Figuring Out How To Fall in Love With Madrid
And still not quite knowing the answer
Hola!
With Valentine’s Day coming up, I have been thinking a lot about love lately. Not just in the romantic sense, or even in the platonic sense with other people, but the general appreciation you can have for a place or thing.
Every city I visit I always have a strong feeling. Sometimes, that feeling isn’t necessarily a good one, but regardless there is immediately something that clicks. Madrid though? It took me a while to figure out how to feel about the city I would be living in for the next six months.
Now that I have been here a month, I can say that I still am not quite sure if I love Madrid yet.
Maybe the city and I are just in a slow-burn romance, but I have been trying to help myself along to find hidden gems in the city and see the bustling tourist sights in an attempt to fall in love.
The first Madrid bucket list item I crossed off my list was watching the sunset with my roommates at Parque de El Retiro. I wandered around by myself for a little while, seeing the plazas, restaurants and pond where there were rowboats floating about.
The sunset was beautiful on the water and lots of locals were around playing music too, so overall it was one of my favorite moments in Madrid.
Other outdoor activities that I slowly started checking off of my list as the weather warms up include the Royal Botanical Gardens. I was able to get in for just 1 euro as a “student” and walk the—admittedly—mostly dead green spaces. But! There were still lots of plants that could withstand the cold in bloom that made for some beautiful views.
There’s also almost something poetic about entering something nicknamed “the living museum” and you end up surrounded by decaying things.
Attached the the gardens though was an entrance to a photography exhibit as well as an interactive museum centered around electricity and energy.
I spent at least two hours just enjoying all of the activities and lessons the museum had on various touchscreens, light-up displays and hands-on structures. Most of it may have been in Spanish, but I still felt like I learned a lot!
Another staple from my week of exploring this city was finding a cute bookstore that had an expansive English section compared to other bookshops I’ve stopped in. I ended up leaving with a copy of “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”
I’ve also explored the food scene a bit more while I’ve been here, and while Spanish food is nowhere near my favorite cuisine, I did highlight a couple of places that impressed me.
More so for drinking rather than eating, I found a cocktail bar I’ve visited more than once. Another Houston native, Nick, and I went to a place called “Ficus” for a glass of wine where I later took my roommates and tried a pomegranate lemongrass cocktail which had me using a mortar and pestle to make the accouterments myself.
HanSo Cafe had a killer red velvet latte and avocado eggs benedict on a bagel that I enjoyed. One thing I’ve noticed about cafes in this city is the occasional signage saying you aren’t allowed to have your laptop out during weekends or holidays. It sort of ties into the heavy work-life balance Madrid tries to pursue.
For a nice sweet treat, I went to Demasie with my fellow Southerner, Hailey. Afterward, we walked around for a couple of hours and just explored all of the shops and views the city had to offer.
I also got tapas with Tanja and Nadia right near the Prado Museum (which I will eventually go in, I can only do so many tourist things at a time!) and we had a whole table loaded with patatas bravas, calamari, sangria, a burger and my ensalada de ruso (otherwise known as Russian potato salad).
I will have a whole separate post on all of the food I am eating while I explore Spain, so stay tuned for that.
As far as nightlife goes, I’ve had some relaxed nights out where I attended a poetry night at an adorable bar with the most incredible mango pisco sour I’ve ever had. Ignore the fact that it was the first mango pisco sour I’ve ever had.
My roommates and I also finally had a Spanish night out to go and dance our hearts out. A few of us ended the night at 4 A.M., which for the Spaniards was way too early and made us lame. But, on the way out of the club, I had a life-changing chicken sandwich that I have to go back for at some point. If only I could remember where it was.
One final Madrid highlight I got to experience in my journey of trying to find my spark in this city was shopping at El Rastro, the very large open-air flea market hosted in La Latina on Sundays.
When we arrived right off of the subway we were overwhelmed with shop booths, jewelry stands, hangers of leather jackets and walls of posters. Only being there for an hour let us cover maybe 1/8th of the market and I felt like there was so much more to explore. I did walk away with a nice silk shirt and a ring to add to my souvenir jewelry collection.
Overall, the review of Madrid is still pending. There are plenty of things that turn me off of this city, such as subways stopping at 1 A.M. or customer service being nonexistent, but there are also small joys I can find without even looking sometimes.
I feel like the best part of the move has been finding a community with Spanish locals as well as other English speakers living here. I am on this parallel journey with my roommates, I’m learning from my coworkers who have been here for a year or more now and I’m reaching out to folks who have lived here for 5+ years. Every single person is navigating their own relationship with this city, and I am glad to have their perspective as I shape my own.
I’m sorry I don’t have a definite answer for you just yet, but I promise, I’ll keep you updated on when I can bring myself to drop the L word to Madrid.
For now, I have been booking many trips for the future and I cannot wait to tell you all about them. I’m even more excited to experience them first though!
Until then, I’ll talk to you soon.
Adios!