España!

A few weeks ago Roy and I went to Madrid. The reason for the trip was for work for Roy but the long, summer, Spanish days made it feel more like a holiday - with a little bit of work thrown in. It was a totally different experience to Switzerland or it's surrounding countries. There were lots of people. The shops were open all the time. There was lots of cheap, tasty food and drinks. And the way the afternoons lasted forever made it feel like there were two days in one. Roy would come home from his workshop in the afternoon, laze around for a little while and then we would go out and meet up with other workshop goers for a long night of eating, drinking and laughing. It did mean that we weren't getting as much sleep as we would in Martigny, but it was lots of fun. A bit less sleep for a lot more fun was worth it.

It was our first time in Spain and I think because I was coming from a really safe country to a place where unemployment is high and the economy isn't too good I was expecting to have my pockets picked and money stolen. I was also expecting a dirty and somewhat smelly city but that was definitely not the case in Madrid. The city was clean, beautiful and bustling with life.

Every night there was somewhere new and exciting to explore. The endless streets of tapas bars. The many beautiful parks to enjoy the twilight in. The many street performers to laugh at or ponder. I think I have been living in a small town for too long. I was kind of like a deer in headlights. It had been a while since I had been in a big city. I think the last big city I was in was Paris in February but Paris has a very different feel to Madrid. Paris, despite it's charm and beauty feels little exclusive, like you need to be a local or part of the 'in crowd' to enjoy what it has to offer. Madrid on the other welcomes all types.

Mercado de San Miguel - the fancy place to eat tapas.

Palacio Real de Madrid

Flea market on Sunday

Parque del Retiro

Our visit there was timed quite well because Spain was playing in a semi-final of the Euro2012. There were lots of people wearing the red and yellow proudly for pretty much the whole week we were there. They won the match so the revellers were at it until all hours of the night celebrating their victory. It definitely feels like a constant party in Madrid - at least in summer anyway.

We had our fair share of Sangria! We went to this tiny bar called 'Yambala' where their main selling point was shisha or hookah. We went for the drinks and the atmosphere though. It was in this little bar that I had the tastiest and most excited sangria yet. It came in a cocktail glass, crushed ice, straw, pieces of fruit and when I sucked it through the straw I got a mouthful of sugar granules. It was delicious! I was expecting to have to pay a cocktail price but instead I was pleasantly surprised it was only the usual sangria price of 3 to 4 Euros.

I couldn't go to Spain and not have churros with chocolate for breakfast. Our hotel guy recommended this old place called Chocolatería San Ginés that specialises in them but he told us to order the "porras" too. Porras are basically a giant version of churros so you get more of a chewy texture instead of the crunchy texture of a churro. Nothing like a butt-load of sugar and fat to get your going in the morning!

It was a fantastic week of eating, drinking and partying. We even managed to squeeze in a visit to a themepark and flamenco bar! Olé!