20 November 2012

Dreams coming true in Madrid












I have a confession to make, a confession which, if you are familar with the blog, you will know from previous admissions, but I am a self confessed Control Freak. 

That's not the confession though. The confession is that somewhere along this big beautiful trip, I let go. I seemed to stop being a control freak. In fact, not only have I relaxed more & given in to whatever goes, well, goes, I have actually loved plans that change or don't always go according to plan. 

Which is exactly what happened with Madrid.

The booking all along was to fly from Mallorca to Porto in Portugal (then on to San Sebastian), but two weeks out of said flight, we were emailed from the airline saying the flight was cancelled, they could instead get us to some remote part of North Spain (not even in the same country as our original destination!) We said thanks but no thanks & cancelled the booking.


Now. Old Anna would have had a mini break down. Considering how badly I had initially wanted to go to Portugal and were now being told it was impossible from where we had the flight from & time permitting I normally would have been super super upset. Possibly even stewed over it for a day or so. The new me however literally just shrugged my shoulders, and admitted clearly we were just not meant to get there this trip around and the universe has something far greater planned for us...


Cue Madrid. 

For whatever reason, it never got on our original list but with 3 days now available we booked a flight to this unassuming city with a feeling that we were just meant to go there specifically - and as beautiful as hindsight always is - aren't we glad we did!!

Madrid is truly hard to sum up. Just like I had always imagined San Sebastian to be bigger (post on that to come tomorrow), I had always imagined Madrid to be smaller, but it's anything but. Not only is it ginormous in size, the city literally has something beautiful to stop & marvel at, or walk through or explore around every single corner, and I truly mean, every single corner. The moment we got there we both knew we just wanted to tread our own path. We stayed away from trip advisor suggestions, tour guides and hotel reccommendations - Madrid was ours and ours alone to explore & take our own incredible memories away from.

We walked, and walked, and walked & walked. We stumbled upon the palace, beautiful botanical gardens, Puerto Del Sole square, humongous shopping streets (la la loved the shopping in Madrid!), and huge squares to sit & drink Sangria in to people watch. There were street markets we got lost in for hours on the Sunday, getting caught up in the hype of shopping among hundreds of spanish people, flicking through old records of 80's metal - for Morgs of course, and watching old men barter over old basketball cards. 

And then, there was the Flamenco. 

When putting Spain in big bright bold colours as a place we absolutely wanted to see, the way I had always envisioned it was sitting in a small bar, Sangria in hand, with my lover (cue Morgan!) the lights dim with a magnificent Flamenco show going on in front of me, and up until Madrid, a city we weren't even meant to be in, I hadn't gotten my Spanish moment. 

For those who aren't aware, like I wasn't until we accidently ended up in the city (& Morgans mum who had taught dancing for 30 years telling us) Madrid is actually the heart & soul of Flamenco in Spain...

Let's just say, I got my Spanish moment. We by beautiful fate found a bar that did shows each night and the night we wanted to go just happened to be the night an award winning Flamenco dancer would be performing. It happened! It really happened just like I always imagined it, without any effort at all. There we were, in a small bar, dimly lit, with Sangria in hand, my lover by my side, and the most incredible performance of Flamenco in front of us and it was in that moment, I cried. I sat there without an embarrassment or care in the world tears streaming down my face. I don't know if it was gratitude, or the feeling of pure & utter joy from the inside out, or feeling like another dream had just come true, but I didn't care. I was happy & beautifully living in the moment.

So Madrid, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, not just for being an incredibly beautiful, remarkable city, and not just for the delicious and amazing food on offer, but for giving me my Spanish moment I had always dreamed about. 

But most of all? For solidifying for me once & for all that sometimes when things don't go exactly to plan, there is always something greater for you waiting.

With a heart of happiness & love,

Anna x

p.s If you ever go to Madrid and want to see a show, this is the one we went to. There are 3 or 4 main ones in Madrid (tonnes more but 3 or 4 main 'the best' ones) and Cardamomo is one of them. We chose this one as it wasn't so commercial and offered a more intimate traditional experience...and obviously I can't recommend it highly enough!





5 comments:

  1. Madrid was by far my most favourite place to visit in Spain, the people were friendly, shopping pretty cheap, tapas and sangria and yes flamengo dancers were all ahmazing! Its great that youre letting go, Im an organised freak when it comes to planning and travelling as well but as you have discovered sometimes the best memories as the ones that are done on a whim without any planning. You also have a knack for making the best out of a situation which is always a bonus when travelling x

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  2. What a great story about how you've changed! Take life as it comes, right? I'd love to go to Madrid! Great pictures!!

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  3. So happy for you :) And sometimes it´s even better when things don´t go according to plan, right? I love flamenco, in my opinion it´s the most passionate dance. Great pictures as always ;)
    xx Eve.h

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  4. This was such a wonderful honest read. I too have found that by doing overseas travel, I no longer feel the need to control or overplan every second of a trip. Given our way of seeing cities is to walk, this has proved a beautiful approach.

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  5. God damn it Anna, you're making me cry! What a beautiful experience x

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