¡Hola!

Spain round 2! I had around a week and a half with absolutely no plans in the midst of finals so I decided to plan another big trip. I went from Glasgow to Madrid (with a stop in Switzerland for a few hours) to Athens (with a stop in Brussels) to Malta before heading back to Glasgow.

I went to Madrid for a few days mainly to see one of my few friends studying abroad before she left for the semester. As I mentioned above I had a layover in Geneva, Switzerland before making it to Madrid. Since my layover was 8 hours I decided to head out to the city center and see a little bit of Switzerland. I visited the Brunswick Monument and the Jet d’eau. The Brunswick Monument was built in 1879 to commemorate the life of Charles II, Duke of Brunswick. The Jet d’eau is a fountain in Lake Geneva that shoots water 150 feet in the air. I also made sure to try some Swiss chocolate before leaving (it was delicious).

I then headed back to the airport for my flight to Madrid. It was a quick flight and I headed right to my hostel in Madrid to check in and get some sleep. The next day I decided to go on one of those free walking tours that are offered all over Europe. It started in the Plaza Mayor, a major public space in the heart of Madrid. It was once the center of Old Madrid. The plaza dates back to the 15th century and used to be a place for bull fighting.

The tour took us around parts of Madrid, going over the history and what the old buildings were. We even were able to see the Royal Palace of Madrid, but we did not go in. It was nice to be able to walk around Madrid and get a feel for the city. It was a beautiful, sunny day out (I even got sunburnt)!

Afterwards, I met up with my friend Annie for happy hour. Annie and I went to middle school together and have kept in contact over the years. We really wanted to have the chance to see each other while abroad so thankfully this trip ended up working out. We went to this place for happy hour nachos and margaritas. They were delicious! We retired for the night after since it had been a long day (I was starting to feel the sunburn and Annie had had a test earlier).

The next day was much more eventful. We walked around the other side of the city I had yet to see. Madrid has some absolutely gorgeous buildings to see. We had lunch then headed out to El Retiro Park. It was absolutely huge and gorgeous. We spent a few hours laying out there (with my sunburn only getting worse) before exploring the park. We went to the Crystal Palace and looked around inside. It’s made almost entirely of glass and the inside is just so cool to see on such a sunny day. Next we headed to the lake and did a hour long row boat ride. It was a super cute lake and fun to row around. It was nice being able to be outside and do things without being super bundled up.

We stopped at a Dunkin Donuts on our way back and hung out there for a bit, just catching up. I was able to get an iced coffee (for anyone who has ever spent an extended time in Europe they understand how important finding Dunkin iced coffee is). That was basically the rest of our day since the sun made us pretty tired.

My final day in Madrid was fairly simple. We met for tacos for lunch and were first in line at this very popular taco place (we were 30 minutes early to opening). By the time the place had opened the line was a hour wait time. Afterwards we decided to check out the Mercado de San Miguel. It’s basically a smaller scale version of the market in Barcelona. It was super cute inside but we did not get anything because we were full from lunch.

We split for a few hours after that before meeting up at Starbucks to study for a bit (yay finals). After we separated for dinner before meeting again for my final night in Madrid. We headed to one of the local bars for shot night (yay!!). It was a really fun final night together before I headed out to Athens the next day.