A Madrid kinda Christmas

One of the most memorable trips I have ever been on took place in Madrid. This was my first trip within Europe being away from my parents. 

On a random day I came across a video of the Warner Bro’s park in Madrid. Knowing that my boyfriend’s birthday was coming up soon, and that he is the biggest Warner Bro’s animation fan, this video lived inside my head for days. I knew that we had to go. Before moving abroad for university, I had never visited Europe. Hearing a lot of stories and incidents from the news in the past, I was very hesitant to book the trip. From scammers and pick pockets to attacks- I had heard it all. But being in Europe for the first time, how could I not take this opportunity to explore? 

After revising it with my parents, who also encouraged me to go, I booked the trip! Although his actual birthday is in November, the trip was planned for December since we had a long weekend from classes. Everything was aligning up perfectly I knew it was meant to be! 

The time had come for us to leave for Madrid and we were both ecstatic! After a few hours we arrived and went straight to check into our hotel. Knowing that we did not want to waste any time, we dropped our stuff and headed to our first stop: Puerta del Sol

It was late afternoon, so the sky was slowly transitioning into night. Everyone gathered around the 37-meter-tall Christmas tree in the centre, waiting for the lights to turn on. Once the nighttime settled in, it was nothing like I’d ever seen before. From the lights, the cold air, the Christmas trees, to the vibes of just being there- I felt like I was in a Christmas movie and my heart honestly felt so warm with gratuity. I have never experienced a winter Christmas, and this is closest to it that I have experienced- it’s safe to say that after this trip I 100% prefer a winter Christmas. We walked around, popped into almost all the stores that were along the streets and eventually stopped to eat dinner at a little kebab shop. The streets started getting packed with people, so we called it a night and headed back to our hotel. 

The next day was the day we had been impatiently waiting for; it was time for the Warner Bros park. I booked the tickets online, a month in advance and since it was my boyfriends’ birthday; I decided to get the gold premium tickets- allowing us to skip the queue on the rides! Although we were both freezing, we decided to have breakfast at an açai store a few minutes away from our hotel. Once we were done we left for the park. When we got to the park we waited in line to be let in and to my surprise the gold passes were not the actual tickets. The passes were expensive on their own but on top of that we had to buy actual entry tickets. I ended up spending around 160 Euros for the tickets alone. A very expensive lesson was learnt that day! This park was pricy but nonetheless an unforgettable and very enjoyable experience. Since it was also December the Christmas decorations and lights were beautiful, but on the other hand the park was also packed. Even the gold pass tickets had a line to wait in. The park had many different sections, of course each themed to Warner Bro productions. From the Looney Tunes village, Old West Territory, DC Superheroes World, Hollywood Boulevard and not to forget – the haunted house with an Anabelle doll. It started to get late and since our hotel was around 40 minutes away, we called it a night and we headed back. 

We woke up to our 3rd and final day in Madrid. This was going to be our busiest day yet- cramming absolutely everything into just a few hours. We decided to stop at the closest mall and grab breakfast there. Once we were done exploring the mall we went to Gran Via. This is a street I could spend hours in. The street is filled with stores and restaurants, from Zara, Pull & bear, Bershka and even a 2 story Miniso. My favourite part of this street- the FIVE-story Primark. 

Yes, a FIVE-story Primark! 

Of course I had to go in, and we went through every floor, even though we had to fight our way through the amount of the people that were there. After seeing everything the street had to offer, we walked to a nearby Christmas market. It was beautiful! There stalls set up next to each other and each offering something different. There were cheeses and cured meats, hand crafted Christmas decorations, jewellery, and the busiest stall of them all- the churro and chocolate stall. The brand running this stall has an actual restaurant located near Puerto del Sol and is the oldest running ‘chocloateria’ and churro store, since 1894!  

After the market we went to the Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace of Madrid), and again the sight of this building is unforgettable. The history behind it is even more mind blowing. The palace was built between 1738 and 1764. There are tickets to visit inside the palace, but we decided that since there was still so much we wanted to see, we didn’t go in. 

We started getting hungry, so we made our way over to the Mercado de San Miguel. Just like everything else in Madrid, this market had absolutely everything. Stalls that each specialised in a specific kind of fish from tuna to salmon to shellfish, baos, traditional Spanish tapas like patatas bravas and meatballs, and my absolute favourite- the Aperol stall! We bought 2 baos, 1 with pulled beef and the other pulled pork. This stall had about 10 different options that included octopus, tuna, beef, pork, chicken and Iberic chorizo. 

Just before going back to the hotel, we stopped at Divorare for dinner to take back to the hotel. One of the best sandwiches I have eaten comes from this store! The most popular sandwich is the ‘Come a casa’ which is what we had; soft focaccia bread, burrata, mortadella, and honey. The burrata and focaccia are made in house! The line was literally out the door for this restaurant but there was no way we could leave Madrid without trying this sandwich. We enjoyed our sandwiches in the comfort of our hotel and soaked up our last few hours in Madrid; especially since we had a 6AM train the next morning that would take us back to reality. 

I genuinely fell in love with Madrid during this trip and experiencing it at Christmas time takes it to a completely different level. I know that I will be back soon!