#cerralbo

Marqués de Cerralbo

Madrid was my first ever solo trip. I was feeling a bit lost as this was my first solo trip experience. I took a cab to my hotel which was in Calle Galatea. It was a 3 star property. Place was hygienic and served basic breakfast. 

Only negative about this place was it was located 8 kms away from the city centre so i had to travel everyday by metro. Fortunately metro station was 10 mins away from the hotel.

Once i reached the metro station, my worst nightmare began. People barely speak english and all the instructions, signboard and ticket machine had instructions written in spanish. There was no help available. I waited for sometime in despair and then i finally met my luck. I found a lady who spoke english and she helped me with the metro ticket. She realized that i was traveling solo so she gave me her email address incase of any trouble. She told me to get down at Gran vie station which had a lot of tourist spots nearby.

Metro ticket costed me about 7 euros which includes 10 turns of to & fro. This ideally works for a tourist. I also bought a prepaid sim card ‘Lebara’ which costed me about 8-10 euros with unlimited data.

I got down at Gran vie station like i was explained and took the hop on hop off bus. I made a customized list of all the tourist spots with the triposo app and walked throughout my journey with the help of GPS since i could not interact much with people locally as they barely spoke english.

Temple of Debod -

Random and breathtaking views on the streets -

Plaza de Espana -

Must try - Spanish omelette made with eggs and fried potato.

Royal palace of Madrid -

Cerralbo Museum - 

Plaza de Cibeles -

Almudena Cathedral - 

For all the shopoholics - Primark is in Gran vie 

Plaza Mayor - 

Flamenco Dance is absolutely not a miss. I booked the show from Cardamomo online. Since i reserved my spot online, they gifted me a free bottle of wine. 

Tips for solo travelers in Madrid - 

Recommended to stay near Gran vie station 

Callao, Sol, opera, Pureta de toledo are walking distance from Gran vie. If you like walking and exploring like me, do not take a cab. 

Shop from Primark if you need to take something back for family.

If you don’t speak spanish, either get familiar or keep google translate or any language translating apps that you’re familiar with for your ease.

All Cafe’s outside mostly serve good food and its musical all the time.