7 Things to do in Madrid

People say that Madrid is a marmite town; you either love it or you hate it.

Here are 7 ideas to help you make your opinion.

1. Eat steak cooked over a fire at Casa Julián de Tolosa

Categorically the best steak I’ve ever eaten. 

You can see it being cooked over a proper fire.

There’s a choice between national and foreign breeds, both priced per kilo.  When I asked the waitress how much our steaks would weigh, she told me it would be between 1.2-1.5kg.  “Each?!  Can we have smaller ones?” I asked.  Turns out they cook one between you and cut it at the table for you. 

2. See the royal Palace guarded by horses

The Sun beats down at the front of the palace, but there’s a small park to the side with standard hedges and (most importantly) shade!  

This has by far and away the best view of it.  It’s a bit of a walk past Puerta del Sol but it’s worth it.

3. See a gig at the Metropolitano stadium

What can I say?  Nothing beats live music and the crowd here was excellent.  The facilities were great, the bars weren’t too crowded and there were people walking around with large backpacks serving beer and gin & tonic (with ice!). 

Here is Muse, one of the best live bands in the world.

4. Walk the Barrio del las Letras

Both Lope de la Vega and Cervantes lived in this area.  

There are literary quotes written on the road and the whole area has a really relaxed vibe.

The area changes depending on the time of day.  There’s bookshops and independent businesses early on, then it livens up a bit for lunch time with tables on the street and lunch being enjoyed.  

Then, bars open by night, including laser karaoke(?), an Irish bar and plenty of cocktail places.

5. Instagram yourself with the Bear & Strawberry Tree statue

Legend has it that all roads in Spain lead to the Puerta del Sol and it certainly feels like it whilst you’re scrambling through city tour groups. 

The bear and strawberry tree come from Madrid’s coat of arms.  It’s a bit bizarre, because who knew strawberries grew on trees?

This is also the commercial centre of the city, so if you’re after a souvenir or fancy wandering to find your own top attraction, this is the place to start.

6. Escape in boats in the Parque del Retiro

The Parque del Retiro is a world away from the rest of Madrid.  An easy walk from the Barrio de las Letras, it’s a quiet retreat from the busy city.  

The Bosque del Recuerdo is shady and cool, and a place where locals and tourists come to chill out for an afternoon.

In the centre is a lake where you can rent rowing boats in front of a huge monument to Alfonso II.

7. Enjoy a drink in Plaza del Angel

Cleaner, tidier and quieter than the Puerta del Sol, Plaza del Angel is perfect for sipping sangria and people watching.  The cafes have shaded tables outside and serve food as well as drinks. 

Love it or hate it?  All I know is that two days isn’t long enough to spend in Madrid.

4 Alternative City Breaks

Tromso

Northern Norway’s snowy mountains are a constant reminder that you’re in the arctic circle.  Like snowy owls poised for take off, they’re a silent companion to the choppy fjords.

Tromso has been inhabited for 11,000 years but the population has grown with the increase in scientific research in the arctic and the number of people wanting to hunt the Northern Lights.

If you’re lucky enough, the Lights will grace your city break with their green and purple dance whilst you’re wandering between bars.  If not, there are also loads of things to increase your chances as well, like 4WD excursions and boat tours which will ‘chase’ the lights to the locations with the highest chances. Alternatively, staying out of the city at Malangen Resort with its fire-lit shelter over a frozen lake is a warmer alternative.

There’s a strange mix of Scandinavian-style log buildings in green and maroon and old, wooden ships set against the toberlone-y Arctic Cathedral, and the fallen-domino Polaria, which is the world’s most northernly aquarium. 

The seals, including two harbour seals Lyra and Loffen, play in a cleverly-designed enclosure that disorients you whilst you walk over, under and through their pool.  They’re fed in front of visitors daily, and it’s not a ‘show,’ it’s a set of carefully chosen activities to entertain the seals and feed them responsibly. 

In the evening, try Steakers for their great steak choices and view of the mountains behind the harbour.  Walk around the restaurant to see their wine selection on display in medieval-style shelving and in temperature-controlled cupboards.

Agenturet Bar has a great atmosphere for relaxing and chatting, and they have over 120 beers and 250 wines to choose from, so there is certainly enough to keep you going for a while.

Basel

Switzerland is the 7^th largest consumer of wine per capita in the world, which means there isn’t much Swiss wine left to export to other countries.  They have some unique grapes, like petite arvine and amigne, which aren’t planted anywhere else in the world.  For a friendly and welcoming (as well as very informative!) tasting session see the Wine Guru on Wheels.  

If that isn’t enough, the Les Trois Rois’ is formal inside but has a relaxed terrace overlooking the river; perfect for wine, cocktails and cigars.  Downstairs in the basement are dusty boxes to nod at as you pretend to understand why the contents are valuable.

It’s hard not to be taken in by the class of this city.  There are two old parts to Basel and timber-framed buildings have hand-painted dates above the doors, some dating all the way back to the 1300s.  In other areas, stone buildings impose themselves with a certain dignity, like they have wisdom to pass on if only we would stop and listen. 

Basel is one of the easiest cities to explore because of its extensive tram network. Your hotel will give you a Basel Card, giving you free access to public transport and the city’s Wi-Fi network whilst you’re on the move. This is great because it isn’t part of the EU’s free data roaming network. 

Summer temperatures can be in the high, when I was there it was 38˚!  To cool off, borrow a dry bag from your hotel and join the constant stream of people floating down the Rhine.  Then get out, walk back upstream and repeat until you can stand the heat again. 

The current is strong and it looks scary at first because people are floating downstream much faster than you could walk the same distance, but if you follow the crowd, it’s quite easy to swim to the side and grab onto the chains before climbing out up the steps.

Basel’s biggest festival is after Ash Wednesday and lasts exactly 72 hours (starting at 4am on the Monday).  Residents are generally granted 3 days off work to celebrate and there are parades where people where extravagant masks.  The imagery of the harlequins can be spotted through the city all year, on lamps, street art and doorways.

Norwich

Legend has it that Norwich’s city walls protected a church for every Sunday of the year and pub for each day.  Largely untouched by the industrial revolution, a walk through the city will take you past picturesque flint buildings, two cathedrals and wonky medieval windows.

If getting involved with locals is your thing, stand elbow-to-elbow with them in the annual beer festival each October in St Andrews Hall, surrounded by paintings of grand Lord Mayors in their red robes. 

Local and smaller national breweries are represented, and the beer and ciders are available in ⅓, ½ or pints (for the brave).  There’s also an international tent for lagers by the bottle. The glasses make great souvenirs because they have a different design each year, normally containing a dragon.

In 2014, Norwich won the Great British High Street award because of its huge selection of independent shops, restaurants and bars.  Here’s a map here to help you navigate.  To eat, I’d recommend the market for lunch because there’s a huge range of food stalls from hog roast to noodles. 

There are so many great independent restaurants here.  If you like Italian, try Trattoria Rustica which is owned and run by a family from Sardinia, so the quality of food and variety of dishes is a lot better than standard chain restaurants.  

Alternatively, Delia’s (by Delia Smith) is open each Friday and Saturday nights and has a slightly formal but relaxed atmosphere and a great menu which changes every 6 weeks.

Bilbao

Although Bilbao is a huge, industrial city, you can sit in a pintxos bar and watch as local people tour from bar to bar to greet friends and relatives as if you’re in a village somewhere in the provinces.

Some of these pinxtos bars are very traditional, with a glass display area on the bar showing the different dishes on offer.  Others, like the oyster and wine bar, El Puertito, are more modern.  This bar displays oysters on ice from different regions across Europe for you to choose from.  These can be paired with their extensive choice of wines.

The Artxanda Funicular railway heaves itself up the mountain from downtown Bilbao.  At the top, the city spans out before you.  Rooftops merge from old to new, with the Guggenheim front and centre against the river.

The Guggenheim itself is great to see up close.  I loved standing on the river side and waiting for Fujiko Nakaya’s fog sculpture to shroud both tourist and building in mystery.  Unless you’re really into modern art, I’d recommend being satisfied by the sculptures outside and then moving on. 

The museum is walking distance from the old town of Bilbao, Casco Viejo, connected by bridges over the river.  It’s curling, confusing streets are easy to get lost in (“I think we need to turn right at this ice cream parlour?”).  I loved the Pampling T-shirt shop, which is floor-to-ceiling pop culture on shirts.

If you’re a cocktail fan, the Sir Winston Churchill Pub is back over on the modern side of the city and has more than 400 spirits and liqueurs to choose from and an expert bar team to provide any cocktail combination you can think of. 

Airbnb Experiences vs Get Your Guide

Local, authentic experiences are vital for getting to know a city, but it can be hard to know where to turn to for genuine activities that are more revealing than the pages of a guidebook.

So, for this comparison I went to Airbnb and Get Your Guide for two experiences in Crete within the same week.

The Experiences

Conquer the historical city Rethymno

A walking tour around the city of Rethymno, explaining the history and including a bite to eat.  I wanted to find good places to eat and see parts of the city that I wouldn’t find without a local guide.

Price: £54 per person for a 4-hour experience including lunch

  

Knossos Palace Skip-the-Queue Ticket & Private GuidedTour

A guide around the archaeological site of the Palace of Knossos.  I wanted to learn as much about the history of the palace and of Crete in general, and how it fitted in with the Greek myths (see also Beyond the Myth blog post). 

I genuinely can’t learn anything from boards in a museum so having someone talk to me in person and point relevant things out was much more valuable (and interesting!).

Price: £126 for two people for a 1.5-hour experience including entry to the site

Booking

Whenever I book anything, I always have a panic that I’ve done it wrong; that I’ve booked my flights for the wrong day or my hotel in the wrong city. 

So, I found it really reassuring that both platforms sent both an automatic email confirmation and a more personal one confirming who my husband and I would meet and where.

The email from Airbnb gave me a little bit more information about the guide and her experience and felt a bit more inviting.

Quality of Guides

In Greece, guides have to be licensed and have a certain level of qualification to be able to give tours around archaeological sites. This means that you should always get someone knowledgeable for a place like the Palace of Knossos.  

The Palace is a huge site, spanning 22,000m², and would have contained over 1000 rooms.  Without our guide, Vangelis, it would have been difficult to navigate, but he taught us SO much and answered all the questions we had. 

He had a book to show us pictures of parts of the palace which are no longer open to visitors and artefacts which are in the museum, and it was so well-thumbed that it really fit the part as well.

Kalitsounia: sweet cheese in
pastry, which I need at least
6 of a day now.

Kiki, from the Airbnb tour, has a master’s degree in History and Archaeology.  She has studied for four years but still needs another two to be able to give tours around archaeological sites(!).

She was also super personable and engaging, exactly what I wanted for a trip around a city like this.  She knew loads of people as she was walking around which meant that we could go into buildings to see what the architecture was like inside, and she knew the family who ran the café where we had lunch.

Plus, I wouldn't have found out how delicious kalitsounias are without her. 

What did the tour guides think?

Vangelis’ company only use Get Your Guide for this tour, but they have much more on their own website, which they get most of their business from.  They only get around 1-2 tours per week from Get Your Guide, but they use it to advertise to multiple language speakers (Vangelis conducts tours in 4 languages!).

Kiki thought their team got around 7 out of 10 of their tours from Airbnb, with rest coming from other sites such as Intrepid Urban Adventures.

The Palace of Knossos

Types of experiences available

Airbnb has a huge range of different experiences hosted by locals.  It feels like you can have a cookery class, walking tour or wine tasting in any city in the world.

Get Your Guide is focussed on specialist historical guides with a mix of traditional excursions in there like day trips by boat and entry to museums.  Some European cities have more varied activities available, but not as much as Airbnb.

For my next trip…

When I next need a guide for an archaeological or special site, I’m definitely going to go to Get Your Guide because they seem geared up for those activities and all the guides appear to be experts.

But for me, the value and range of experiences available on Airbnb mean that I’m much more likely to look to them first the next time I want to explore.

Your Guide to Northern Crete

With so much history, great food and beaches to explore, Greece’s largest island has been coveted by conquerors and visitors alike for millennia.

An hour from the airport city of Heraklion, the Iberostar Creta Marine (iberostar.com, from €100/night) is the all-inclusive hotel with a private beach that is ideally located to explore Northern Crete.  Bungalows are broken up with winding paths, palm trees and gardens, giving the 4* hotel a much smaller feel than it deserves for its three restaurants, four pools and spa.

I took advantage of Lottie Watersports’ proximity to take a boat tour of 10 nearby caves and beaches (lottiewatersports.com, €35 per person).  Eerie by nature, the noise of waves crashing underwater made me think of Treasure Island and smugglers’ coves.

To get around, use taxi service Cretan Taxi (cretantaxi.com, €7 to Panormo, €24 to Rethymno).  The driver will give you his card with his WhatsApp number on for easy return journey pick-up.

Panormo still feels like a quaint village; every spare space has been filled with potted flowers and herbs, adding flashes of colour to pale stone buildings and paved roads.  I enjoyed fresh mint tea with Cretan honey at Olive Tree (facebook.com/olivetrees.gr) and delicious stuffed vine leaves at Captain’s House (captainshouse.gr, cost €15 for two courses).

For a larger feel and more variety, I went to Rethymno.  The old city was built by the Venetians between the 13^th- 17^th centuries most buildings are still old merchant houses with ornate doors and iron balconies.  The Ottomans added minarets and domed rooves to older monasteries. 

Through narrow back streets, an unassuming doorway opens to Mr George Hatziparashos’ traditional filo pastry bakery.  A family establishment, they sell mainly raw pastry to cafes, but baklava is available for purchase (30 Vernardou, €5-10 per box).

No recommendations needed for restaurants, just head to the harbour for seafood restaurants and a few metres inland for Greek tavernas and bakeries.

History and mythology are Crete’s eternal appeal, from when amateur archaeologist Arthur Evans began excavating the Palace of Knossos to today’s private guides (getyourguide.com, cost €140 for two people). The Heraklion Archaeology Museum (heraklionmuseum.gr, entry €10)boasts artefacts such as the Disc of Phaistos and the Harvester Vase, but I got a real sense of the scale of the civilisation at the Palace of Knossos (odysseus.culture.gr, entry €15), 5km south of Heraklion.  With Europe’s oldest throne, its first working toilet and colourful frescoes, I was astounded by how advanced the Minoans were in 4000BC.

Beyond the Myth: King Minos, the Minotaur and the Birth of European Civilisation

The Palace of Knossos has four significant firsts: the oldest European throne, the first paved road in Europe, coloured frescoes 3000 years before the technique was rediscovered in the Renaissance and used to paint the Sistine chapel, and Europe’s first toilet.

Located on the North coast, about 5km from the town of Heraklion, most of what can be seen today is part of the second palace that was built on the site.  Both were destroyed by earthquakes, but it was quickly rebuilt after the destruction of the first in around 1700 BC.  Further excavations of the first palace aren’t currently possible because of the damage it would cause to the later palace.

King Minos' throne on the right, surrounded by
griffons 

The oldest throne in Europe is a little underwhelming now that modern comparison is to the Iron Throne.  Back in 1450-1400 BC, when the throne was likely built, the average height of a woman was 150cm and a man was 160cm.  The throne is on the North wall and is surrounded by griffons, with the head of an eagle, body of a lion and tail of a snake.  The actual use of the room is unclear, but the bowl in the middle was probably for purification before talking with the King.

Beyond the myth

Myth: King Minos is one of three sons of Zeus and Europa who ruled over Crete.  Each had a palace of their own, and Minos ruled in the palace of Knossos, the larger of the four palaces on the Island.  It’s unclear who ruled the fourth palace.  

Reality: The term “King Minos” was actually a title, much like “Pharaoh,” passing down the male line with each son claiming the divine right of being the son of Zeus when he was crowned.

The first paved road in Europe is still intact 4000 years later!  It isn’t level any more due to the earthquakes which shook Crete and ultimately destroyed both palaces.  The courtyard at the end is likely to be a theatre where boxing matches happened in front of crowds and the royal box.  Alternatively, it could have been an entrance square for tradespeople bringing goods into the customs house of the palace.  Or, it could even have been both at different times of the year.

Beyond the myth

Myth: King Minos had Daedalus build a labyrinth under the palace to contain his Minotaur son.   

Reality: The complex is 22,000m² and had over 1000 rooms split over five storeys.  It would have been home to thousands of people, with hundreds more living in the surrounding city and entering the palace to work each day.  It’s labyrinthine, but there’s no actual labyrinth here.

The frescoes at Knossos are one of its main attractions.  The West Entrance was plastered and covered in a painting of 400 life-size figures partaking in everyday activities and festivities.  The originals are in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, with replicas in the palace.  The colours are so vibrant because they were made using dyes from plants, stone and blood painted onto wet plaster, sealing them into the material as it dries.  This technique was lost to Europeans for centuries until the Italian Renaissance and Michelangelo used it to paint the Sistine Chapel.

Bull-leaping, a traditional, but dangerous, sport at the time
The man in the middle is red and the two women either side of the
bull are painted white

At the time of the first palace, in 4000 BC, Crete had a sub-tropical climate and was home to monkeys, which is why there are frescoes of the animals.  In all the paintings, the primates are painted blue, men are red, and women are white.

Scenes of war and weapons are noticeably absent from the frescoes.  Similarly, the palace didn’t have any city walls.  The kings didn’t fear a revolution from its people, who lived in the surrounding hills and would have regularly come into the complex for work or trade.  The threat to the nation would have come from the sea, which was protected by the Minoan navy.

Paving from the first palace in front of the West 

Entrance.  The white stone of the wall is from

the second palace, and the yellow stone is from

Evans' renovations.

The final impressive first is Europe’s first toilet, complete with a complex cleaning system which flushed with water.  Found in the Queen’s Rooms, it’s unfortunately closed to visitors now due to the structural weakness of the ceiling above.  In fact, Knossos had three drainage systems; one for rainwater, one for drinking water taken from the nearby springs and one for sewage and dirty water.  These were made of both stone gutters and clay pipes.  The queen also has a pot for body lotion made of donkey milk and honey.

Beyond the myth

Myth: King Minos' wife had a son who had the body of a human and the head of a bull.  He was imprisoned in the labyrinth under the palace.  

Reality: Archaeologists have uncovered a sequence of rooms next to the Queen’s rooms which don’t have any windows or doors to the outside.  It’s possible that the King had a child who was disabled or for hidden away for some reason.  The secrets that the palace held probably led rise to the myth.

Dolphin frescoes in the Queen's rooms.
The bowl was for the Queen's body lotion

It wasn’t just the water systems which were technologically advanced for the time, Knossos architects also had a way to provide air conditioning to a room.  Even small rooms have 7-9 doors and windows to circulate the air, causing them to be significantly cooler than outside.  In cooler times of the year, the doors can be shut to increase the temperature.

When visitors see the palace now, it is with the additions made by English archaeologist Arthur Evans, who came to the palace in 1900, just two years after the Cretan revolution had repelled the Ottoman Empire.  Evans controversially used concrete in the renovations.  At the time, this was a revolutionary material that had only just been invented in France.  Another reason for its use?  The trees in 1900 simply weren’t big enough anymore.  Each column would have originally been made from a single tree, stood upside down so that the thicker end was at the ceiling.  Wood was used by the Minoans because of its elasticity and resistance against earthquakes.  Concrete provides a similar protection from seismic activity.

Beyond the myth

Myth: The minotaur lived on the sacrifice that Athens made of 7 boys and 7 girls each year.   

Reality: It’s likely that Athens did send the children to be sacrificed in the kingdom.  The West Entrance to the palace was the religious/ceremonial entrance and it’s paving with two altars and triangular markings show that sacrifices and religious offerings were likely to take place here.  The bones of animals have been found on the altars.

The destruction of the second palace is shrouded in mystery.  Historians are now certain that an earthquake destroyed the complex, but there haven’t been any skeletons found in the ruins, meaning that people must have been warned of the event in time enough to escape.  However, they left in such a hurry that they left all their personal belongings and even left the oil lamps burning.  When they fell in the earthquake, fire spread throughout the buildings but particularly in the 18 storerooms which contained cereals, wine and olive oil which fuelled the fire.  The blackened scars of this can still be seen on the stone and marble walls and pillars.

Bull fresco with Arthur Evans' reconstruction
of the structure and pillars

If you are heading to Knossos, check out a private tour with Evangelos Alefantinos from www.travel-crete.gr or on GetYourGuide.

Primate Vacations - My Guest Blog

Primate Vacations have kindly published my guest blog on Australia - 

Fully Onboard the Australia Bandwagon

Here's a preview of some of the things that won me over to being a fan of one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world

Tamarama Beach

Coastal path between Bondi and Tamarama

Delicious cakes at M Deli

Does this need a caption?

Our pal, the wombat!

The Blue Mountains from Katoomba

Northern Lights Hunt - Bonus Part

"No offence, but I hope I don't see you again," I said to the barman as we left Agenturet beer and winebar.  In one of Tromso's oldest buildings, it was such a nice space to sit and relax in, we'd returned on our surprise extra night.

So far in life, I've had quite good luck with flights.

I made up for this in one trip, here are the reasons why my flights were delayed:

• Fog at destination
• Crew delayed because of a previous delayed flight
• Missed connection
• Too windy to land
• Too snowy to take off
• De-icing machine busy
• Technical fault whilst trying to take off
• Plane switched to one with fewer seats, asked to switch for compensation, said no, got switched anyway with no compensation

The clouds were clearing again during the day, but not for long enough for us to be lucky with the lights.  My thanks went out to the friend who advised me that they could actually be seen over the UK at the weekend, so my whole trip was pointless.

My Hunt for the Northern Lights was unsuccessful, so was it worth it?  Well, I'd spent the weekend in a cabin with my family, making jokes about being attacked by ghosts in the middle of nowhere, rested in a hammock over a frozen lake and seen my mum toast her first marshmallow over a fire.

It's not a new or original thought, but I suppose because so much had gone wrong with the journeys that it reminded me that travel isn't about why you go somewhere but what happens whilst you're there.

To be fair, it was pretty snowy.
This plane is at the gate awaiting boarding.
Somewhere behind it is a runway and the rest of the airport.