Madrid is the first city outside of Barcelona that I have traveled to in Spain. CEA was nice enough to offer a “school field trip” for the weekend to Madrid, Spain. A group of students met at the Train Station early Friday morning, February 4th. This was my first experience with the Spain Train System, and I was surprised at its ease. We each were given an assigned seat in a nice cabin where a movie played for the 2 hour and 40 minute ride. Once arriving in Madrid, the first area my group of friends and I traveled to was PLAZA MAYOR (seen in the first photo). In the plaza there were a bunch of restaurants where we ate lunch out side – it was over priced and not that great. But there were funny disney characters running around such as spider man, minnie mouse, mickey mouse, and hello kitty! The second photo is of Mercado De San Miguel – an indoor market where fresh fruit, fish, small tapas, and tons of wine are sold. We ate a bit there on sunday before we left to go back to Barcelona. Many people meet here for a snack or to have a drink with friends. It was extremely crowded! The streets of Madrid were constantly filled with people.
The third photo was taken during one of my FAVORITE experiences in MADRID. MADRID is known for their CHURROS dipped in CHOCOLATE. WOW these were AMAZING!! We went to a famous 24 hour shop called Sans Chocolateria, it is located on a small street off Puerto de Sol, a main area in Madrid. Puerto de Sol is a city center where 10 main roads meet together. The churros were to die for!! They melted in your mouth!
Another favorite Madrid HOT SPOT of mine was RITERO, a park where you can hop on to a small row boat and relax in the only body of water in Madrid. 
Here you can see my roommates and I hanging out in the pond on a gorgeous day! It was a little difficult to get around at first, considering we don’t have great boat skills, but we made it out 😀
We also went to the FAMOUS FLEA MARKET – RASTRO. People were moving in herds ( like cows) and you could BARELY move. The streets are FILLED with small booths of SUNGLASSES, JACKETS, PURSES, LEATHER ITEMS, POSTERS, and more! This was definitely the place to be on a SUNDAY. Here is a link for more information about Rastro.
Madrid was a nice city, but I am VERY VERY happy to be back in BARSHAWLONA!!!!
barshawlona 
