So I have decided to write this blog entry in order to give you the few tips that I know and I will ask my friends who live there to add their input by comments, let's see if it works.
First of all, the official webpage in English about Madrid has a lot of information. If you go to the TOP 10 article, you will see taht a lot of them are museums. If you like art, Madrid is an amazing place. The National art museum is El Prado, which may be too big to visit if you are few days in Madrid, but my favourite is the Reina Sofia Museum, with some of the best collections of Spanish Contemporary Art.
From my point of view, Madrid is a city to just walk aropund and see the fantastic atmosphere, there are always people in the street, many, many bars and shops are open until very late. You can of course walk around the center and see the known sites like the Royal Palace, the Plaza Mayor, the Debob Temple... but you shouldn't miss stopping by El Mercado de San Miguel, which re-opened recently and I have heard is really nice.
 |
| View of the Royal Palace - July 2005 |
One of my favourite areas to just walk around is Chueca, which is the gay neighbourhood, and has so much life! Take the Fuencarral street and enjoy the area, there are also a lot of cool shops in the area, you should check the Mercado de Fuencarral out!
 |
| El Templo de Debod (July 2005) |
Depending om the amount of days that you will be there, you may want to vistit other towns close by Madrid:
- Toledo is 71 km away from Madrid, towards the south-east. I have never been there but people say that it is amazing. It can be a bit tough if it is very warm because the city is in a hill, you you have to go up and down all the time.
- Segovia is 87 km far from Madrid, but it is actually in the way to Valladolid, so if you have a car I really recommend you to stop there for 2 or 3 hours and see the city. The roman aqueduct is incredible!
 |
| Segovia - April 2006 |
.JPG) |
| Segovia - April 2006 |
And that is it from me. I can't help you any further. i really hope some of my friends will give you some extra tips, specially for bars and restaurants. Otherwise, just read throughthe links and I am sure you will find something interesting!
Have fun!
Inés, que bien lo has hecho!!! y que jóvenes en la foto del 2005!!!
ReplyDeleteTe voy a ayudar un poquito... Esto lo traduces tú, vale?
Yo tampoco he vivido nunca en Madrid pero la última vez que fui me llevaron al Mercado de San Antón, en el barrio de Chueca. Tiene un restaurante en la terraza que tiene muy buena pinta, os copio el enlace en inglés ;-)
http://www.mercadosananton.com/
Larita! qué guay que escribas! ahora lo traduzco! Las fotos antiguas son las más divertidas ;-) Muak!
DeleteGuys! my friend Lara is recomending you two restaurants:
- La Cocina de San Antón, on the third floor of the Mercado de San Antón, which apparently has 400 m2 of terrace and nice views of the neighbourhood of Chueca, where it is placed.
- Areia, also in Chueca. She says that the lunch menu was quite nice and cheap and that during the evening they have concerts. Check the webpage on Lara's comment
También estuve un día comiendo aquí, había un menu bastante bueno y barato, y ahora que veo la web parace ser que por la noche hay actuaciones o conciertos
ReplyDeletehttp://www.areiachillout.com/index.php
Hello!!
ReplyDeleteI’m going to add something about travelling around Madrid. Apart from walking, the easiest and cheapest way is by metro/bus. Depending on the days you are going to visit the city, you can buy a tourist season ticket (from 1 day(8€),2 days(13,4€) to 7 days, you can use it as many times as you want) or a 10 trips ticket(MetroBus Zone A,12 €); both can be used in bus and metro. Single tickets are more expensive, 1,5€ minimum up to 5 stations.
They may be acquired at all stations and the Passenger assistance Centre at the Airport T1-T2-T3 station.
Here you have the webpage in English with fares: http://www.metromadrid.es/en/viaja_en_metro/tarifas/abonos/contenido02.html.
http://www.metromadrid.es/en/viaja_en_metro/tarifas/billetes/index.html
About pubs and restaurants, one of my favourites is Lateral (Fuencarral Street), where you can eat “tapas”, good quality and not expensive. Another one is Wagaboo, a cool restaurant with many different types of cuisine in Chueca.
To have a drink, I like Santa Ana square, in the city centre, there are many people, lots of pubs, where you can sit outsite..and rest, enjoy..
That is great info, Henar, thanks a lot! I am sure that people will really appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteI have just checked on the internet, and Lateral has a web page in English, in case you guys want to have a look: http://www.lateral.com/inicio/english.html
Wogaboo has only page in spanish, but you can see all the locations here: http://www.wogaboo.com/donde.aspx
Un besazo reina!!!
Inés
Para comer bueno ,bonito y barato en Madrid
ReplyDeletehttp://www.restaurantbazaar.com/
por cierto,...que menores en las fotos jijiji
Delete