Guest post by stagliavia
Map tips: each color represents a different day. Click a marker to learn more about the spot, and click the star in the map header to save the entire map under Your Places in Google Maps.
Day 1
- InterContinental Madrid
- El Retiro Park
- Puerta de Alcalá
I arrived at the airport in Madrid in the morning. I took a taxi from the airport to the hotel. The cost is a flat rate of 30 Euros. This was very easy, but make sure you take the taxi from the main taxi stand don’t just get in any car outside. My husband was there for business so we stayed at a 5 star hotel which was very nice, but about 15-20 blocks from the center of the city. The weather was cooler than usual and sometimes wet (50-60s) partly sunny. I walked from the hotel to Parque del Retiro which is a huge area of green space great for running, walking, boating. The Puerta de Alcala is next to the park which stands as a gate to the city.
Day 2
- Gran Vía
- Palacio de Cibeles
- Puerta del Sol
- Plaza Mayor
- Mercado de San Miguel
The second day we did a lot of walking as well. The Gran Via is similar to NYCs Times Square full of shopping. Palacio de Cibeles is their city hall and used to be a post office. It was near the center of the city and has a nice rooftop view of the city. Remember to get a ticket (2 Euros) befor you go into the building or else they will send you back out to get one.
Other tourist areas we visited included Puerta del Sol. This plaza contains a bear and a strawberry tree statue the symbol of Spain. This spot is full of tourists and has several cartoons characters (Mickey mouse, Harry Potter, etc) dressed up. The Plaza Mayor is another plaza with great tapas and people watching. Finally, the Mercado de San Miguel was our last and favorite stop. It is open most of the day and night and has unique food and drink including paella, angulas (baby eels), sangria, etc. After walking all day, we took a taxi home with the MyTaxi app. This app is great and very easy to use. You can pay with the app and track the taxi, etc like Uber.
Day 3: Mercado de Motores
We spent the third day with some friends who are from Spain and live in Madrid. The metro was very easy to use and you can get a ticket which is good for the metro and bus. The bus took us to a local craft market, the Mercado de Motores. We spent the day shopping, eating tapas, and drinking wine. The market was in an old train station outside of Madrid and occurs once a month.
Day 4
- Aqueduct of Segovia
- Segovia Cathedral
- Alcázar de Segovia
We traveled outside of Madrid on the fourth day to Segovia, Spain. The trip was about an hour by metro and then bus. You need a specific ticket to Segovia which you can get at the main bus station. Tour buses take you to Segovia, a great trip through the countryside. Segovia is known for its huge Roman Aqueduct that is in incredible condition. This is a very busy tourist area, but not a sight to be missed. You can see it for miles. A castle and cathedral are also in the city which are beautiful to visit. They are also known for suckling pig, cochinillo, which you can get at several restaurants. We spent about 6 hours here.
We took a MyTaxi to the airport the next day. This day was a holiday in Spain so it was basically empty around the city and airport. We forgot to print out boarding passes, but you can scan your phone if you have the app.
Traveled in May 2016
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