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Other entries in Madrid

Flamenco dancing in Madrid....

saludos mis amigos!!!!!We arrived in Madrid about 9.30pm Friday night. The airport looks pretty new and pretty flash, complete with a wave like roof lined with timber slats…. We headed for the metro for our Hotel- Petit Palace Ducal. Now we didn’t have a map of where it was and only knew it was near metro stop Callao…. We finally thought we had found the hotel, but upon trying to check-in were told we had the wrong hotel and ours was up the road a few streets. We discovered later that there was a lot of Petit Palace hotels scattered all over the city.  Our hotel was just off the Grand Via, so was in a pretty good location… and the hotel was pretty good and rather interesting. The lift was like an old cage like one and something you would find in a Batman movie…. Our room was unusual and the bathroom door was frosted glass with the middle section being clear glass with a pattern….. just the right stop to see ya mate on the toilet!! Al, Laura and I met up with Lisa and Helen on the Friday night, ready for a fun weekend. Saturday we had a wee sleep in and then headed out to the main square for breaky….. The waiter was run off his feet and forgot most things we ordered. I ordered a hot chocolate and got something that resembled hot Yo Go…. Mmmmmm not a great drink to wet ya whistle in the morning!! We decided we would do the ‘Hop on hop off Bus’ to make sure we could see as much as we could of the city in the time we had…. As like must bus tours, some bits are interesting but others get a little boring. However, Madrid is just a spectacular as Barcelona and was full of wonderful building, each one as decorative as the next. This filled in a few hours before we headed Retiro Park, all 120 hectares of it. Laura and I basked in the sunshine while Al went to collect her friend Mia. The park was great to relax in and people watch. It also had a huge lake where you could hire little boats and row around. Very romantic if you where there with your partner….!! Once again we found ourselves feeding our tummies with some tapas before heading back to the hotel for a siesta and preparation for the night ahead. At about 10pm we walked the streets (a few deserted back streets) looking for a tapas bar for dinner. We finally found a place, ordered a few bottles of wine and then asked the waiter to just bring out a selection, his choice….. that was leaving it pretty open but no different to us trying to select something off the menu is Spanish!! We ended up with Calamari, 2 different cheeses with bread (one cheese was revolting and smelt worse!), chorizo sausage, black pudding stuff (didn’t taste so bad), cured meets, pickled octopus and a few other bits. After a few bottles of vino they turned the lights off and closed up shop, so we caught a few taxis to our next stop…. We got to the next place just after 12 and then had to wait to get into the Flamenco dancing…. So to fill in the time we ordered a few jugs of Sangria, chatted to a few guys and went snap happy with our cameras (see pics). We finally got ushered into the Flamenco Dancing which was about £20 (and included a glass of Sangria, just what we needed!!). Wow the Spanish sure know how to kick their heels up…. We saw 3 different dancers (younger lady, younger guy and an old duck). They each individually strutted their stuff on the stage accompanied by a 5 piece band (2x singers, bongos, violin and guitar). It was amazing, so passionate and intense, the dance told a whole story…. and also great to go to a traditional place and not a real touristy one. Good work on finding it Lisa!!! After a few more sangrias the venue closed at 3am and we got thrown out of there as well. Luckily next morning I felt fresh as a daisy so was up at a reasonable time ready to head for break and see some more sites. We decided we would tackle the Sunday flea market that Madrid is famous for. Wow, how to get road rage….. the place was bumper to bumper with people, all willing to push and shove their way through the crowd. I had a stand off with a lady as we each had a shoe that made a pair but we didn’t want to give ours way. Fun times!! I finally gave in (decided I didn’t need em anyway) and checked out a few more of the interesting stalls. Everything from fried sardines, to olives, to knickers to earrings and everything in between. After a few hours I was well over it and ready to leave, happy with my few purchases!!  I had to head for the metro to the airport about 3pm so we found a nice restaurant and ordered my last meal Spanish meal for the trip. Once again a nice array of tapas. The mission to the airport took about 45mins with 3 changes, but finally got there, checked in, then had to get on another train to get out to the terminal!! I managed to fit in some duty free shopping before I boarded the flight home back to London, well happy with my little Spanish expedition!!!España es impresionante!!!

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