Spain Madrid (1)

Getting from the airport to the city center, buying a SIM card, restaurants, Plaza de España

The first day of traveling alone. Since I have to travel alone for a month, I was most afraid of having my valuables stolen. 😔 I didn’t want to buy a SIM card at the airport because it’s more expensive, so I used the airport Wi-Fi to contact my Airbnb host and inform them of my expected arrival time before heading to the city center.

Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport to La Latina in Madrid

Power J had already captured the directions from the airport to the city center before arriving in Spain. LOL I took the bus and subway to get to the city center.

There was a fare chart like this at the bus stop.

From the airport to the city center of Madrid (around Plaza de España), it cost 4.5 euros.

The Airbnb where I stayed was close to La Latina station, so I took the 200 bus from in front of the airport and transferred to metro line 5 along the way.

The 200 bus was right in front of the airport and easy to find.

Moreover, the 200 bus came relatively frequently, every 15 minutes, and many people took it, making it a convenient and safe option.

After riding the New York subway, taking the Madrid subway felt small and cute. To open the door, you have to press the middle of the cute yellow circle on the door.

It took about an hour to get from Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport to La Latina. There were no escalators or elevators at the subway entrance, so carrying my large suitcase up the stairs was the hardest part, but when I exited the station, the clean surroundings, blue sky, and warm sun greeted me. Even then, I remained cautious about pickpockets in Spain.. 😔

Although I knew the address of the Airbnb, I wasn’t sure how to find it or where the address was written, so I asked people for help. I confidently asked in English, and one of the people I asked happened to be a delivery person, so he kindly showed me the way. (He wasn’t Spanish but Latin American.) I met the host, Mario. Starting with the subway stairs, my ordeal with stairs began… This house, too, was in an old building without an elevator… Moreover, it was on the fourth floor, but in Europe, the fourth floor is the fifth floor, so I had to carry my luggage up to the fifth floor.

It was my first time staying in an Airbnb, but maybe because I had seen houses often in Spanish dramas on Netflix, it didn’t feel entirely new. The downside of the room I stayed in was that it didn’t have a window…? This made it hard to tell when it was morning, allowing me to sleep soundly, but it also felt a bit stifling.

Camera Repair Shops in Madrid

I quickly unpacked because I had to go get my camera fixed and buy a SIM card.

I hurried to unpack because I had to go buy a SIM card after going to fix my camera lens. I thought it would be cheaper to repair the camera in Spain than in the United States because it’s Spain… but it was expensive. 😭 When I searched for “camera repair,” I found quite a few places, maybe because it’s a tourist area. One place quoted 50 euros and another 35 euros, so I opted for the cheaper option to leave my camera there for repair.

Neither place understood me when I asked in English. Someone helped me at the first place I visited, but at the place where I got my camera fixed, they kept explaining the problem and how they fixed it in Spanish, and I didn’t understand a word… So I just confirmed that it was fixed and paid and left.

I regret not studying more Spanish. If I had, maybe I could have made small talk with people.

Where to Buy a SIM Card

And then I went to buy a SIM card. There were many places selling SIM cards behind Plaza Mayor in Madrid. Stores were clustered on Calle de Bolsa. The place I had planned to go was closed, so I ended up buying from the next door shop, and the price was the same.

I will be in Spain for a month, and since I needed to use my phone for searches, I wanted a generous plan. I purchased Orange’s 100GB plan for 30 days for 15 euros. It lasted comfortably until the end of my trip in Spain, and I didn’t experience any slowdowns. (Phone number covered in yellow)

They activated it right away. I remembered taking a passport photo during my previous trip to Kenya, so I brought my passport. Sure enough, they took a passport photo and activated the SIM card immediately. They also gave me back the SIM card I had been using before.

Popular restaurant near Plaza Mayor (Plaza de España) in Madrid : Alhambra

After buying the SIM card and exploring the surroundings, I saw restaurants and quickly felt like eating Spanish food. As expected, I went to a restaurant I had searched for in advance. It was called Alhambra, and I also liked this kind of atmosphere, so I decided to go in.

The entire shop was decorated in an Islamic style.

The menu had so many options, and instead of ordering just one dish, I wanted to try multiple, so I ordered the ‘Menu del dia,’ also known as the daily menu. This Menu del dia is typically served as a light course menu priced between 10–20 euros, mainly during weekday lunch hours, and is commonly found in Spanish restaurants.

(Menu Del Dia)

The Menu del dia originated as a way for Francisco Franco, who ruled Spain as a dictator from 1939 to 1975, to ensure that workers could have a substantial meal at a reasonable price during lunchtime, and it became popular as part of promotions to attract tourists during Spain’s tourism boom in the 1960s.

At this restaurant, ordering this menu gets you a 3-course meal for 18 euros, which is relatively cheap compared to New York.

What I chose was Arroz caldoso con bogavante (rice stew with lobster), Entrecot de lomo a la parrilla (grilled sirloin steak?), and for dessert, pineapple with whipped cream.

Perhaps because I had high expectations or maybe because I couldn’t sleep properly upon arrival, the soup was too salty, and the meat was tough and salty as well. The only tasty parts were the pineapple dipped in whipped cream and the French fries. Also, there was so much food that I couldn’t finish it all alone, so I ended up packing about half of it to take home.

Sightseeing around Plaza Mayor (Plaza de España)

After eating, I wandered around the area near the Alhambra restaurant. This is another restaurant around Alhambra. There were many restaurants clustered in this area.

This is the path leading up to Plaza Mayor in Madrid. It was around 3–4 PM, and some places had closed doors. There weren’t many tourists around, so it was quite peaceful.

You can start to see Plaza Mayor in Madrid!

I thought Plaza Mayor would be a really large square because of its name, but surprisingly, it wasn’t very big. There were many souvenir shops on the ground floor targeting tourists.

They also sold quaint dolls and beautifully painted tiles.

There was also a place selling old coins, banknotes, stickers, and stamps. This store looked like an antique shop.

There was also a shop selling wallets, notebooks, hats, fans, bags, and more, all made of cork. Seeing such stores and items for the first time, I felt tempted to buy something myself.

If you go towards the back of Plaza Mayor in Madrid, you can see shops and buildings with a slightly different feel.

I stumbled upon a store while exploring that sells only fabric. The place is called Julian Lopez, and it’s spread over four floors, offering a wide variety of patterns and fabrics. As Google shows, there are other fabric stores nearby as well. There are many different and interesting shops around Plaza Mayor in Madrid, so time flew by without me noticing.