Madrid...

In Spain when you order a gin and tonic the waiter will bring the gin bottle to the table and just pour and pour it. So the first time I ordered a gin and tonic I was too scared to drink it (don’t worry, I got over that). It was quite staggering how strong the drinks were. The wine was good too. We ate very well all over Spain, but I think we put in an extra special effort in Madrid.

We were there at the same time as The World Gay Pride Festival so the city was wonderfully colourful and vibrant. We ate out a lot, found favourite restaurants, drank fish-bowl sized gin and tonics and walked and walked.

Madrid is a beautiful city, and apart from a day at the Prado (where they wont let you take photos – boo hiss!) and an afternoon at the Reina Sofia, we were pretty unscheduled and just wandered. It’s an excellent city for that, and since we were staying in Barrio de las Letras it was easy to walk to everything. From the moment we arrived we started walking - from the train station to our airbnb, then around the narrow and interesting streets. We walked to the Galleries, and to churches and squares – everything was easy to get to and I don’t think we used any transport at all the whole time we were there. Luke liked Madrid so much he decided to learn Spanish, and I would love to come back to see the Prado again.