After a long, slow month spent at home in Salzburg, I listened to my itchy feet and headed off for a month of adventures. I spent the first week in Brussels, after which I hopped on a direct flight to Madrid for eight days.
I spent three delightful months living in Spain last year, but focused my travels on the south, including a month each in Sevilla, Valencia and Barcelona, plus many weekend trips to the various surrounding cities, as well as longer trips to the Balearic Islands. Later in the year, I met a family from Madrid while on our boat cruise through the Galápagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador and they insisted that I come and visit them in Madrid soon. I was thrilled to finally make that a reality on this trip.
Before I met up with Carmen and her family though, I was able to squeeze in a five-night stay at a hostel in town with Emma and Hayden. I went to university with Emma back in Canada, and went to their wedding in 2018, and hadn't seem them in the nearly five years since! Getting to reunite with them in Madrid - they're currently based in Portugal for six months - was an absolute joy, and we spent hours wandering the streets of Madrid, dancing, catching up and eating yummy food.
One of the highlights of my time with Emma was our day trip out to Toledo, a simple direct bus away with Alsa (buy tickets for Madrid to Toledo here). We spent the day in the warm spring sunshine, wandering the idyllic little streets, eating vegan gnocchi, taking in the views of the high up city, drinking cafe con leche in the plaza and, best of all, stumbled upon a beautiful Palm Sunday parade down the streets, accompanied by a lovely marching band. I hope some of this spring joy is captured in my images below.
