Puente Pasado

For many, Christmas doesn't truly arrive until the lights go up, carols can be heard in every shop and the dreaded rush of present buying begins. Having the prospect of being in Spain for most of December however has meant that Christmas cheer hasn't completely hit as home comforts (and a tree!!) have definitely not appeared on my agenda.

However last weekend, as a final chance to have an "english" weekend away before leaving (and of course with the added bonus of being puente), we went to Madrid to experience what the capital had to offer around Christmas time.

Upon arriving after night fall, the city centre was very much still alight with stunning decorations along every street and a sense of festivity pervading the air, and despite the chilly air, market stalls selling a whole range of goodies were open and very very tempting!

The list of what we had to do had originally been fairly long, with ice skating in Retiro, visiting every single market known to man, taking as many pictures as possible of the lights and, well, eating everything in sight!

However constraints were there as always, and the biting cold meant that ice skating was quickly taken off the list (no idea where it was and too cold to find it) and instead replaced with a lot of Cola Cao watching (crazy) people boat around Retiro lake. However the markets were beautiful and I had to keep reminding myself that I was there to buy presents for other people and not solely myself! However shopping wise I was very much outdone by a male friend who seemed to buy every scarf in sight and was very conscious of picking the "right" colour!

Food, of course, never failed to deliver, and after dinner in my favourite restaurant I was a very full and happy person, and a brief night-time amble to admire the lights was the perfect way to end a lovely weekend :)