The Trip - Segunda Parte

FYI, Segunda Parte is Spanish for Part Two. That's for those who are curious but don't want to ask anyone. Rather than update the previous post with pictures from London, I have decided to add them to this one. Here are a few of them.

A brother Beefeater? Why not?!

Front View of the Buckingham Palace

I was just being silly

Trafalgar Square

Countdown to London 2012 @ Trafalgar Square

Westminster Abbey

Okay there were many more pictures as most of you who are friends of mine of Facebook can see but I can't post all of them here.

So back to the trip. It was early Monday morning when Amy and I said our goodbyes to her parents. Well, it was more like "see you in Rome". We audibled based on the misstep by the Irish Embassy and chose Madrid to go spend our Euros.

We'd both never been to Spain and to be honest we would have rather flown to Barcelona but Madrid was less expensive both to fly into and out of to Rome.

It was warmer in Madrid and definitely warmer than Dublin which we found out had freezing rain...burr.

We liked Madrid. It's really not a tourist destination of note and isn't really marketed as one. It's more of a Cosmopolitan City and it's main attractions for tourists are the Palacio Real de Madrid (The Royal Palace of Madrid) and Puerta Del Sol (and la Plaza Mayor which is close to Puerta Del Sol).

The people were friendly and warm and getting around was much cheaper than London.

We started by checking out Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun) and it was something else! It reminded me of Oxford Street or Piccadilly Circus in London. Lots of people and acts going on at the same time.

 

We toured Palacio Real de Madrid for ten euros each which I thought was an absolute steal! Hey Spain, let me help you with some of your financial issues - Double the prices of all your tourist attractions! I thought they were too inexpensive. 

Much bigger than the picture shows

Funny hats

We had very good food in Madrid. Although at one point we almost ate at what can only be described by myself as a Spanish Applebees *shudder*. One of their main dishes is Paella (rice based dish). 

Paella on my plate and Soup on Amy's

Amy had to pull me away from this awesomeness

On our last evening there, we went off script with the food to check out the highly rated restaurant "Home Burger Bar". Recommended for Americans...why not? 

911 Burger named for its Spiciness

An espresso to wash it down

Other things of note we spotted was "Mullet Dreads" as Amy called the look. Mullet Dreads, please if you are reading this, I respect the look and it was Amy who made me take the picture. I am sharing your do with world so that maybe it catches on.

One more thing. I do want to commend the hotel we stayed at for being fabulous. If you go to Madrid, stay at Hotel Nuevo Boston. It's close to the airport but getting around isn't hard to do in this city. 


If you need any tips on getting around Madrid as a tourist, let me know...I think we did what we could albeit in a small way to stimulate the Spanish economy. 


Rome will be covered next.