Madrid in a day

Before flying to Ibiza to work remotely, we spent one full day in Madrid with two of my friends. I think a day in any place is never enough, but we gladly took it as a challenge and ventured to see multiple different sides of Madrid in a day.

We arrived to Madrid late on a Friday evening and took a cab for 30 € to the Atocha area in the city centre. We had booked an Airbnb for two nights, and as none of as had ever been to Madrid, we were excited about the very centrally located apartment from where it was super easy to walk anywhere.

And boy did we. Yes. On the first evening we walked to the local supermarket just 200 meters away, bought a bottle of wine and some tapas and spent most of the evening cozying up in our flat. The next morning we marched to the nearest bakery to get warm and fresh bread for breakfast, enjoyed a slow morning and left to explore.

We walked from Atocha to Plaza de Santa Ana from which multiple smaller streets separated from. On a short stroll we took the previous evening, the same streets were filled with partying people and music. Now during day it was much more calm.

Our first destination was a Vodafone store at Puerta del Sol. We bought an internet plan for the next three weeks and continued our relaxed walk to Plaza Mayor. It was filled with closed Christmas boutiques and the windows were filled with Christmas lights that were not yet on. They were preparing for the starting season of Christmas Markets.

From Plaza Mayor we slowly made our way to Mercado de San Miguel. We went inside this amazing, stylish and packed local food market and admired everything we saw. Unfortunately we were not hungry at all, but I highly recommend this place for everyone visiting Madrid. Next time, I will surely go there with an empty stomach and taste my way through empanadas, cheeses, meats, deserts and wine.

We continued to the small and colourful streets of La Latina and walked the C. De Bailén and saw the historical site from 1700's, Real Basilica de San Francisco el Grande, Jardín de las Vistillas - an amazing small park with scenic views, and both the Catholic cathedral - Catedral de Santa María la Real de la Almudena - and a regal 2000-room palace Palacio Real de Mardid.

We did get a recommendation to see Templo de Debod during sunset, but because the place was surrounded with lots of road work, it was not sunset yet and we were getting hungry, we decided to continue our way to Gran Vía, the broadway of Madrid.

After late lunch we headed back to the Airbnb for siesta. We got ready for our dinner and first headed out to a small pub downstairs. Everyone was extremely welcoming, the place was cozy and drinks were great. Just remember to carry cash with you, so you don't suddenly see yourself searching for an atm that would actually work in the middle of Madrid during Saturday evening while your friends are saving the seat and waiting for you to come back with some cash to actually pay for the drinks. Anyways, can highly recommend Larepera.

We also got a super great recommendation for dinner. We booked a table for 11.30 pm from Ochenta Grados Malasanas and were not disappointed. The food from starters to desserts was amazing. Below some shaky food pics. Did not manage to take pictures of everything - we were too hungry to remember.

After dinner we headed back to our airbnb and got ready to leave Madrid the next morning. Our trip had only just begun and we were traveling to Ibiza to work remotely for three weeks. I'll write more about Ibiza and working remotely in general a bit later. Adiós!