Travel Addicts

Considered among top 25 ideal city to live in by Monocle publication, Madrid knows how to keep up with times. It’s a place ready to welcome millions of tourists - 162 destinations operated from Barajas airport, 127 movie sites, museums with some of the most precious art collections in the world - Museo del Prado, Thyssen Bornemisza Museum, Reina Sofia etc.

When it comes to taste Madrid, the choices are overwhelming.

Breakfast begins quite late - at 9.30 - with a coffee and a healthy sandwich (half a baguette filled with jamon and cheese) or a potato tortilla (omelette). Breakfast costs between 2 and 10 euros depending on menu and location. Many restaurants do not serve breakfast (there are restaurants that open only for lunch and dinner, others only for dinner).

Lunch does not start until 13:30 but lasts up at 16:00. All locations prepare special menus for lunch. Restaurants have menus from 9 euros which include appetizers, main course and dessert / coffee, including a drink. Traditional lunch menu might include gazpacho (cold vegetable soup), ox tail soup and  flan for dessert. But do not forget the seafood. Gambas a la Plancha (grilled shrimps), caracoles (snails), calamares Fritos (breaded calamari rings), mejillones rellenos ( mussels ) are just some examples of varieties of seafood served in Madrid.

Until dinner (which starts after 9 pm), a break with a cold beer or a vermouth goes perfectly. Tapas (snacks) are famous worldwide, and bars (tapas bars) and beer places (cervezeria) are happy to feed their customers. Among the most popular tapas, you can try: toast angulas, habitas con jamon (beans with jamon), boquerones (anchovies in vinegar), chorizo in vino (chorizo sausages cooked in wine), croquetas (croquettes) , ensaladilla Russia (vegetable salad with mayonnaise), Aceitunas (olives), patatas bravas (spicy potatoes).

See more on Cevabun.ro (Romanian only) - http://www.cevabun.ro/mancalatorii-madrid/

For accommodation ideas recommended by independent experts, visit SImonseeks.com - http://www.simonseeks.com/accommodation/hotels/europe/spain/madrid

A 10-day trip to Phuket and the islands around.

We have just come back from our tour to the southern part of Spain (with a bonus of 5 days in Madrid). It was spectacular, to start with! Changes in scenery, beautiful cities and towns, alcazars (palaces), cathedrals, exquisite museums, excellent food and, above all, absolutely great people in all places we visited. We have finally grasped the essence of siesta, our changed lives after this trip definitely include a siesta in the afternoon (for me it’s getting harder and harder to have one at work:).

We cherrish our memories already for a future trip in this blessed part of the world.

The trip starting point was Madrid where we landed. We rented a car from Pepe Car (www.pepecar.com ), a sort of a low cost renting company, with great value for money but quite poor sevice - the employee (there was only one) was speaking only in Spanish and couldn’t understand a word in English.

From Madrid, we went down to Cordoba, our first stop, then to Sevilla, Jerez, Cadiz, Tarifa, Gibraltar, Malaga, Granada, Baeza&Ubeda, Toledo and back to Madrid. We loved all the places, but the white villages of Vejer de la Frontera and Conil (in the Provice of Cadiz) seem to outtop everything, although tomorrow we might say something else…

Every year it’s even more beautiful. This island fascinates me and every time I promise myself to move over there. For good.

Our 5 day trip was like a trip to heaven. We’ve stayed at Nikoleta Villa, again. They have renovated the entire terrace and the place looks magnificent!

We have discovered a new taverna close to Limenas (Thassos) where seafood was in abundance and really well cooked. We had a 3 kg lobster (70E/kg), mussels in creamy sauce, octopus, squid, red mullet.

We have traveled to Teologos again, up in the mountains. There is a woman there with a beard. Really. And she sells honey, olive oil and other goodies. She’s very good at it - come on, buy now cause i’m leaving in an hour. This is her line every time we go there no matter the day or the hour.

Traveling by car is an advantage when it comes to shopping. We’ve bought quite a few things - terrace lamps, candle holders (the angel made of marble paste is my favourite; even if our friends call it midget :)), glazed tiles with marine motives etc.