Madrid 2026 (Part 1)

I recently got back from Madrid, Spain (and Lisbon, Portugal) after almost 10 days abroad. This was my first time out of North America so I wanted to document (almost) everything I saw.

Day 0 - Friday, August 7

Greta and I reached Washington Dulles International Airport with plenty of time to spare, via the smooth and predictable ride on the Metro. From there, we faced slightly bumpier waters with our flight being delayed about 45 minutes, and spending another hour (or more? I can’t remember) sitting on the tarmac. Our pilot informed us of major storms in Boston, which impacted basically every flight headed up and/or out of the States.

Once in the air, the flight attendants were wonderful and overall the flight was free of turbulence. Unfortunately, it was also free of proper ventilation. My choice of long-sleeved sunshirt proved to be a mistake, and I achieved maybe two hours of sleep across the seven hour flight.

Day 1 - Saturday, August 8

We landed safely in Portugal 2 hours behind schedule, leaving Greta and I with less than an hour to make our connecting flight via TAP Air Portugal. Thankfully, TAP’s representatives were granted carte blanche to expedite delayed passengers through passport control (customs), and the neon-vested airport helpers breezed us in front of the common man at customs to the front of the Schengen line. After a brief inspection that our passports did indeed say we were who we claimed, we were escorted like VIPs (or would it just be VIP?) to our savior: Veiculo Longo.

We made it to our final mode of transport in Portugal with no more than 15 minutes to spare, thanks entirely to TAP’s tireless work.

Blessed with powerful air conditioning and near-exit-row leg room, our 60-minute flight to Madrdi was painless and uneventful. After catching the airport bus to our Airbnb, we dropped our luggage and headed to the nearest coffee shop, a five minute walk up the street. At Chloe Lan Coffee, we met up with friends and were treated to excellent pastries and a variety of interesting coffees. One of my favorites was the Café Bombon, a sugary and caffeinated explosion that was perfect for extreme jet lag and exhaustion.

The rest of the day included our first encounter with Spanish Omelette (which they call tortilla), which I thought was fun but not particularly exciting.

Day 2 - Sunday, August 9

Sunday we started our day with a food tour, where we met our guide Adolfo in a square near the royal palace. He took us, and another group from California, around to a set of 5 different restaurants. The first location was Casa Ciriaco — a century-old restaurant where we got our first taste of jamón ibérico, along with some prosecco. We learned here that Spain is actually the world’s #1 producer of olive oil. As part of the experience, we got to slice (and eat) more Iberian ham for ourselves. Adolfo let us know to note the black hoof, the distinguishing feature of Iberian pigs.

Our next stop was Mesón del Champiñon, that specializes in mushrooms (champiñon = mushroom). It was here the Adolfo let us in on the well-known secret that locals do not drink sangria, a drink served only to tourists. Instead, they drink tinto de verano — literally summer red wine — which is red wine and lemon Fanta. From here on out, the journey to find Madrid’s best tintos de verano had begun, though we did not yet know it. We were served our wine, mushrooms (topped with pork), and Spanish peppers that resembled shishitos. Everything was fantastic and simple, and this would be most of the group’s favorite stop.

Our next stop was to get bocadillos de calamares, a simple fried calamari sandwich, topped with lemon juice. We ate this dish standing outside Madrid’s Plaza Mayor, once the center of the city, now a beautiful open-air square, featuring an entertainer in a giant, fuzzy Labubu (it was 95 degrees Fahrenheit). I liked this chewy dish, but many in the group were unenthused by its lack of flavor.

The penultimate stop was at La Casa del Abuelo, where we dined on buttery shrimp and extremely sweet wine, apparently a local favorite a few decades ago.

For dessert, Adolfo took us to a local gelato shop near Puerta del Sol (the place where all kilometer markings in Madrid originate). After we said our goodbyes, we stopped into a local cafe for some caffeination. As we were leaving, Greta asked the baristas for their recommendations on things to do in Madrid, and one of them recommended the Thyssen museum, which was not on our radar. Meandering and Metro-ing, most of us headed to the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, showcasing tons of modern art. It was a fantastic museum, my favorite of the trip.

Afterwards, we found ourselves facing a distinct lack of tinto de verano, so we made our way to a rooftop bar. The drinks were okay, but the vibes were immaculate. As with many bars in Madrid, they served us a salty assortment of pretzels and other such nourishment, along with gummy bears and worms of which I had many.

After we were well-nourished on alcohol, we made our way to a Spanish restaurant that we quickly realized was populated almost entirely by toursists. We were seated in the back, with a couple other parties of loud Americans. As with most meals, we all shared (and stole) bites of each dish. The food was okay, but I thoroughly enjoyed my salty entree of eggs, ham, and potatoes.

Day 3 - Monday, August 10

Monday featured a marked lack of planning. Seeking an activity to fill our day, we booked a ticket for the Real Madrid stadium. On a blisteringly hot day (as they all were), an air-conditioned tour sounded divine. However, the tour itself was rather underwhelming, though for a true Real Madrid fan it would likely have been a good time way to kill two hours. I learned very little via the audio guide (provided not as an app or website, but an entire phone with earpiece) outside of Real Madrid’s complete and ultimate greatness and benevolence. It was an overall forgettable experience but fun nonetheless.

After leaving the stadium, we located a few pieces of the Berlin Wall (quite far from home).

After successfully remembering history and refueling, we made our way down to the river walk on the quest for birds. Luck was on our side, and birds were present! Aided by Merlin and our trusty binoculars, we were successfully able to identify many avian species — a few of which are shown below.

Once our eBird checklist was sufficiently complete, our posse headed to the Temple of Debod. The temple is originally from Egypt in the 2nd Century, and makes a great place to watch the sunset. More crucially, it was also home to a Common Hoopoe, a charmingly-strange bird I had been hoping to see while in Madrid. Casually sauntering through the park, he made his appearance with style and grace.

As we watched the sun set over the city, the gathered crowd applauded its retreat over the horizon.

With nature’s beauty acclaimed, we made our way to an unassuming bar called La Sifonería de Plaza de España. The 7 of us were seated at the 6-seat bar, where we rotated the solo stander. This bar treated us to the best tintos de verano of the trip, topped with a lemony foam sprayed from a whipped-cream style cannister. To accompany our beverage, we enjoyed many a tapa. The dining experience was in fact so wonderful that not one photo was taken by our group, leaving me with only memories.

Day 4 - Tuesday, August 11

Tuesday’s adventures began unassumingly, but would soon take an unexpected turn. While on the Metro to Museo Nacional del Prado, a cell phone made its way out of one of our bags. Distraught and decimated in our scrolling potential, we contacted the authorities via a surviving device. Unfortunately, all hope was lost when the Google location went dark, indicating the phone’s new home was likely to be far, far away.

Dejected but not defeated, we made our eventually to the museum, maintaining a minimum of 0.5 phones per person at all times. While Prado featured some interesting paintings (including the original Mona Lisa), I was left overwhelmed by the veracity at which Spaniards painted Jesus and adjacent figures. With God on our side, we headed to the police station to record the heinous crime which had befallen us.

After many an hour with the authorities, the group made its way to Taberna de la Daniela, a local establishment where we hoped to refill on tintos and other local fair. Little did we know that we were in for more than we had bargained. We were promptly seated in the back of the restaurant, and given a bib each. Next, a bowl of soup with some light filling was placed on the table. As we began to serve and eat it, a large plate of vegetables was placed on the table, which were indicated by the server that they belonged in the soup. Soon thereafter, an immense plate of meat was set on each side of the table. This meal, we learned, was called Cocido Madrileño, and is a traditional dish from Madrid.

Day 5 - Wednesday, August 12 - E-Day

Wednesday marked the most crucial day of our vacation — the day when the sun would be mooned. To get in the mood for moon, Murari, Daniel and I went on an early-morning at 6am. The dry air felt immaculate at around 75 degrees American, and our day had begun with vigor.

With endorphins in our brain and sun in our soul, we were off to the train station. As a lover of public transit, my first experience with high-speed rail was tremendously successful. Renfe’s train to Valladolid was fast, smooth, and comfortable — transporting us the distance from DC to Richmond in 1 hour.

Once in Valladolid — our destination for staring the sun — we grabbed a bite, some coffee, and observed Valladolid Cathedral. The cathedral was as impressive as it was old, and its high ceilings were stunning to behold.

After having given the stones our reverence, we wandered around the shopping corridor and eventually met our 8th and 9th members — Kiley and Grant — at Rioluz Gastronomía. Rioluz was a gluten-free (with the exception of beer) restaurant on the outskirts of Valladolid, which had a tremedenous wine and cider offering, of which we took advantage.

To walk off our lunch, we meandered to a local park and began another eBird walk to take stock of the fauna. While there were many Indian Peafowl (peacocks), I was informed via email that these birds were — in fact — domestic and should not be listed on my bird lists. Lesson learned!

After a few more stops to indulge in beverages, we made the uphill trek to a local observation spot to get our best view of the sun. Joining a few hundred locals and tourists alike, we donned the eclipse glasses and waited (and ate our picnic dinner). While I had already seen two prior total solar eclipses, the experience as the moon crossed the sun from 99.9% to 100% was still indescribably stunning. Seeing the sun flares peaking out behind the moon is as close to a religious experience as was possible outside Prado. The sun’s low position in the sky provided a more full and clear look at the eclipse, which gave the impression of a science fiction movie on a foreign planet.

PART 2 — COMING SOON!

This post has taken MUCH longer than expected to write so I’m going to make this a two-parter for my sanity’s sake (and because this site does not support lazy-loading yet lol).