Looking at my most recent post I realized it wasn’t particularly recent, which made me think about how much our lives have changed in these past four years: we lived in Alaska for over 2 years, had a son, moved to Franklin, Tennessee and have done a bit of traveling. I definitely have some catching up to do here! But today I’ll revisit our latest adventure: España!

A couple of months ago we went on our first trip abroad with our almost 3 year-old son, our destination of choice was Spain. We had 2 very good reasons: my husband had never set foot on Spain (always good to add another country to the list) and I have dear friends there that I had been wanting to see.

After a series of uneventful flights (our son slept most of the way), we landed in Madrid. We decided to rent a small apartment near Puerta del Sol, which turned out to be a great location. It wasn’t particularly quiet but it was within walking distance of everything we had planned to see in the 2 days we would be there. It also offered great views of the city.

We started off at the trendy Mercado de San Miguel, where we had some tasty treats and enjoyed looking at the locals doing what they do best: tapas, drinks and conversation.

Then we wandered around Plaza Mayor and the surrounding streets, looking at the variety of ‘entertainers’ and great architecture.

We finished our day with dinner at El Museo del Jamón (the ham museum) with a couple of good friends.

The next day we walked to Parque del Buen Retiro, passing Plaza de la Cibeles and Puerta de Alcalá on our way. El Palacio de Cristal was an interesting site within the park.

We stopped for lunch (which included jamón ibérico, of course) and kept wandering around Madrid, making our way to Palacio Real, where we stood in line for the free-entry day of the week only to find out that it is free only for citizens or Europe and Ibero-america.

Once we were done looking around the Royal Palace we made a quick stop at the Cathedral next door before heading to Templo de Debod to enjoy the sunset.

We ended our day visiting the statue of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza in Plaza de España and walking along Calle Gran Via.

There was so much more to explore in Madrid, but that night we packed our bags and got ready to head to Andalucía the next morning. Our next stop: Cádiz!