Two years ago, my best friend, Emily, and I befriended two wonderful Spanish women, Eva & Natalia, in an adult hip-hop class. They had just moved to the area to teach ESL and science classes, respectively, at one of the local high schools. They had been to the United States multiple times before and were fluent in English, so they hardly needed tour guides to get by, but they were so kind to be interested in both of our lives and the four of us quickly made a string of plans together — although the dance class eventually fell off the weekly rotation.

As our friendship deepened, we made more and more elaborate plans. In addition to multiple trips to Chicago for activities including ice skating at Maggie Daley Park and a visit to the Art Institute, three of us traveled to New York City and we all took a road trip to Canada last spring. For a long time, visiting them in Spain was on everyone’s mind, and this summer, we finally made it happen.

Despite MANY travel blogs warning against traveling to Spain in late summer due primarily, to extreme heat, and secondarily, to store closings for August holidays, the dates that aligned on our collective calendars were the last week of July and first week of August. So, flights were booked and plans were made to fly in and out of Madrid, take a group road trip to Toledo, Cordoba, Sevilla and Grenada, and that Emily and I would take the high-speed train to-from Barcelona.

I knew going into the trip that the schedule of seeing six cities in 10 days was ambitious; that we were likely to be uncomfortable (and potentially cranky) from the heat; that we would definitely get our steps in every day; that we would eat really good food; and that I was thrilled to see the girls’ hometowns, neighborhoods, families & friends. It’s really special to get a peak at your friends’ origin stories, especially in adulthood!

I did not expect that to get to O’Hare, we would drive through the path of a tornado, have our flight delayed then canceled, rebook a different flight (after four mostly unhelpful Iberia & Aer Lingus calls), and then suffer from jet lag for 3 days upon arrival. The heat zapped me more than I anticipated; I had a really hard time sleeping in the warmth; I wore some unfortunately horribly sandals that tore up my feet the first day & then different trainers that also tore up my feet the second day. The first few days in Madrid were a physically painful and mentally foggy tour of the Spanish capital. BUT, even amidst the discomfort (which was mostly eventually solved with melatonin, blisters turning to callouses, A/C, and a full night’s sleep), my eyes were open, my ears were tuned in, and my heart was ecstatic to be experiencing a new culture with three amazing friends.

The day we arrived, we mostly spent in and around a village suburb on Madrid, Alcala de Heneres. The birthplace city of Miguel Cervantes was extremely charming with its extended arcade on Calle Mayor, the 15^th century university in old town, and lovely square. On a hot, late July afternoon, there weren’t many people around, so it felt as though we had the town to ourselves.

The following two days were all about seeing the main sites of Madrid, and boy did we cover some ground! Glancing at a tourist map at the end of our second day, I was pleasantly surprised to see that we walked through the vast majority of the city’s 21 distritos (administrative districts), though by no means did we see everything. It was a wonderful 48-hour introduction to a city steeped in half a century of traditions as the seat of the Hispanic monarchy.

One of my must-do things on my Spain list was to visit the Prado, and the rest of the group was happy to oblige. Unfortunately, photos were not allowed in the museum, so I didn’t get shots of my favorite works, but overall, I really loved walking slowly through the galleries. The museum was not nearly as large or imposing as the Met in New York, or the Louvre in Paris, but it still would have been hard to properly appreciate all of the art in on visit. Still, I would have loved more time there and in other museums around the city. But, the following day, we were off on our road trip to the former capital, Toledo. I’ll just have to go back one day to Madrid to catch more of what I missed on this first visit!

The Highlights
Churros from Chocolateria San Gines. Street art on security grates. Panoramic view from the rooftop at Riu Hotel. Croquetas (deep fried balls of meat). Ensalada Rusa (potato salad with tuna & hard-boiled eggs). Huevos rotos (fried eggs with potatoes, ham and charred green peppers). Mercado de San Miguel. Plaza Mayor (and the strange history of its statue). Hapsburg history. Trying a sip of (although admittedly really disliking) madroño. Cathedral de Santa Maria la Real de la Almudena. Trying & loving tinto verrano. Shopping on Gran Via. Spanish omelets. Fideua (pasta that tastes like paella. Parque de Madrid. So much (yet not enough) Iberian ham at every meal. El museo del Prado (particularly loved pieces by Titian, El Greco, Diego Velázquez, Rubens, Bartolomé Perez, Aureliano de Beruete, Raimundo de Madrazo).

The Remarkable

Both girls had mentioned taking “free tours” anecdotally when they traveled to other cities. But I didn’t really know what that meant until Eva booked us a free tour on the morning of our first full day in Madrid. For the uninitiated, there are multiple websites that offer a range of free tours in a variety of languages on any given day in practically any major city. Here’s the website that was used for multiple bookings during our time in Spain: freetour.com 

The premise is this: you book a tour in the language of your choice for free. You learn historical facts (and lore) as you are led on a walking tour, typically through a particular quarter of the city. Most free tours do not include admission to any sites or monuments, but whet your appetite to go back to places that actually end up being of interest. At the end of the tour, you are gently encouraged to leave a tip of any amount based on your experience. We did free tours in 4/6 cities — all of which were great for — but the one in Madrid was probably the best with our excellent tour guide, Carlotta. I will absolutely be booking more free tours on future trips!

SDG