¡Hola, España!

As the weather is starting to turn here in The Netherlands, we decided to take a quick trip to warmer Spain to explore Madrid and Valencia.

Upon arriving in Madrid, we hopped on the metro and made our way to Retiro Park which was a very large and pretty city park where many people were spending the warm afternoon.  There were lots of musicians in the park and renting a boat to row on the lake seemed to be a popular activity.

We decided to sit in a small outdoor restaurant to have some lunch.  We tried a bocadillo (sandwich) del calamari and had Spanish tortilla which is basically potatoes and eggs in a sort of puffed-up omelet.  We had some churros and chocolate for dessert, but no one thought it was very good.

After lunch and the stroll through the park, we walked through some of the different areas in the city such as the Bairro de las Letras.

For dinner, we went to a small place near our apartment where we had some tapas like patatas bravas, cheese and fried artichokes as well as huevos rotos (broken eggs) over fried potatoes.

The next morning, we headed out, grabbed some empanadas and little pastries, and walked toward Plaza de Espana which was a nice little area.  There was a Latin festival set up at one end of the plaza with lots of stalls selling foods and small crafts from various Latin countries.

Then, we moved on to the Palacio Real (Royal Palace).  We did not go in but walked around the area through some of the gardens and the front gate.

We did go into the Almudene Cathredral.  It had some really pretty ceilings.

After lunch, we walked by Mercado San Miguel on our way to Plaza Mayor where they were having a concert.  We made our way down a side street to Chocolateria san Gines which specializes in churros with chocolate.  We stopped for a quick snack.

After that, we went to Puerta del Sol, another large square, which lived up to its name as it was in fact very sunny.  We went to lunch at a restaurant specializing in croquetas.  We had one made of shitakes, one made of boletus and truffles and one of provolone with tomatoes.  We also tried the dessert versions- one with Oreo and one with crema Catalana.  The dessert versions were our favorite!

After lunch, we walked around a bit more, passing through the Gran Via, a large shopping street, before going to a large park in the city with many trails.  We walked to the lake in that park and then went to our apartment to rest for a while before dinner.

We went to a really nice tapas restaurant for dinner.  We had some Spanish red wine along with an assortment of tapas such as Padron de pimento, patatas bravas, mushrooms with pesto, fried eggplant with honey, croquetas and huevos rotos.

The next morning, we set out for the real reason we were in Madrid- to visit a university that our oldest is considering.  We walked to the school from our apartment and had a nice tour of the area.  Then, we walked to the area that the housing is located in.  After exploring the area a bit, we had a tour of the residence building.  After our tour, we got lunch at a nearby restaurant where we had Pisto Manchego (fried eggs over peppers), Spanish tortilla and fried artichokes.

After a rest at our apartment and a quick trip to a bakery to find breakfast for the next day, we went back out to see another potential residence building in a slightly different area.  We walked around the area a bit and made our way south toward dinner.  We came across an amazing city fitness park with walking and running tracks, fitness equipment, sport fields and a huge gym.

We decided to have dinner at a Brazilian restaurant where we found several of our favorite foods-coxinha, pao de queijo, kibe, mandioca, picanha and feijoada along with some Brazilian beer.  It was a fun deviation from the Spanish food.

The next morning, we took the metro to the train station where we boarded a train to Valencia.  In less than 2 hours, we stepped off the train and made our way into the old part of Valencia.  We walked by Estacio del Nord and the Plaza de Toros.

We walked by the Neo-Mudejar building and then through a huge square with the Placa de l’Ajuntament and a large fountain as well as many historic buildings.

We stopped and had some horchata (a drink made from Tiger nuts) and fartons (pastry).

Then, we stopped by the Central Market where we bought some candy called turron and some Valencia oranges.

Next, we made our way to Valencia Cathedral where we saw what is believed to be the Holy Grail.

We sat in the square outside the cathedral for a while before finding a restaurant for lunch.  It was another tapas bar where we had some nice beer along with Valencia mussels, esgarreat (peppers topped with shredded cod), pepito (fish and vegetables inside a bread) and patatas bravas.  For dessert, we tried the flan as well as a pumpkin dessert as pumpkin is apparently quite popular in Valencia.

After our lunch, we went to our apartment for a while before heading back out to a park.  We found a nice square with a church and fountain and many cool architectural features.

Near the park was an old gate to the city.

The park itself was not too exciting, but we enjoyed wandering around and sitting in a square for a while before settling on dinner in an open square in the old town.  The food was not too exciting, but we had a few tapas and tried the Agua de Valencia (drink made from orange juice, vodka, cava and gin) and Sangria.

On our final day in Valencia, we went to the Central Market to find some pastries for breakfast.  They were really good.  One was pumpkin in a pie crust type dough and the other was candied orange in a soft, sugar-coated dough.  We also tried some cream and chocolate filled fartons.

We got a taxi and made our way to the newer part of the city (the City of Arts and Sciences) to go to the aquarium, Oceanographic.  It was a really nice research based aquarium with all kinds of sea life including sea turtles, sharks, dolphins, beluga whales and seals/sea lions.  After spending the morning there, we ate lunch at a place specializing in paella.  We had a vegetable version along with some bread with tomato and aioli.  It was good.

From there, we took a taxi to the beach where we spent a couple of hours lounging and enjoying the view and people watching.

After making our way back to our apartment, we went to dinner where we had another version of the Agua de Valencia and Sangria as well as some croquetas and bread before trying some more paella.  This time we had a vegetable version as well as Paella Valencia which had chicken, rabbit and snails.  They were both really good.

After the meal, we decided to walk around the old town a bit to burn off some of the dinner.  Then, it was time to get to bed for our early train out the next morning.

After our early train, a quick metro ride and many hours in the airport, we made it back home.  All in all, it was a nice little getaway to much better weather than we returned to.  It was nice to take a trip that wasn’t jam packed with activities and to have the opportunity to consider what life might be like in Madrid for our oldest-perhaps we will be back soon!