Since I am so far behind I am just getting around to writing about our trip to Madrid for Thanksgiving. I am one lucky girl and get to go home for Christmas every year (thanks Eric!) so we knew that we would be spending Thanksgiving in Spain. We weren't sure how we were going to spend the holiday so after some thinking and planning we settled on Madrid. As it turns out three other families and a few other people that Eric works with were also going to Madrid. We decided on the train to Madrid, it's a four hour ride and the train station is right here in El Puerto. I thought that the girls were going to love the train...and they did...but they wouldn't sit still! They were up and down the whole ride, which made it seem a lot longer than four hours but finally we made it. There were 14 of us traveling together on the train so when we arrived at the station in Madrid we all walked to the Metro together to the subway to where we were staying. I'm sure we stuck out...14 American's carrying luggage and trying to read a subway map to figure out where to go!
Finally, we made it to the apartment and got settled in. We stayed near the Opera Metro station, which I definitely recommend to anyone visiting Madrid. The location was perfect. You could walk just about anywhere or take the metro. There were tons of restaurants, shopping and sites right near us.
Thanksgiving evening we had reservations for dinner at a restaurant called Cornucopia. An American is part owner and they would be serving traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone we had traveled with were going here for dinner so we had a big group. That made for a fun night and made it feel a little more like Thanksgiving. The food was good too!
There are tons of things to see in Madrid. I would definitely recommend taking some kind of guided tour so that you don't miss the important landmarks and don't have to worry about reading a map. There are a number of different tours you could go with and you should definitely check out the tourist office at Plaza Mayor. They speak English and will give you all the information you need and want to get around Madrid. We did a tour that wasn't offered through the tourist office, but it was a free walking tour! Yes, free...the guides work for tips! It was a three hour tour. I was a little worried about how the girls would do, which was why we picked this one, we could leave if needed. But, they were fine...Lily even slept for 2 hours of the tour! This is the website where you can get the information about the free tour - http://www.newmadrid-tours.com/daily-tours/free-tour.html.
Of course Spain is known for their tapas so we decided to do a tapas tour. The tour visited three different tapas bars and your ticket price included tapas and a drink at each bar. Children were welcome and didn't have to pay full price. There was a big group of us that we traveled with who did the tour which made it even more fun. The tapas and drinks were good and we visited tapas bars that we wouldn't have otherwise. Here is the website where you can get the information for the tour - http://www.newmadrid-tours.com/daily-tours/tapas-experience.html.
Because Eric and I are traveling with two toddlers we are a little limited in what we can do and we want to do kid friendly things. If you visit Madrid you should go to the Prado museum...we didn't but we heard that it was a great museum. We took the kids to Parque del Retiro, the most popular park in Madrid. You can rent a row boat and go out on the lake they have there. They have a few different playgrounds in the park and they also had lots of kid friendly street performers...the kids loved the bubble guy.
On our last night in Madrid we found a Dunkin Donuts...well Dunkin Coffee but it was still exciting! We went back the next morning for coffee and donuts. It wasn't exactly the same but it was a little taste of home.
Not sure when our next trip will be...we just got back from the states and are a little worn out from traveling. I think we are going to stick to day trips for a few months!
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| Thanksgiving dinner |
Thanksgiving evening we had reservations for dinner at a restaurant called Cornucopia. An American is part owner and they would be serving traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone we had traveled with were going here for dinner so we had a big group. That made for a fun night and made it feel a little more like Thanksgiving. The food was good too!
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| Rebecca on the walking tour. |
There are tons of things to see in Madrid. I would definitely recommend taking some kind of guided tour so that you don't miss the important landmarks and don't have to worry about reading a map. There are a number of different tours you could go with and you should definitely check out the tourist office at Plaza Mayor. They speak English and will give you all the information you need and want to get around Madrid. We did a tour that wasn't offered through the tourist office, but it was a free walking tour! Yes, free...the guides work for tips! It was a three hour tour. I was a little worried about how the girls would do, which was why we picked this one, we could leave if needed. But, they were fine...Lily even slept for 2 hours of the tour! This is the website where you can get the information about the free tour - http://www.newmadrid-tours.com/daily-tours/free-tour.html.
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| A taste of tapas. |
Of course Spain is known for their tapas so we decided to do a tapas tour. The tour visited three different tapas bars and your ticket price included tapas and a drink at each bar. Children were welcome and didn't have to pay full price. There was a big group of us that we traveled with who did the tour which made it even more fun. The tapas and drinks were good and we visited tapas bars that we wouldn't have otherwise. Here is the website where you can get the information for the tour - http://www.newmadrid-tours.com/daily-tours/tapas-experience.html.
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| At the playground. |
Because Eric and I are traveling with two toddlers we are a little limited in what we can do and we want to do kid friendly things. If you visit Madrid you should go to the Prado museum...we didn't but we heard that it was a great museum. We took the kids to Parque del Retiro, the most popular park in Madrid. You can rent a row boat and go out on the lake they have there. They have a few different playgrounds in the park and they also had lots of kid friendly street performers...the kids loved the bubble guy.
 |
| Yummy! |
On our last night in Madrid we found a Dunkin Donuts...well Dunkin Coffee but it was still exciting! We went back the next morning for coffee and donuts. It wasn't exactly the same but it was a little taste of home.
Not sure when our next trip will be...we just got back from the states and are a little worn out from traveling. I think we are going to stick to day trips for a few months!
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