When travelling around Spain most people are quick to fall in love with Barcelona and in comparison not much is said about the city of Madrid. Although Madrid has less 'sights' to see per se, it certainly makes up for it with its older European charm as well as an abundance of day trip options. With Madrid being the departure point of our Spanish escapade, we were left with only two days to explore this city in favour of a longer stay in Barcelona.

If you like us are pressed for time, here is a one day itinerary of what you can get up to whilst in Madrid:

1. Churros: If you fancy yourself a sweet breakfast #onthego, you can't go wrong with Churros and a cup of coffee. Bonus points for the sugar rush which will keep your energized for the  very busy day ahead.
2. Puerta de Sol: The Main Square, situated in the center of Madrid is a great place to get stuck into some exploring. Not to mention, this can be the perfect spot to hunt down the Churros breakfast we mentioned above. 
3. Plaza mayor: short walk from Puerta de Sol, this is where the culture really hits me.  There are lots of restaurants around there and the place is perfect for people watching. we skipped on the expensive restaurants and bought some snacks from a nearby shop and relaxed in the middle of the square.
4. Royal Palace of Madrid: Another short walk from Plaza Mayor, if you wish for a closer look at the beautiful architecture, get a better look of the interiors for free! Otherwise, you can stick to strolling the surrounding gardens. 
5. Museums: There are plenty of great museums in Madrid such as Sofia and Prado. We didn't check any out since they were our last days in Europe and we were in a relaxing and exploring mood. But you can certainly fit in one of the museums. 
6. Mercado De San Miguel: Remember La Bouqeria? If you loved that then you will love this food market too. Its not as big as La Bouqeria but is certainly no less charming. So many things to choose from. We were only planning on snacking on them but filled up pretty quickly.
7. World's oldest restaurant for lunch: Botin in Madrid is supposedly world's oldest restaurant according to Guinness Book of world record. If you managed to resist the temptations at the food market, this could act as the perfect lunch spot! We had to give it a miss though owing to us being very full already as well as a lack of vegetarian options. 
8. Retiro park: After lunch we took train to Retiro park as its quite far  and strolled around there and saw the Crystal Palace. For the arty crowd, the nearby contemporary art gallery is also a great place to stop by.
9. Flamenco : When in Spain, you can't go wrong with a good flamenco show to end the night. You can also opt to make it a dinner affair but we found that they usually tend to not be as good as others you can find at a better price. Having experienced our first tryst with flamenco in Barcelona, we simply had to do it again. Post the show, we had a dinner at a restaurant in the vicinity.
10. Lastly, you revisit Plaza Mayo and Puertta de sol as they look very different at night. 

PS: We made it again on the Independent Fashion Bloggers top 20 list ! Below are the 20 blogs!