So.. whoever thought that letting Zareef and I wander about Madrid alone, they didn't really think too well. We ended up meandering, getting lost, going in the wrong direction for a while until we remembered about this amazing market that Claire had brought us to the previous night: Mercado de San Miguel. Of course, I know the name now because I got a picture of it, but then, we didn't know what it was called or really where it was located (aside from it being near Plaza Mayor). With our limited Spanish skills (me knowing more than Zareef by a mile), it proved to be quite difficult to find. But after consulting the map quite a bit (we didn't have to ask Dora who was walking around Plaza del Sol, thankfully), we found it!

cartoon olives.

Thank god we found it because, honestly, we were craving some of those amazing Spanish olives HARD core. Our favorite stand in this market consisted of olives. just olives. If you didn't know, Spain has some of the best olives I have ever eaten. In fact, Spain converted me into an olive lover. Previously, I didn't really like olives but life has now changed for the better. Not only did we eat olives stuffed with sun dried tomatoes, feta, cheese, anything you can imagine, but we also found some absolutely amazing mini sandwiches and drinks! The sandwiches were of the seafood kind and so completely and entirely tasty. I was at the point where I didn't care at all how much money I spent in this market because it was a once in a life time experience to be spending money in Madrid with one of my best guy friends, stuffing our faces and stomachs to capacity.

REAL LIFE olives. soo good. 

After nomming hard core on all the food we could get our hands (and money) on, we found a little International pub where we spent a considerable amount of time catching up and drinking ... yep, you guessed it. Guinness. Now, it might seem weird we were drinking Guinness in Spain, but I have to stick by my Irish beers. I've heard that Spain doesn't have great beers and since I live in a country with only amazing beers, I couldn't spoil my notion of beer more than I have already with Natty Light. So Guinness I had and it was a wonderful day.. because they gave us even more food!

We then continued on our adventure by meeting up with Claire after her internship. We moseyed on down to Plaza Mayor, took a couple of funny pictures of Puss in Boots (which made sense) and a fat Spiderman (which really made no sense at all. We also learned that it's tradition to eat a calamari sandwich from a local shop near the Plaza Mayor. Unfortunately, since me and Zareef had already stuffed out faces with food from the market, we weren't hungry enough to continue eating. Claire, on the other hand, was famished. Hence why she got a sandwich and I was compelled to take a picture of her nomming. Quite entertaining, actually.

Now to list some favorite from this trip:

1. Favorite tourist activity: 

     Going to the top of Centro near the Banco de Espana (too lazy to get the proper character for the n). We got an absolutely amazing view over central Madrid. What was even better was that I got to see one of my good friends from UCD who happened to be in Madrid at the same time! I was so happy to see a familiar face from Ireland and it was even better on the top of our "world" at the moment- aka Madrid, as opposed to the Spire or the bird poop on O'Connell's head. 

look, see! there we are! 

2. Favorite Meal: Paella y Sangria - Zareef, Claire and I all went to eat some traditional paella at a local place near Plaza Mayor one evening. The meal was absolutely fantastic and the sangria so sweet and delicious, it was difficult to say no to getting more and more.

our 3 glasses of sangria before we finished every last drop, including chewing the ice cubes.

3. Favorite times: Simply walking around Madrid with two of my friends. We kept talking about how we couldn't believe that we all met up in Madrid, of all places. We weren't in DC. We weren't in a country where all three of us understood the language. We were in Spain and we were all exploring. The first night we walked around with a bottle of wine split between the three of us and because there are no open container laws in Madrid, we were free to drink it on the streets. We walked all around to Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor.. it all looked completely different at night! The whole time I couldn't really wrap my mind around the fact I was in a foreign country hanging out with friends from home.

Zareef and I in front of one of the fountains in Puerta de Sol 

Claire con chocolate y churros!! 

I honestly could ramble on and on about how much I loved being in Madrid and blah blah blah, but for full details, I think the best would be to just consult me when I get back to the states. Then I will ramble about how much I loved Madrid to you straight in person, which might be better because I'm not the best writer at all. Also, you will be my full emotional excitement about it which is pretty accurate of my personality. I also probably won't stop smiling. 

I'll finish off with a few pictures from my all nighter the night before my flight to Riga to see my family. We went around Sol looking for promoters to give us free fruity shots and entrance into the various clubs/bars around the area. This is how we decided on where to stay. We ended up staying at a bar blasting club music and thoroughly enjoying the night. We managed to stay up all night and I made it to the airport in one piece! 

Claire and I - such a great picture! 

accurate depiction of the night. 

 I had time to take one final picture in front of my favorite building in Madrid before leaving at night! It's absolutely beautiful even at night. Until next time, Madrid!! I'll miss you oh so much!