Free? Seriously…. We’re There!!!

Wednesday February 23, Day 5

Annie had taken a free walking tour in Berlin through Sandemans, which is a company that believes in offering free walking tours throughout major European cities so that everyone has an opportunity to learn and experience Europe. They had just restarted in Madrid as the Spanish government had refused to give them tour permits (because the free tours were unfair competition for the state organized “official tours that were between 15 and 20 euros) and subsequently discontinued their operations. However the company was able to successfully sue the city for permits as in the EU charter there is apparently a clause that made this illegal and they were subsequently allowed to restart operations in January – GO EU!!! 

Outside the Royal Palace of Madrid with our tour guide. Left to Right: Me, Megan, Matt (tour guide) Caroline and Annie

 The tours are lead by tour guides that are a native speaker (in the language that they are leading the tour in) and who have a degree from university relating either to the history, culture or language of the country, which makes them very informative, accurate and good as they are also geared more towards our age demographic.  The tour was over three hours long and too us through the major sites of the city. While the main streets are not as wide as Barcelona the buildings also aren’t as tall and matured trees (not palm trees) line both sides. Most buildings are only five stories tall soothe streets don’t feel as cramped as Barcelona however in may ways the two cities are very similar in feel, vibe, and predominating sense of architecture.

Typical City street in Madrid Spain

Royal Palace in Madrid Spain (the largest in Western Europe)

The tour was the perfect amount of fun facts, trivia and legends. Our tour guide was great and really energetic and easy to follow and listen to. I loved the tour as it was a great way to get a feel for the city, culture history in a quick dose.

Afterwards the tour had a promotion for a lunch for 6.50 euros. As we weren’t starving the 4 of us split 2 meals (hard to beat a decent amount of piaya and Sangria for only 3.25 euros). After lunch we wandered around for a while. In the evening in Madrid they open the two largest museums for their final 2 hours for free, which is the perfect amount of time for a museum (enough to enjoy, and no need to feel obligated to stay longer in order to get your money worth and subsequently burning out).

In the evening we decided that it was absolutely necessary to gain perspective on Madrid’s thriving nightlife. The company that ran the free walking tour also ran a program in the evening that took you to good bars / clubs and that way we didn’t have to search for places with cover, or pay ridiculously expensive cover and worry about getting lost or wandering into the dangerous part of town. I had so much fun, one of the places we went to was a salsa club and a really sweet guy attempted to teach me how to dance (don’t worry I am equally as uncoordinated at Salsa as I am at every other form of dance).  The evening was so much fun and resulted in the four of us laughing more than at any other part of the trip. It ended with us going to a 24 hour churro restaurant and having chocolate churos at 4 am which is always a great way to end a day / evening. 

Ready for a fun night out in Madrid. Left to Right: Annie, Me, Caroline, Megan

Eating churos at 4 am (horrible photo of me though) but they were delicious