Madrid Takeaway Thoughts and Tips

By -

Shopping in Madrid.

I bought a lovely pair of brown boots from one of the shops around Palacio Royal. The pair costs €90. The purchase qualifies for a VAT refund so I requested for a form. The lady spoke limited English, she really struggled with explaining me how to claim the VAT refund at the airport.



I tried shopping in Mango and Zara, the ever-so-popular clothing lines. I found their stuff still expensive. Sure, it is a tad cheaper if you buy in Europe vs. buying in the Philippines, but still expensive. I scored a faux leather jacket in Lefties for 20 euros.  



This is the reason I have the shopping bag in my photo with Palacio Royal de Madrid.



Madrid has a urbane underground metro system. I think it goes as deep as 10 floors underground.




Take advantage of the free museum hour. Museo del Prado and Reina Sofia have free viewing hours. Two hours will suffice to see everything worth noting, unless you are an art aficionado at heart.
This photo reminds me of the Volcanoes' photos up in Guadalupe.
Photo courtesy of When In Manila

Take photos of the exit map. Most exit maps mark the tourist places around the area.



Lots of street artists. Be alert at all times.



Spongebob and Winnie the Pooh

The cause of gluttony: tapas and sangria.


Amazing churros place.


Train going to Granada. I purchased my ticket around three months before the trip. Got the seat for EUR 20.50 via the Renfe website










Picturesque view for three plus hours.

View going to Granada

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

UK Visa Application in the Philippines

By -
Image
The United Kingdom (UK) may be in Europe but it is not included in the Schengen zone. You need to apply for a separate visa in the UK. I’ve always wanted to see London (because of Mary Poppins) but I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of applying and paying for another visa aside from Schengen. Since this was a family trip, I finally had the opportunity of visiting London. We had to apply for a UK visa first before applying for a Schengen visa in the French Embassy. The process is a bit similar to the US Visa application wherein you fill-out a long form, pay the visa fee, then schedule your application to submit your documents. Here’s the basic process: 1.    Create an account and fill-out application forms  here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-visas-and- immigration 2.    Pay for the visa fee - via credit card – USD 110 3.    Schedule the visa appointment in VFS Global UK 4.    Print and gather documents...
Take me there!

Blaaaaah-ging

By -
Image
I established this blog as a "shrine" for my adventures.  I've have travelled, since my last update - I took time to at least update my Adventure Accounts page. It's just...more difficult to really give trip details. Each blog post takes me approximately 4 hours to write, select and watermark photos, and recheck my excel file & trip notes. So two long and detailed blog posts equal to one working day. In the last couple of years, the rise of microblogging just made it easier to just skip a blogpost; because hey, there's your audience in FB or IG. I don't like to admit this, but there's a sense of "instant validation" when others do like your travel update post vs. waiting for someone to give a nice comment in your blog post (that took hours to write).  In between my March 2017 post and today, I've been busy being a postgraduate student in the UK (thru the Chevening scholarship), then I've travelled for 90 days to cover 11 count...
Take me there!

The Road Less Travelled: Malang-Ngadas-Cemoro Lawang. My Epic Adventure.

By -
Image
“Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled, and that has made all the difference. - Robert Frost” The usual route from Yogyakarta to Mount Bromo is via Probolinggo, a bus terminal filled with touts. I read lots of horror stories about the drama in Probolinggo (I have one as well but that’s for a separate blog post). The other option is to get a package tour from your hostel or any travel agency and then endure a 15-16 hour minivan ride with other tourists. Two lousy options. Both not fun. After some careful research, I stumbled across the Bromo backdoor route via the town of Ngadas. I read about the Malang-Ngadas-Cemoro Lawang route from these amazing bloggers. A good acquaintance, who also did this route, helped me out with the details. Kurtzy WalkFlyPinoy Ambot Ah So there are some adventurers who did this route. The thing is, they are all male. That made me a bit apprehensive about doing this route. Since you are reading my blog post...
Take me there!