April 2026
This city was visited as part of a Spanish tapas tour in the style of Erasmus: Madrid, Granada, Sevilla, Córdoba, Barcelona
When you arrive in Madrid by train, the city immediately asks you to choose the language you’ll be speaking
I arrived here on my birthday, so we decided to go out for dinner that evening. I’ve never tasted broccoli this delicious before. It was so crispy
This is a typical part of Madrid, by the way, a “bad neighborhood”
These wires are everywhere in Spain
Just like the street signs made of tiles
Underfoot are signs for businesses that have been here for ages
The main squares are absolutely packed with people, lots of tourists from Latin America
The very center is really crowded
Interestingly, there are almost no restrooms anywhere, so you have to go into a café. Sometimes I even get the feeling that people drink coffee not to enjoy the coffee, but to use the restroom
The market
You can’t squeeze through
Madrid’s main tree
There were life-size figures in one of the squares. Interestingly, civilized countries got rid of them long ago
A slightly less crowded area in the center
An interesting local sign warning about the dangers of chewing gum
For those who don’t know what tapas are and are afraid to find out—they’re actually just the kind of sandwiches we used to bring to school and didn’t want to show our classmates
And there were deserted streets in the center; it was actually quite pleasant to walk along them
There is a metro, by the way. But even though it’s not noticeable in the photo, wide streets are quite common in Madrid
A park near the museum. By the way, it turned out that the museum was completely free on one of the weekends at some point
NO DOGS. In Spain, communication with the public is very direct.
The Prado Museum. Here I unexpectedly saw the painting Las Meninas, which we talked about many times in college. I studied Spanish from 2008 to 2013, but I’ve only just visited Spain itself
During working hours and in ordinary neighborhoods, Madrid is quite quiet and pleasant
I can’t say I immediately wanted to live here, but I didn’t lose the desire either
What became clear to me is that it’s very hard to be in a city without greenery. In early April, the weather was already too warm, and it was unpleasant under the direct sun
But when there’s a lot of greenery, it really catches your eye
That’s Madrid for you—overall, my impressions are positive
