2 posts tagged with "spain"

View over the lake in Parco del Rotiro.

If you think you know already the meaning of tasteful luxury, visit this place and reset your standards.

Today, damas y caballeros, we stay in beautiful Spain, but this time we leave the sunny South for Mardrid, the capital of football, culture and, well, Spain. It was a long time coming, and I was super excited to start 2024 travelling season with this one. I had high expectations, given the reviews I received from my friends, and, honestly, I was still amazed by what the city had to offer.

Royal Palace and Surroundings​

If you like your trips cultural, you're in the right place. We started the trip with the Royal Palace of Madrid, and, Dios mio, what a start. I've seen palaces and museum, and quite plenty, until that point, but the Royal Palace of Madrid exceeded my expectation by far. If you think you know already the meaning of tasteful luxury, visit this place and reset your standards. Every single piece of furniture, tapestry, design and artwork was exactly where it was supposed to be, and the level of detail for every single one of them was incredible, from engravings to finishing touches. They don't let you take pictures inside, and it's really a shame, as it's probably one of the most exquisite places you could feast your eyes upon.

Catedral de la Almueda	Room inside Royal Palace of Madrid

We left the palace exactly when it was closing time, so there was no more time left to visit the Almueda Cathedral unfortunately, but we did enjoy a very nice walk around Plaza de la Almeria, and took some pictures with Campo del Moro in the background. Quite close to the palace there's the Mercado de San Miguel, which is quite a great place to stop by for an hour or two and enjoy some empanadas and cervejas. Back to the hotel and ready for another day. We stayed at the Room Mate Alba Hotel, which is located in the city center, but in a very quiet area, and the hotel itself is quite nice. Between the Mercado and the hotel we passed through Plaza Mayor, which is another landmark worth checking out, given its surrounding buildings, coffee shops and vibrant atmosphere.

Prado Museum, El Rotiro Park, Food and Coffee​

Prado Museum is probably a must go if you're going to Madrid, and for good reason, since it boasts such a vast collection of art pieces from artists such as Francisco Goya and Diego Velazquez. You could spend a few days here without a doubt, but we also had some other places in mind so we were happy to be done in just a few hours. Outside, there's the beautiful park El Retiro, with its signature pond decorated with the colonnades of the Alfonso XII monument. It was a great walk to bask in the sun and forget that it's the middle of January for a few hours. Right next to the park there's also the botanical garden, which would have been a better pick in any other season, but we still enjoyed the impressive collection of bonsai trees.

Monument of Alfonso XII	Madrid Street at Dusk

After leaving the botanical garden we went for a stroll through the upscale Goya neighbourhood. It's nice over here. All buildings are very, very well maintained, and they are simply beautiful and elegant. The city is just amazing, I don't think I encountered anything that was either bad or at least "could be better". Maybe the coffee was not as great as in other places, but there were some coffee shops that were quite good, for instance the Norah Coffee & Brunch in Goya. Don't forget to try the sweets. Another great option is Pascal Specialty Coffee & Brunch, which was closer to the hotel, and features a brunch selection more on the healthy side. If the coffee could have been better, the food was actually amazing. Spain has great food, without a doubt, and other places we could recommend in Madrid are Los Porfiados, for a cozy dinner, or Fiaschetteria La Saletta, if you crave Italian. Other coffee options worth mentioning are Alchemy and Dale.

Santiago Bernabeu, Sorolla Museum and Gran Via​

I'm not much into football, but when I watch it's most probably a Real Madrid game, either in La Liga or Champions League. Visiting the Santiago Bernabeu was something I really wanted to do, especially now with the updates it received. From the outside it's quite a piece of art, I love the facade with its gray shiny blades. On the inside, well, it's huge there are lots of big screens everywhere and a retractable roof, letting you know that it's proudly representing the 21st century. We could not enter the locker rooms, which was quite a shame, but at least we saw the hall of trophies, and there are a lot of them. This team knows what winning is about.

Santiago Bernabeu Stadium	Gran Via

After we left the stadium we went back towards the city center by foot and we stopped at the Sorolla Museum on the way. It's actually the former house and studio of Joaquin Sorolla, who travelled throughout Spain in order to create a considerable collection of paintings. The art pieces inside the museum are organised in a timeline manner, so we could follow along his interests and favorite places as he aged, from his home city of Valencia, to the Spanish countryside and the capital of Madrid, where he was very passionate about his garden. The garden itself is a great place to relax on a bench, looking at the pond and enjoying the shade of the trees.

Sorolla Museum Garden	Sorolla Museum Interior

The last but not least landmark I would like to mention is the Gran Via, and I would not miss it especially during the night, when I believe it really shines. Both the buildings, the landmarks and the street itself are spoiled by huge amount of light and it's a great way to end the day with a stroll to the shops and just enjyoing the vibrant heart of this otherwise amazing city. It's trully a great city, and probably one of my favorites so far. It's amazingly beautiful, it does not seem to be that crowded, the people are friendly, the food is great, the weather is pleasant and there are so many things to do. I would definitely come back here one day, definitely on a Real Madrid match day. Looking forward, hasta luego!

View of Malaga from the Mirador de Gibralfaro.

Truth be told, I don't mind palm trees with Christmas lights. I could live with that.

Finally, the South of Spain. It took a while to get here, but here we are. It's December, sure, but not in Malaga though. Good thing I brought a couple of T-shirts, otherwise it would have been a tough time. Christmas decorations while the weather's so good is just out of this world. Truth be told, I don't mind palm trees with Christmas lights. I could live with that.

So far so good. It turned out that going to Malaga at the beginning of December is a great idea. That was the good part. The bad part was that also half of Spain thought it was a good idea, and the place was packed with visitors. I believe they also had a day off during the week we chose to visit, and everyone took advantage of it. Our apartment was in the center (Be Mate Malaga Centro, great place, check it out) and we had to park somewhere, but, really, there was absolutely no place to park a bicycle, yet alone a car. We finally found a payed multi level car park nearby, barely. Inside it, we found an empty spot on the last floor. Lucky us.

Malaga by Day​

I believed that using a rental car was the way to go, since we planned to visit at least some other town besides Malaga, but we did not leave the city eventually. However, the car was cheap to hire, and since I used it only to drive from the airport and back, I did not even bother to refuel. Anyway, we got to our apartment, super nice, way above what we got in Naples or Catania. Yes, it was a touch more expensive, but we got a lot for our money. Totally recommend the place, it was spacious, modernly furnished, right in the city center, but in a very quiet area.

Now the city itself. The historical city center is, I would say, a pretty standard Spanish city, and that's a very good thing. It's clean, it's very well maintained, the buildings are superb, and the amount of restaurants and coffee shops is insane. Spain does not offer the best coffee in the world, not even in the specialty coffee shops. It's not bad, by any means, but certainly not the best. On the other hand, the food, well, that's something else. From the standard brunch toasts, Benedicts and avocados to the seafood, meats and deserts, the food in Spain is just glorious. I think Portugal still tops it up, but Spain is definitely top 3 in my book. Definitely check out Next Level Specialty coffee, and you must, absolutely must, get the French Toast: toasted bread with cream, bananas, strawberries, blueberries and honey. Combined: magic.

Walkway to Alcazaba	Catedral de la Encarnacion

Obviously, there are some sights to absolutely deserve a visit. But just walking through the city center is pleasant enough, while going to the stores, getting ice cream, the usual stuff. As we strolled around, we got to the Catedral de la Encarnacion, which is Malaga's main church, and it's imposing both on the outside and on the inside. Definitely worth paying for the entrance. From there, the Alcazaba is just at "a stick throw" distance, and it's the main atraction of the city. For good reason, to be sure. The castle itself is very well preserved, and they are obviously very proud of their monument. And walking through the courtyards is a great experience, especially because of the many beautiful gardens and beautiful architecture. And, of course, the views over Malaga are simply gorgeous.

Right next to the Alcazaba there's the Gibralfaro Castle, and since we visited Alcazaba, we might as well do both simultaneously. Gibralfaro is not as special as the Alcazaba, but it has better views, especially from the Mirador de Gibralfaro. We could not see the Malagueta from there, due to the buildings around the Plaza de Toros. But we did, of course, enjoyed a great view over the stadium for the bullfighting shows.

Gibralfaro view to Malagueta	Alcazaba view to Malagueta

Another point of interest is the Malaga Museum, which definitely has a lot to offer. I found the painints from Moreno Villa particularly interesting, and there should be enough art for everybody. Actually, I think the Spanish museums are the best I visited so far, so if art is your thing, make Spain your priority. I enjoyed museums not only in Malaga, but also Barcelona, Madrid and Zaragoza. One thing that's actually a bit not so great is the fact that, when it's 15 minutes to closing time, they smiply kick you out, without any sign of politeness. It happened to us in Malaga and also in Madrid, and the fact that they insist for you to leave is just, well, not great. On the bright side though, once you exit the Malaga museum, there's a very nice terrace with palm trees that screams Instagram and Vice City, so we definitely took a few pics with the palm trees at dusk.

Malaga by night​

Remember the part when I mentioned half of Spain was in Malaga for the weekend? That was not immediately obvious by day, save for the parking situation. However, by night, it was a completely different story. The whole city center, from the Plaza del Constitution, all the way down the Marques de Larios and towards Malaga park, including it, was so crowded it was just impossible to move. It was quite scary at times since I was not used to these kinds of crowds, but apparently, in Spain, it's completely normal. Nobody was even remotely mad about the whole thing.

Every person in the crowd was happy, everyone was singing, there was a smile on each and everybody's face, and I realised just how happy people are over there. In lived in Bucharest and Prague all my life, and I am mostly used to seeing gloomy faces that were quick to snap and constantly one small second away from getting angry. And it felt good to see happiness, just randomly manifesting itself on the street.

Marques de Larios with Christmas Decorations	Historical Center Building

Probably the holiday also helped to create all this joie de vivre, and we were lucky enough to be in the city center when they blasted music through the speakers, along with a light show using the Christmas decorations. Everyone, obviously, knew the songs, so they were singing along. It was absolutely amazing, probably one of the best feelings I had for a moment, and I will always remember Malaga for that show and for how it made me feel.

One evening we also met with a couple of friends who happened to be around Malaga at that time, and we went for a walk towards the Malagueta and then back to the city center, where we went to a ramen place. I'm not a fan of the soup, but luckily they also served sushi, so it worked out well for me as well.

Since I am also watching games in La Liga from time to time, I know that Malaga has a very famous football team. Consequently, I could not leave before going for a walk to the La Rosaleda stadium. Sadly, it was already dark outside, and could not see much of the stadium, and since it was already evening, visiting it on the outside was not possible either. It did not seem to be as grand as the Bernabeu or the New Camp, but I was happy to see it anyway, as I'm also a fan of its name, La Rosaleda.

Wrapping up​

It was a very short trip, and I'm quite OK with the fact that we did not go other places we planned to, like the Caminito del Rey or Granada, but this leaves us with the opportunity to go back and make up for it. And, most probably, I will be back in Spain multiple times from now on, given its rich history, great Western architecture and Moorish influences, incredible museums, incredible food and good enough coffee. Next on the list was, obviously, Madrid, for a strong 2024 start in the travelling department.