvings on the walls.

Little Miss here decided she'd had enough and plonked herself down on a chair. The casts was making her very hot.

View of Granada from the top of Alhambra 

Beautiful flowers in the garden

Back in the town centre for dinner.

Interesting appetiser - anchovies on potato chips 

Cold meats, the salted tuna on the right corner was very good.

Steak, hardly enough to satisfy the boy's hunger. I loved those peppers.