Madrid 2017.

Happy Friday!

I'm writing this looking out onto the street of a cold and dreary Winchester, where two weeks ago I was waking up in the beautiful Madrid with two of my favourite people from back at home. Hannah has spent a year out working in Madrid (and I'm super jealous of her Spanish) so Jack and I thought it was about time that we flew out to explore where she's been living for the past few months!

I'd never been to Madrid before, so I was looking forward to a new adventure. As always I took far too many photos so here are some of my favourite snaps!

This is the colourful view out of Hannah's window.

CHOCOLATE sandwiches. I know. 

On the first day we mooched around a very busy street marked which was full of other shoppers. We then explored the biggest department store you've ever seen, El Corte Ingles, which had nine different floors. We strolled around an enormous Primark and stunning H&M too, before heading back to Hannah's to have a chilled evening.

On day two we went on a free walking tour of the city, which I'd definitely recommend. The guide was brilliant, he knew all the facts and was entertaining! We started in Plaza Mayor, the central plaza in Madrid, before making our way to the Almudena Cathedral, which was beautiful inside and out.

Just opposite the cathedral was Royal Palace, and if we'd stayed longer I'd love to have a nose at all of the bedrooms!

After the tour we went to the cable car to see views over the city. As the evening drew to a close we found ourselves at Templo de Debod, an ancient Egyptian temple which was rebuilt in Madrid. The sunset was beautiful for here so it's definitely worth a visit.

On day three we jumped on a coach to nearby town Toledo, where Hannah had been keen to visit for a while, so it was nice for us all to be tourists together! The cobbled streets were beautiful, and I'm a sucker for an arch or doorway!

We also took a trip down the zip wire that goes over the lake which was fantastic!

For our last evening we booked a table at the oldest serving restaurant in the world, which was great. On our way we passed back through Plaza Mayor where there was an event on for the bank holiday, the light on the buildings in the square was stunning.

On the last day we found some really exciting new places to adventure. This is one of them hidden inside the Atocha train station, where there were plants towering up to the ceiling. Then right at the end we found hundreds of turtles sitting in the sunshine, and clambering up onto the ledges.

We made our way through the gardens and streets of Madrid to the stunning El Jardin Secreto de Salvado Bachiller, a secret roof cafe filled with flowers and lanterns, somewhere I'd definitely go back to, I think it would be even more beautiful in an evening. You'd have no idea it was there if you hadn't looked into it beforehand!

 Thank you Hannah for having us! I had such a lovely trip away, and now I'm looking forward to more travels in the very near future! I hope you've enjoyed taking a look at these snaps, keep an eye out for the video to go a long with it, then we'll be truly 'Madrided' out!

xxx