This weekend I flew from Geneva to Madrid in order to meet my hometown friends there. We spent a wonderful time together and had so much fun!
If you’re traveling to the Spanish capital with your girlfriends anytime soon, and are looking for ideas on what to do in Madrid with them, here are some suggestions based on my recent itinerary.
Day 0
Upon arrival to the Barajas airport on Friday night, we took the public transport to go to Madrid. We surprised our friend María who had no clue we were coming but we got trapped in the elevator. Epic fail! To get it over with, we went for dinner to the Mexican restaurant Tierra.
Day 1
On Saturday morning, we had a quick breakfast at La Rollerie. I loved this place: it was so cute and cozy! We then took a free tour that started at Plaza Mayor and spent the whole morning exploring Madrid. Our friend brought us to Perrachica for lunch and we had such a feast: berenjenas en tempura con miel, hojaldre con provolone y tomate concassé, burratina con tomate rosa, pato taco, cachopo, tartar de atún, tarta cumpleaños, tarta queso mascarpone, brownie de chocolate. After lunch we headed to the hipster area of Malasaña to drink some traditional yayos (a cocktail made out of gin, soda and vermouth) at Casa Camacho. We then had another cocktail at Ojalá restaurant, which features a cool beach downstairs! We wrapped up the day going to the Rialto theater to see the show ‘El Club de la Comedia’ and dancing at the Larios Café.
Day 2
On Sunday, we strolled around the Temple of Debod, which is an ancient Egyptian temple that was dismantled and rebuilt in Madrid, Spain. The history goes as follows: in 1960, due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam and the consequent threat posed to numerous monuments and archeological sites, UNESCO made an international call to save this rich historical legacy. As a sign of gratitude for the help provided by Spain in saving the Abu Simbel temples, the Egyptian state donated the temple of Debod to Spain in 1968. After being rebuilt near the Royal Palace of Madrid, it opened to the public in 1972.
To finish off the weekend trip on another epic note, I learned my flight was canceled upon arrival to the airport. Since there were no realistic options to fly back to Geneva that same evening or the day after, and due to the hectic period in the office, I took the crazy decision of renting a van with some other stranded passengers. It took us about 14 hours to get there, but hey, we made it!
