Spring in Madrid

Considering I only had one day of class before the next weekend, I was dead tired from traveling so I decided to spend sometime exploring good ole Madrid.

Friday we found a cute little park on the south side of Madrid to relax and take in the good weather. It has the high hills that look out to the skyline of Madrid and there are all sorts of people running up and down the hills and taking in the views.

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to take a train to Cercedilla, the outskirts of Madrid to go hiking. We spent all morning walking the beautiful terrain taking in waterfalls, mountains, and great views. It was good to get out of a big city and really take in the fresh air. It was a pretty easy trail and we plan to go back in the future for some zip lining and rock climbing hopefully.
Following the hike we hit up El Tigre for lunch which was as good as usual, but we did get quiet a few looks for how quickly we devoured our tapas. It was quiet the feat if I do say so myself.
That night we went down towards the palace, as Kerry's parents were visiting and had been staying in an apartment there. We caught up with them and then went out to dinner at this cute little Italian place that wasn't too far. It was good to be in a homey setting after hustling and bustling around from place to place surrounded by strangers speaking different languages.

Sunday morning, we hit up El Rastro in the morning and now that it is nice I think the number of people there as well as the number of vendors has doubled. You could tell it's spring break season as I saw so many tourist clinging to their fanny packs and heard quite a bit of loud English, for once I felt like I had the upper hand to someone in the market.
After the Market we went down towards Moncloa to take a cable car ride which has great views of the city as well as gives brief histories of the monuments you can see. At the top of he cable car ride is a cute restaurant with a terrace as well as a massive park to walk around. We spent a good amount of time taking in the sites and relaxing in the good weather before heading back down.
Since it was so nice out we decided to walk home as Lexi and I live on the same street, we got to walk through the Madrid College Campus which was surprisingly set up a lot like an American campus but was completely dead since most students commute. We did get a bit more of the traditional college vibe when we passed the off campus apartments were people were on the front porch taking in the sun, as well as the basketball court and baseball fields which were filled with pick up games.

We also decided to finally hit up the Madrid Rio this week as well. It was a great choice. While the river isn't completely full, the parks around it are super cute and the different bridges are really cool. You also get a killer view of the Atletico Stadium. I personally love all the swings and tire swings hanging from the underneath of the bridges (note to self: don't wear a dress the next time I go to the river).