Bienvenido!!
First off, thank you for reading this blog. Secondly, thank you for visiting Madrid. Madrid, the topic of this blog, is one of the most exciting and dynamic cities in the world. Yet somehow it never gets the props cities like London, Paris, Berlin, or Barcelona get by travelers. What we hope to achieve with this blog is try to provide enough insider information to make any visit to the city, be it extended or temporary, as amazing as possible.
Underground Madrid aims to provide the kind of advice that isn’t found in travel guides or in a visitor’s bureau brochure. We’ll take you to parts of Madrid these publications usually don’t go, places only locals “in the know” frequent and love. In my experience, most guides fail miserably at this. Some just stick to old “guiri” (foreigner) favorites, others to places that are similar to the ones found in back home. While all these guides serve a purpose, they fail to capture the true essence of the city and what makes it great. We want you to avoid tourist traps, overly crowded places swarming with every other tourist who bought the same guide as you, and most importantly places that have no relevance to what makes Madrid.
Underground Madrid also wants to show its readers places that can make Madrid feel a bit more like home. This is especially true for people who are here for extended stays. Places where you can find comfort foods, help in solving any problem, or just have a drink and a nice chat in your native tongue. We’ll help you find places where you can go see your favorite sports game (football, baseball etc..), have a chat about what’s going on back home, and meet and make friends with folks from all over the world.
Lastly, Underground Madrid hopes to make your stay in Madrid as great as it has been for the people here who have started the blog. We want you to love Madrid as much as we do and to see the city like we do. We hope to see you enjoy some great tapas and tinto with your friends before heading to an amazing off the radar hot spot, while the person who read the “hip” guide he/she bought at his/her local book store is stuck eating bad overpriced noodles at some trendy, crowded tourist trap before he/she heads out to the next crowded, on the map place recommended by that guide.
Looks good so far!
I look forward to adding comments.
I love Madrid! I enjoyed exploring the UK culture in the city when I was there in April of 2006 visiting my best friend. There are all kinds of great pubs around the city. I remember Finbars was a popular place, but I’m sure my friends who live there would know of other places. I loved hanging out in El Retiro park which is like the Central Park found in NYC. And I have fond memories of walking around El Sol and visiting the Corte Ingles.
Check out this BBC article! Madrid was found to be the 3rd most friendly city in the world in a recent study conducted by psychologists from California State University:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3002308.stm