Take Aways:
1. Factor weather into long stays – Extended bad weather can completely change your travel experience and limit outdoor activities, so have backup indoor plans.
2. Location matters more than you think – Living in an incomplete development (like Ensanche de Vallecas) can sap motivation to explore, especially if transport to the centre is long and tiring.
3. Know your transport links – Understand metro and bus connections before committing to accommodation, travel times and transfers that can affect spontaneity.
4. Remember the siesta – Many Spanish shops close 1–5 pm; so plan errands and shopping trips around it to avoid wasted journeys.
5. Expect communication hiccups – Language issues causing mis-communication can lead to surprising food orders (sometimes edible, sometimes memorable).
6. Don’t leave key sights to the last week – Illness, weather, or just pure tiredness can stop you from ticking off must-sees like the Prado.
Arrival and first Impressions ...
I arrived in Madrid on a cold, dull and dismal day – but at least it was not raining. It didn’t rain the next day either – but after that it rained every day for a month. That sort of summed up my stay, dark and drizzled.
The journey in meant getting a train into Atocha station and then finding the metro (Line 1) from there which is easier said than done – and, as I expected, the metro was full to bursting and I was not popular with my large case and back pack … but soon it thinned out and I even got a seat for the last couple of stops. I soon found that not many people head out to the end of the line.
Valdecarros metro station is the last stop south on line 1 and I took to saying that I was living in Valdecarros, although google maps (and the weather app) said I was in Ensanche de Vallecas. I later found out that the place was nearly called La Gavia which would have been much easier to say – but the name was put to a vote in 2020 and La Gavia was declared invalid – so Ensanche de Vallecas it is, and yes, it was only named in 2020.
Ensanche kind of means extension in English, and it is clear that even five years after it was named, there is still room for more extension – this Ensanche is not complete. I have been to several new towns in England, including Milton Keynes (the most famous one) and lived in Telford, Shropshire for about a year … but this was different. This place felt quite eerie and it was difficult for me to put my finger on why. It’s big – a huge development with wide open streets (and very little traffic,) tall apartment buildings which look as if they were designed to resemble the back of AC units. Nothing seems to have been built before the 21st century, but there were open spaces, fountains and gardens and, right opposite my apartment, a large sports complex with a rugby ground that appeared to be used for professional matches (though only one took place during my tenure.)
That eeriness never left me and may have been part of the reason why I spent so much time in my apartment, though I did venture out to try and find my spot – my Rincon de Abuela, if you like, in the town. Trying to find things became a kind of mantra.
The first few days ...
It took me a few days to bed in. The supermarkets were small and spread out and the nearest mall was a 15 minute bus ride away. The journey into central Madrid took about 40 minutes and I was always thinking, is it worth the effort – my spontaneity killed.
I didn’t venture into the centre of Madrid for over a week, and then only briefly, trying to dodge the rain and hoping to keep the drops off my phone as I took photos of the sights. I visited the centre of Spain at the Plaza de Espana and took photos of some of the buildings there. I enjoyed my wanderings and looked forward to going back in better weather – but that sadly never occurred.
To be staying in such a place made me question my reasons for travelling. I was in a pretty soulless environment, rarely leaving the flat and certainly not doing my preferred thing of walking in the countryside. For one thing, the rain was so heavy that it made it hard to go off the beaten track without getting stuck in mud and having to clean off shoes and trousers each time – not easy to do when you don’t have ready alternatives. Full-time travel means keeping the load light. Also, being out in the rain means you see less and cannot even smell the blossom or hear the birds singing as they are all sheltering as well. It felt like the town was on shutdown.
I did brave the weather to go to places to eat and drink. There was a little coffee shop on the corner and although I had free coffee included in my Airbnb, I sometimes popped over for one and a plain croissant (the only non-sweet thing on the menu) just to listen to some Spanish voices for a change. In the evenings I tried out several of the bars but none fitted so well as my place in Granada.
Out and about ...
One bar I did find however was called Balto, next to the local Post Office. After a couple of visits the local postmen got chatting to me and it was a chance to try out my rather rudimentary Spanish. Most of the guys didn’t live in the urbanisation but in small villages further south which they reached by motorcycle. They did offer to show me around their real Spain if I could get there, but there was no direct bus – it would have meant a bus into the city and back out again which was too much of a journey. The bar was run by a Turkish couple one from Ankara and the other from the East of Turkey not far from Kars – so they were interested that I was going there next. Apparently Kars does the best roast goose in Turkey, not something that I would want to try as I like the live ones too much to eat them!
As the days went on and the rain kept coming, I settled into the rhythms and pulse of life in this strange community. The buses ran like clockwork – the terminus for the line was a ten minute walk away and when one arrived another set off so you never had to wait long, at least in the day time. There was even an hourly night bus service which I never had cause to use. The metro station was right across the road from the bus terminus and trains also ran into the early hours, so I at least felt connected to the rest of the world, even if the place felt a little otherworldly.
On one of my trips into the centre I decided to make a visit to a cat café. Not only because I adore cats but because I had recently applied to a home and pet sitting site, Trusted House-sitters and I wanted to try and get some selfies with cats to upload there. This was easier said than done. The café was part of an adoption project and the idea was to get people acquainted with the cats they might later want to take home with them. Of course, you have to have a home – which I do not, but they were happy for me to try to engage with them and use the vast number of toys they had to do that. Many of the cats did not want to know and I was told I couldn’t pick them up but to allow them to come to me. I managed (after about an hour there) to get two or three pictures which were good enough for my needs (and I now have a cat sit lined up) but I enjoyed my time there immensely.
Food and Shopping ...
I also went into the centre on a couple of occasions for shopping trips. High on my list was buying a pair of decent walking shoes, as I was struggling with aching feet and had decided that the issue was compounded by not having the right footwear. This might have taken a couple of trips, as I had forgotten about the siesta in Spain. I arrived late — around 1.00pm — in Calle Ribera de Curtidores, where there are a number of sports and hiking shops, and took my time weighing up what I needed for something which, for me, was an expensive and important purchase.
After being in one shop for about 45 minutes, I noticed that some of the others on the street were putting their shutters down — and it was only then that it dawned on me. Yes, they would open again, but only at 5.00pm, and I didn’t really want to wait that long.
Whilst I was thinking about what to do, I decided to go into a nearby bar to order something to eat and called into a lovely, lively place that seemed to be frequented mainly by locals. It was busy and noisy, so maybe that’s an excuse for the server not understanding my very poor Spanish, with which I tried to order a sandwich from the board. I was pointing and gesturing as well, and I thought I was understood — so I got a glass of red and sat back to wait for my sandwich to arrive.
It didn’t.
What came instead was a mass of what looked like intestines covered in breadcrumbs. I thought maybe I had been given the wrong order — but decided to try it and discover what it was and – although I’m still not certain – I think it was cuttlefish. Now, how a pork sandwich can be confused with cuttlefish, even in poor Spanish, is beyond me; but I think this must go down as my biggest food order fail. I still managed to cope with it, not something I would order again, but I coped.
As I came out of the café, I noticed that one of the hiking gear shops was still open, so I also managed to buy the shoes I needed. They were more expensive than I would have liked, and the colour wasn’t my preference, but honestly, I couldn’t face the near one-hour journey each way in the pouring rain again. So I decided to take what I could from the situation — and I have to say that now, writing this four months later, I’m very happy with my purchase.
Regrets - I had a few ...
And the disappointments — yes, there were many ‘I wish I had done that’s’ looking back. I didn’t get to the Prado. I had left it to the last week and then felt too ill (cold/flu-like symptoms) and decided I needed to prioritise my health and rest before my trip back to Istanbul.
I didn’t get to meet up with a good friend in Toledo — partly for the same reason, but also because the only way to get there was by train from the centre of Madrid, and it would have taken about 2.5 hours each way, assuming all the connections worked out. Given that it’s around an hour by car, I also regretted that I didn’t have enough money left to hire one.
Finally, the weather ruled out any notion of travelling to a botanical garden. I did, towards the very end of my stay, get to see some trees on the outskirts of town, but although the rain held off enough for this to happen, the paths were still sodden and muddy. It meant I couldn’t get into the woodland but just had to admire it from the roadside.
Despite all of this (and maybe because of it), the one-month stay passed very quickly, and I soon found myself on the metro, hurtling towards Atocha station where I would pick up the airport express bus. Madrid is still there to be explored, and I had a very different experience from the one I was expecting. I may well come back — to Madrid, but not to Vallecas just yet.
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Comments
Sorry to read you didn’t have a great time in Madrid. I guess we can’t win them all
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