Yesterday Aidan and I went to Parque del Buen Retiro, an enormous public park that's right next to Aidan's flat. We had a nice little wander, taking in the eclectic collection of bongo players, jugglers, rollerbladers and rowers that fill the place up on a weekend. Bars and clubs here are literally open all night, so you're just as likely to encounter bleary-eyed pissheads as frisbee tossing families on your Sunday morning stroll through the park. We were both looking pretty bleary-eyed ourselves, although hopefully not as bad as the happy old man in the stained mac who was dancing along to the bongos.
That evening we met up with Saira, Aidan's lovely girlfriend, and went out for some drinks and tapas in La Latina, a funky area full of bars, where the streets are packed on a Sunday night. Tapas and cerveza (served in tumblers rather than pint glasses) are such a perfect combination, I don't know why it's not more common back home - the pork scratchings and pickled eggs of British pubs don't quite measure up somehow. We went to a few lively, noisy bars, and all of them were brimming with vocal locals acting as if no one had to go to work tomorrow. Everyone here seems happy, noisy and drunk on a night out, but I still haven't seen the sort of vomity, comatose drunkenness you get in Britain, and people pace their booze across the night instead of racing each other through yard glasses and shots.
Today Aidan and I walked around the most interesting bits of the city centre. Madrid doesn't have a world famous landmark like the Eiffel Tower or the Colosseum, but it's still a great place to explore. We checked out the Palacio Real (Spanish version of Buckingham Palace - big courtyard, nice views), and then walked a little way to the Templo de Debod; an ancient Egyptian temple that was transferred stone by stone in the seventies. We also checked out some of the many plazas in the city, including Plaza Mayor (impressive, spacious, pigeon-filled) and Sol (busy, noisy, currently being dug-up). Had a great lunch of paella and sardines, then chilled in a funky little bar while Aidan went off to teach an English lesson.
That's the thing you really notice about this city actually; the sheer number of bars. They're everywhere! It's probably just as well I've got time constraints...
If all goes to plan I'll be heading to Barcelona tomorrow (hopefully by high speed train, which takes half the time). I wonder how it's going to measure up to manic Madrid.
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