Madrid - A Miniature Guide
This piece will consist of me walking through a long weekend spent in Madrid, a major cultural capital in Europe.
I’m sure that there are many, many people out there who are a lot more clued up on Madrid than myself, but I can only speak from my experience over the last few days.
The city is a World Heritage Site, containing elegant boulevards, expansive parks, and European art.
This write up has the potential to be endless (it is a long one), Madrid is such a large city that it can be difficult to decide where to visit, eat & drink, but I’m hoping I may be able to give you some pointers or inspiration for booking your next city break!
Our flights were returns from Bristol-Madrid, at a cost of £68 each (without baggage). Outbound at 6:15pm on Friday 14th of April, returning 9:45pm on Monday the 17th.
We booked our accommodation through Airbnb in a lovely apartment located 20-mins outside of the city centre, the listing of which can be found here - this was a price of £289 for 3-nights. Between 4 that worked out at £72 each, or £24 per night. An Uber roughly cost €10 to the centre of Madrid.
This meant that flights & accommodation totalled at £140 each. Fitting with a common theme we found throughout our trip: Madrid is cheap!
Our first stop after arriving late on Friday night, was a cafe local to our apartment by the name of Los Dos Amigos (the two friends).
We fuelled ourselves here in preparation for our first full day: beers (€3.45), ham croquettes (€8), Manchego cheese & bread (€10), patatas bravas (€6), Serrano ham (€10) and blood sausage (€7.50).
All these plates consisted of large helpings of local delicacies - our bill amounting to €56.80 with a tip (€14.20 per person).
Our first full day in the Spanish capital was a Saturday, where we headed over to the infamous San Miguel Market for opening hours at 10am.
This is a hugely popular tourist destination, being in a close vicinity to both the Plaza Mayor & Puerta del Sol, and the Royal Palace of Madrid (the largest palace in Europe). The market welcomes 10 million visitors through it’s doors each year, and is known for it’s array of gourmet tapas, drinks, and desserts. Some stalls have been opened here by Michelin starred chefs, including Joan Roca.
Get here early to pinch a table and soak in the atmosphere!
A plethora of stalls await inside, including seafood:
And cured & grilled meats:
We ordered several bits, and as you may imagine, it’s not cheap. This was by far our most expensive outing of the weekend and I must say I was disappointed with the quality of the food - however, certainly worth a visit for the atmosphere. Beers came to €6 each.
Six oysters (€15):
A cone of chorizo (€14):
Frito misto (€16) - the calamari in here was awful. No crisp on the batter & completely bland:
Glass of Vermouth (€3.50):
After a couple of hours, we ventured to Calle Cava Baja (5-minute walk), where we began a tapas/bar crawl. Prior to travelling here, I launched an appeal on Twitter for some help with a Madrid itinerary. Annie Bennett, a food writer & Madrid expert who works for the Telegraph recommended this one. A superb tip!
Our first stop was at Taberna La Concha, which ended up being our favourite destination of the entire weekend.
Their Vermouth (€3.50) & food was exceptional, as were the personalities of all the members of staff we met.
One of the things I love most about the Spanish culture is how the locals bunch together like sardines in the bars; drinking, eating, and conversing.
On our first visit, we ordered homemade meatballs in a deep tomato sauce (€10).
Followed by cured duck & orange tostas (€5.50).
This place captured our heart so much, we returned on the Sunday evening after watching Atlético Madrid play against Almería. Their Vermouth was the best we had tried, and we wanted to sample more of their small plates.
This time around, we had the pork cheeks in red wine sauce (€12). The pork was wonderfully tender, served with creamy mashed potatoes & green beans.
And a Foie Gras & marmalade tosta (€9). This was my first ever experience of the smooth, buttery, rich, meaty Foie Gras, accompanied with a sweet orange marmalade.
Other notable bars we visited along Cava Baja were Casa Lucas & La Gran Cava.
In Casa Lucas we found a table next to the bar:
Feeding on a mixture of chunky ham & mushroom croquettes.
Meanwhile, in La Gran Cava, we had a bottle of wine (no idea what the drop was, it had been a long day of drinking by this point - €17.50) with some complimentary nibbles (another feature of the Spanish culture).
This concluded our Saturday. On the Sunday, we travelled over to Calle de Ibiza. Similarly to Cava Baja, a bar crawl was our aim. We ended up eating a meal at Taberna La Indigna, before finding an Irish bar which had the football on their screens. The seafood paella at La Indigna cost €9.
Toby indulged in a medium rare wagyu beef burger, smothered in caramelised onions, served inside a ciabatta bun with fries and padron peppers (€14.50).
We moved onto the Irish bar (The Irish Temple) at the end of the street. The Brit in me came out here, as I ordered a hot dog with Bratwurst sausage, cheese, bacon, currywurst sauce & mustard on a toasted brioche bun and a mountain of homemade skin on fries (€8.95) - it was perfect for watching the football with after a few pints.
Monday was our last day, though our flight home was late. We dropped our luggage off at a shop using the app ‘LuggageHero’. Participating stores allow you to leave luggage with them for the day at flat rates or hourly costs. I picked up a ham & cheese croissant from them, as they were conveniently also a bakery.
I couldn’t leave Madrid without having some churros, so whilst wandering we stumbled across Tacita de Plata, located a 3-minute walk from the San Miguel Market.
Their prices were extremely reasonable:
I went ahead with ordering 5 light, crunchy, sugar coated churros (€3), and a mug of thick melted chocolate (€3) to dunk them into.
In case you were wondering what the giant churros look like on their menu, wonder no more:
And finally, before I summarise, we spontaneously ate lunch in a Peruvian restaurant called Barinka, a 5-minute walk from the Plaza Mayor.
Alongside Taberna La Concha, this was a highlight of Madrid.
To start, I tried a tamale (€7) for the first time. Corn dough wrapped in a banana leaf, filled with pork & olives, which is cooked by being steamed. It was delicious! The dish was dense but packed with flavours, and seasoned with plenty of salt.
For a main course, I tried the Carrillera Veal (€17). Slow cooked veal on top of a bed of crushed cassava (a root vegetable). The veal was so tender that it melted in my mouth, and the earthy, sweet, nutty, slightly bitter cassava was reminiscent of a mashed potato on steroids.
There were lots of South American diners in attendance, which points towards the authenticity of Barinka. The ladies working here, Rosa & Aurora, were excellent, and made our experience all the more superb. We were provided with complimentary drinks before we left.
And that concludes the weekend!
In summary:
Visit the Calle Cava Baja for a tapas/bar crawl - check out Taberna La Concha.
Soak up the atmosphere at the San Miguel Market - though don’t buy too much food as it’s expensive & lacking in quality.
Madrid is (for the most part) cheap.
Madrid is cultured, welcoming, and diverse.
Madrid is worth doing!