…albeit only for several short-term trips loaded with more work than leisure time. I basically spent every other week in the last summer months in the Madrid area. Due to both work and the exhausting heat wave I did not manage to go out and take pictures as much as I would have loved to. So most of the tapas experiences have not been documented – what a loss for Instagram.

Madrid was kind of empty in August as most locals are at the coast to evade the heat in more refreshing grounds so most restaurants and bars are closed as well once you step outside the tourist hotspots around plaza major. I’ll have to give Madrid another chance sometime in the future but it is just really hard to compete with Barcelona.

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Kind of a unexpected pearl recommended by a local colleague from work was
Alcalá de Henares, birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes who is the famous Spanish writer behind Don Quixote. It’s a really cosy old town under UNESCO world heritage protection with plenty of bars and cafes. Really worth to get a bit of relaxed Spanish street love.

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