Additional Photography by Jessica Bissa

City Highlights

• Location: Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid, España

• Population (metro): 6.79 million

• Known for: Capital and largest city in Spain, second largest city in the European Union, home of many cultural institutions, the largest Palace in Europe,

• Weather during visit: Sunny, 1-19ºC (34-66ºF)

• Time in Place: 49 hours 53 minutes

One day is simply not enough time to explore a city as large and impressive as Madrid. While my travel partner and I explored the historic city center on our first day in the Spanish capital, there was still so much more we wanted to experience, and we had a couple of specific areas we wanted to visit before our time in Europe was up. From sports stadiums to ancient temples, Madrid has more than enough to explore while keeping everyone entertained.

Gól

The morning of our second day in Madrid started with a brilliantly blue sky and relatively warm temperatures, at least compared to the frigid Midwest we had left behind. As breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially when adventuring, we decided to stop at the bakery next to our hostel for a bit of motivation. The pastries we selected were very fresh, and the taste was excellent. My travel partner and I each got a chocolate croissant (not to be confused with a pain au chocolate) and a strawberry cream cake to “share.” Having an excellent breakfast, we were now ready for the long day of exploring ahead.

Madrid is a rather large city, but with the sprawling metro system, it is fairly easy to get around as long as you can figure out which lines to take. My travel partner had a specific site she wanted to see on the North side of town, so we boarded a Line 1 train northbound before transferring to a Line 10 train. After a relatively short journey, about 15 minutes, we arrived at Santiago Bernabéu station. The station wayfinding was very well done, telling us the way we needed to go to reach our destination, and as we climbed above ground back into the sunny morning, the silver walls of Estadio Santiago Bernabéu rose into view.

Bernabéu is an incredibly storied venue, hosting one of the most famous football clubs in the world, Real Madrid CF of Spain’s La Liga, in addition to a wide range of other events like the Premier Cup finals four times. The impressive structure we saw was only fairly recently completed, and there was still significant construction surrounding the stadium. The newly constructed metal facades envelop the much older stadium conceiled within, housing not only the pitch and stands but also the clubhouse, club Hall of Fame, and even a tour facility for those wishing to see more of the historic structure. With a regular stadium capacity of over 80,000 spectators, Bernabéu is the second largest football stadium in Spain, with room to grow even larger for other events, such as when Pope John Paul II spoke to over 160,000 people in 1982.

We walked along the entire perimeter of the stadium, trying to catch glimpses of what lay beyond. Due to time and budget, we did not get the chance to take the stadium tour, but that is something we hope to see on a future visit to Madrid. On our walk around, we noticed all the different shops and restaurants surrounding the stadium, plus hotels, apartments, and even a church. This felt unusual to us, as most stadiums in the United States of this size are surrounded by parking lots and other less populated developments. The stadium was built into the fabric of the area, however, and it didn’t feel out of place as much as it did an anchor for everything growing around it. After finishing our loop around and grabbing a few pictures in front of the team shop, we made our way back towards the Metro, walking a few blocks north to Cuzco station before getting on a southbound train.

Emerging from the Line 10 station at Plaza de España, we started our leisurely stroll to our next destination. The night before, we only made it as far as Plaza Almudena and the Royal Palace, so this was a new area for us to explore. This area was another masterful study in public spaces, with a large open plaza for general use filled with buskers and tourists, monuments including one to the author of Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes, and a children’s playground. Surrounding the plaza were even more shops, restaurants, hotels, apartments, and even schools. Following a trail to the northwest side of the plaza, we finally reach the set of steps leading to the top of Príncipe Pio, a mountain in the middle of the city.

As mentioned in the first-day trip report, Madrid is a rather mountainous city with large elevation changes throughout the area. Príncipe Pio is a hill just north of the Royal Palace that once housed barracks for the Spanish military but is now part of a park. At the top of the hill is the Temple of Debod, a Nubian temple originally constructed in the 2nd century BC and given to the Spanish by the Egyptian government as a thank-you gift for assisting them in preserving ancient cultural landmarks during the construction of a dam. In addition to the ancient temple, the park is home to large lawns where we saw many Madrileños enjoying the abnormally warm day with a picnic or playing football. There was also a path along the edge of the park before the steep cliff leading down the hillside, a great place to enjoy views of Casa de Campo and the Sierra de Guadarrama.

Herencia Cultural

Following the trail back down the hill, over all the steps that seemed a lot easier now that we were going downhill instead of up, we retraced our steps to Plaza de España before pressing further to reach the Sabatini Gardens. Located on the Northern edge of the Royal Palace, the Sabatini Gardens are designed in the Neoclassical style and form symmetrical designs using various hedges, fountains, and statues. Starting with a cast-iron gate and leading to an expansive terrace overlooking much of the gardens, the entire area feels like a proper palace garden, accentuating the dominant structure as though it was designed at the same time, even though the gardens were not completed until the 1970s. We sat for a while on the edge of the terrace, admiring the sunny day and peoplewatching while letting our legs rest from all the trekking we’d been doing.

Finally continuing, we reached the main level of the gardens and were thrust into a series of flower beds and hedges. The gardens were completely open at the time of our visit, meaning we were free to roam wherever inside we wanted to. Many of the hedges had gaps in them that led to smaller mazes and courtyards within their confines. This led to us trying to find all the different points we could within the self-contained plazas. While the gardens were lovely, it was also noticeably still winter within Spain, and some of the trees and hedges were scant on leaves. Having our fill of the gardens, we decided to climb the stairs leading back towards Calle de Bailén and reach Plaza de Oriente.

Located on the Eastern side of the Palace, Plaza de Oriente separates the Royal Palace from Teatro Real, the royal opera house where a variety of shows are performed. We wandered around this spot a bit further, pausing to read the plaques and descriptions of statues in our best attempts at Spanish before deciding to grab something to eat. All the adventuring of the morning had left us starved after our relatively light and admittedly overly-sugared breakfast. There was a small restaurant with a nice outside seating area directly next to the opera house, and we decided to eat there. After being seated, finally placing an order (a note for Americans visiting: non-tourist-focused restaurants usually require you to flag down a waiter to order or get a check), and waiting the requisite 40 minutes of preparation, we were brought a heaping panful of paella.

Paella is a Spanish (specifically Valencian) dish created by cooking rice, meat, and vegetables in a shallow frying pan, allowing it to mix and bake into a wonderfully tasty and filling meal. Traditionally, paella in Valencia (a province along the Eastern coastline of Spain) is thought to be made with rabbit and chicken for meats, though we ordered ours with chicken only. Mixed or seafood paella is easily available at the majority of paella restaurants. One key part of the experience of eating paella is that it is usually plated in front of patrons, and this time was no exception. Our waiter brought out a stand and the large pan, scraping the delicacy from the edge and bottom of the pan to ensure we received every last grain of rice. Although we were sitting right next to the Royal Theatre, this was a more entertaining show for my travel partner and me as we were eager to dig into it. This paella was wonderful, with the saffron, tomatoes, and oils working together to create a sauce that thoroughly coated the rice and other ingredients, soothing our rumbling stomachs. This was far and away better than any paella I had eaten stateside, though there was still better paella yet in Spain that I have had about 620 km (385 mi) to the East in Barcelona. We also had the opportunity to sample some croquetas Jamon, a staple of tapas dining combining potato béchamel and cured jamón inside a fried shell. Satisfied with a fantastic meal in a stunning location, we decided to take a walk through some of the other neighborhoods hiding within the winding streets of this metropolis.

Not following any particular path, we headed North from the opera house and palace. Madrid is not just a city of centuries-old buildings but also modern and thriving. We saw a bit more of the “normal” side of the city at this point, not the parts that most tourists visit. These are places that are generally nice but not famous. Parks, pharmacies, groceries, apartment buildings, and everyday Madrileños living their lives. Before we knew it, we were in the Malasaña neighborhood, known for being one of the most colorful and creative areas in the city. Home to a strong counter-culture scene, this area has plenty of bars and boutiques for those looking to experience a less mainstream area. This area also has some notable public spaces, like the 2nd of May Monument that marked the beginning of the Spanish Independence War.

We walked a bit further North, passing lovely architecture along the way, like Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Montserrat (try saying that ten times fast) before following Calle de Carranza back East to Bilbao, ducking underground to take Line 4 westbound. After transferring to Line 2 at San Bernardo, we arrived back at Ópera station. Starting where we were just an hour or so prior, we decided to retrace even further along much of the route we had taken the night prior, passing by Plaza Almudena and circling to Plaza Mayor and then Mercado de San Miguel for even more pastries like the ones we had the night prior. We eventually ambled to Atocha station, one of the major rail stations within Madrid. The station exterior was under renovation while we were in the city, but the station itself was still extremely functional.

I wanted to try the Cercanías commuter rail system, and this was one of the few journies we would be able to take with our tourist travel passes. The trains on the central part of the system run every 15 minutes, so we did not have long to wait before a northbound C4 train arrived. While it was the evening rush hour and both the station and train were quite busy, we had no problem finding seats onboard, thanks in part to the frequent headways keeping a steady stream of commuters moving. The trains felt fairly modern and even had some nice amenities that a lot of similar systems do not have, such as restrooms on the trains. About 5 minutes after we departed Atocha, we were back at Sol once again, tapping out of the station and climbing the steps into the plaza one last time.

Saliendo

The next morning, we awoke early before much of the city had. It seems like Madrid is a city where most people don’t get moving until after 9 am. Thankfully, we stopped at the bakery next to our hostel before heading up the evening to get breakfast, meaning we had more energy (and pastries) to prepare us for the long flights home. Most westbound flights from Europe leave mid-to-late morning as a turn for the red eyes that operated the previous evening and wanting to make sure we had plenty of time to get through international check-in and security, we left earlier than we probably needed to. Checking out of the hostel and scarfing down the last of our pastries, we made our way to the Metro one last time, getting on a northbound Line 1 train. After transferring to Line 10 at Tribunal and then to Line 8 at Nuevos Ministerios, we arrived back at Barajas.

Getting through check in and security did not take too long, though we were glad to have the extra time since it does take quite a while to get from the departures hall to the gates for international departures. Walking through the corridors of the airport, we were once againstruck by how nice yet sprawling the facility is. There were plenty of passenger amenities available, and the entire airport seemed to be well-maintained. When it was time to board, we went through the ticket scanner just like normal, but instead of walking down a jetbridge to the waiting aircraft, we were loaded onto a bus and driver across the tarmac to the aircraft, similar to the process we had arriving in Spain. Climbing up the stairs and getting one last breath of the kerosene-tinged air, we boarded and readied ourselves for the long flight home.

Ultimately, visiting Madrid has been one of my favorite trips of all time. Throughout our travels in the city, we were deeply impressed at the Spanish culture, its food, art, and architecture, and the amazing sights we got to see. The Madrileños were exceedingly friendly, and most (though not all) spoke English or were forgiving of our basic Spanish to get by without much difficulty. I felt like we were just scratching the surface of what the Spanish capital has to offer. Although we had two full days in the massive city, the size and diversity of what is there make me eager to return and uncover even more. If you are looking for a welcoming European city bursting at the seams with history and experiences unmatched elsewhere, Madrid is that city.