Living the Madrid-ian life

In 2020, I spent a few weeks in Madrid during fall when the pandemic had slowed down a bit but most places around were still closed. The main reason to go to Madrid was just to get out of London for a change, so even though I did not get a chance to explore Madrid a lot, it was ok. I still got to see how it would be like living in Madrid and I enjoyed it totally.

Funnily enough, Madrid was shutdown, and travel to and from the city was not allowed, other than flying in! The flight there was an interesting experience for me too as I was flying for the first time since the lockdown and had to kind of re-learn it all. Some things were the same, but a lot had changed too.

The airport had more people than I expected, though there were boards everywhere telling people to be careful. In the airline lounges, only table service was allowed. So one could order food to eat on the table using the app. It actually felt quite luxurious rather than inconvenient. Also I had reached the airport 2 hours before the flight as I wasn't sure how many checks there were. That was something that hadn't happened for a long time. But turned out, I didn't really need to come in so early. Also, the flight turned out to be quite empty, with everyone sitting at a distance from each other (at least that used to be the case in fall 2020, it's changed ever since).

Autumn in Retiro

The views from the air felt very refreshing and almost freeing. After so long. And then I was in Madrid, where I spent the next 3 weeks. It was already getting cold and rainy as it was October, but we had some really sunny warm days too which were a welcome relief. It was a relaxed and comfortable stay for me. Most of the days, I went out for a daily walk to the areas around and just experienced how living in the city would be like.


Museums

The only touristy thing I could do was to visit some of the museums in the city. You could visit them only if you made a booking in advance. And given my new-found love for painting, it was the perfect activity for me 😊. There are many famous museums in Madrid, and I visited 4 of them - Thyssen Bornemisza, Reina Sofia, Sorolla and Prado. The Velazquez Palace, Crystal Palace and MAN museums are also worth a visit but I couldn't get to them.

Each of these museums had some evenings when they were free to visit, and I mostly booked my trips during those times. Because of the pandemic, they were all less crowded than usual and that gave me more time and space to enjoy them at my own pace. They all turned out to be quite different from each other too and that made it all more enjoyable.

Thyssen Bornemisza: The museum has paintings from the personal collection of the Thyssen family and it was my favourite of the lot. It housed paintings from medieval times to the modern ages. Given it was a personal collection, it had a wide variety of pieces, and was a nice way to see how art has evolved over the centuries. My blog on it is here.

Sorolla: This is the private house of the painter Sorolla which has been converted into a museum, full of his own paintings. It was a nice small house with a beautiful garden. And the paintings were just my type - bright and happy. My blog on it is here.

Outside Prado museum

Prado: I have visited Prado earlier but on this visit, I was able to explore only a part of the museum with limited paintings, as only one floor was open to visitors due to the pandemic. The museum is huge and has a lot of impressive art collected by Spain over the years. It also has the Botanico garden nearby which was full of autumn colours and nice to walk through.

Reina Sofia: This was my least favourite museums of the lot as it was a modern art museum. It is famous for its Dalis and Picasso's Guernica. And I liked a few of them, but for the most part it was too abstract for me. Walking to this museum was fun though. It seems like it is in the older part of town, and the streets around it were very pretty - old style cobbled lanes, with wooden grill windows and some very cute small bars and cafes all around. I wanted to come back there later someday, on the next visit. My blog on the museum is here.


Parks in Madrid

Autumn in Retiro

Retiro Park: We spent one of the sunny weekend days in the Retiro Park (Hyde Park of Madrid) and it was gorgeous. As it was fall, there were a few autumn colours and it looked extremely charming. With its yellow and orange tree lined avenues. There was a large lake in the centre but we stayed away as it was too crowded (Which by the way got completely empty during lunch and siesta time!). 

Lake in Retiro park

There is also the Crystal Gallery and Velazquez Palace within the park which houses an art collection and some sculptures. We however just walked around enjoying the views of the red and yellow leaves on the trees and taking in the beauty of nature all around, as it was a rare sunny day after a few cloudy and rainy ones.

Berlin Park

Parque de Berlin: One of the days, we walked to another nearby park, the Berlin Park. It was a usual park but near one of the fountains, they have remnants of the Berlin Wall - a few huge parts of it that were brought here when the wall fell. It was quite an interesting sight to see, especially at night with the twinkling lights coming on.


Shopping areas

Central Madrid

I spent a lot of time walking through Central Madrid when visiting the museums, and ambling through some of the shopping areas like Serrano street, Paseo del Prado, Paseo de Recoletos and the Colon area. There were tons of shops there, open air cafes and people enjoying a nice day out. 

 

Central Madrid

All the museums were along on these streets, one after the other. It was always fun to walk here, up and down (as Madrid seems like a hilly city), through wide boulevards with grand buildings on both sides, churches, monuments and other things to do. Sometimes you would run into random art structures on the sides, sometimes into benches to stop and stare, sometimes through grand architectural marvels and so on. It was a fun experience by itself and I always found something new to admire everytime.


Impressions of Madrid

Madrid from the top

I was staying in the Chamartin area and we had a rooftop apartment, so we enjoyed the views from the top everyday. On some clear days, we could even see the mountains at a distance and the small villages on top of them, which were lovely.

The area we were living in felt very modern and there were loads of new apartments (unlike many other European capitals), with some really stylish ones too. Some streets had some huge bungalows, all in different shapes and sizes. It was all very cosy and pretty, especially when walking along the small streets. There was a very fresh and open feel to the city everywhere, especially after the rains. The roads were wide and lined with green (and then yellow) trees. But there weren't a lot of parks around, which I missed a bit.

Streets of Madrid

I went a few times to the local Chamartin Market, which had lot of fish and fruits and meat. It was a small place and everyone in the market knew everyone. It was like coming into a small little town. We ate outside a few times too and terraces were most popular given the corona rules. They were covered though as it was already quite cold.

Everyone wore a mask when outside, which I found quite impressive. It was nice to interact with the locals too. And even though not everyone spoke English, people did try to speak in English and were extremely warm and friendly. I really liked that. Overall, I enjoyed my time there exploring the city and its museums. And almost feel like I know the city.

Even though it was all shut down, a friend did send me a long list of things to do, so here are a few from the list in case its helpful (and things are open!)

• Puerta de Alcalá
• Plaza Mayor
• Royal Palace
• Crystal Palace at Retiro Park (and the rest of the park is cool too, but it's a park...)
• Circulo de Bellas Artes
• Temple of Debod by sunset
• Stroll in Gran Vía. Start at Plaza Cibeles and go up and down till Plaza de España
• Walk around Justicia neighborhood
• Local Markets: Vallehermoso, San Gines (near Prado)
• Breakfast at San Ginés (churros with chocolate)
• Tortilla at Juana la Loca or Casa Dani (located inside Mercado de la Paz)
• Lunch at Ten con Ten - book a table or on the bar
• Dinner at Casa Lucio (ask for the eggs)
• Drinks at the City Hall's terrace

Exploring the UK countryside - Walk in Chiltern Hills AONB

This fall, on a surprisingly sunny day in the middle of rainy and cloudy days, me and a friend decided to go on a walk in the UK countryside. It didn't take a lot of planning, as we decided on a walk, downloaded the map, booked a train ticket from Paddington to and from the starting point, and we were set. Except the forecast changed on the last day and it was supposed to be rainy all day. Anyways we still went ahead with the plan and it was a good call. As the day turned out to be extremely warm and sunny - the perfect weather for any walk.

Route map

Our plan was to take a train to Didcot, walk around 16 kms mostly along the Thames in the Chiltern AONB, stop for lunch in the village of Dorchester-on-the-Thames and finish the walk at Cholsey, from where we would take the train back to Paddington. It mostly went as per plan except the walk turned out to be 25 kms long, and our legs had started paining by the end. But it was all worth it, for a day out on a sunny day.

We took the train to Didcot Parkway, and the fast train was about 35 mins or so. We started our walk around 1030 in the morning. The first part of the walk was mostly through the town. The town had a lot of construction going on at a few new developments. It felt like lot of people from London are moving there 😊.

First view of Thames

Then the walk took us through some farms, all of which had already harvested their crops and were empty. We walked over some hills and passed the Wittenham clumps. One hill there apparently has the remains of a Celtic fort on the top, or they say. As there is nothing there now. There was a school picnic going on when we reached there. So we wore our masks and avoided them as we kept walking. And while going down that hill, we got our first view of the Thames. The river wasn't very wide here, meandering lazily among the greens all around, but it did look very enchanting from up top. 

We then walked towards the Dorchester-on-the-Thames village which apparently has its own little history. It was a cute little village and we had lunch at the White Hart hotel. They had outside seating which was helpful given the pandemic. After a long and lazy lunch, we started walking again and kept walking all along the Thames for the next 4 hours till we got to Cholsey.

Most of the path was along the Thames, with some detours far away from it. There were lot of rowing clubs on the banks and students practicing rowing on the river. We passed by some fascinating bridges on the Thames. There were some quaint pubs and cafes on the river in the village of Wallingford. And they were full of people sitting and enjoying the sun outside. It would have been lovely to stop at one of these places and read a book while looking at the waters passing by, but we were trying to reach the end point before dark, so we kept walking on.

There were lot of newly constructed holiday homes all along the Thames. And all along, there were lot of boats moored on the sides, of the rich and famous. And trailer parks full of people who enjoy life on the water. We walked through the Benson lock and saw some boats making their way through the locks which is always fascinating to watch. 

Bridge on the Thames

It was almost a continuous walking path all the way, covered with trees and mostly in the woods. And we saw some early autumn colours at one place. The sky was deep blue and the clouds added to the beauty of the sun. It was a nice sunny walk all day, and got warm during the day too. And there were benches all along to stop and rest, while enjoying the sun. 

Early fall colours

There were lot of people on the walk and most of them were walking their dogs 😊. Tons of people were sitting and fishing on the sides. People were generally more talkative and friendly here. An old man was going for his walk and stopped and talked to us for a bit. It finaly turned out to be a long 25 kms walk, over 5.5 hours. And we loved the whole experience.

At Cholsey Marsh, we turned right and walked towards the town, away from the river. Cholsey felt larger than the previous towns and less cute too. We walked into one pub and they had no food. Then we somehow made it to the next one, the Red Lion which was better and had a dinner menu too! It was cute and had tasty food thankfully. We had a heavy burger dinner and some hot chocolate. They didnt know how to make good chocolate though, clearly no one walks into this pub asking for hot chocolate!!

There were trains coming back to London every hour which was convenient. We got late coming back to London and took the 840 one. The station was empty by then. And the trains were all running empty. It did make me wonder why does the government waste so much money running empty trains?

Anyways I loved this day out in the countryside, and look forward to doing a few more during this lockdown period.