JIYOUNG SIM- Last weekend my best friend studying in Vienna visited Madrid so we had a great time together during the weekend. I wanted to write about the places we visited because my friend loved all of them and I think they are great places for all of you to visit as well!
On the first day in Madrid, my friend wanted to try paella, so we went to my favorite paella restaurant called La Paella de la Reina. It is on Calle de la Reina near Gran Vía. I really like this place because I like paella. It is often very salty, but theirs is not. I recommend paella with chicken and chorizo. Although paella de marisco is more typical, I personally like their paella with chicken and chorizo better. After lunch we went to Vicens, which is a store that sells turrons and chocolates. There are several stores of Vicens and the ones I know are in El Corte Ingles and on Calle Mayor near Sol. Vicens is more than 200 years old and if you come to Spain you should definitely try some turrons so stop by Vicens when you visit Puerta del Sol or Plaza Mayor.
The old and famous churrería San Gines is also located nearby. It is pretty popular so you might have to line up for a while like we did. The line might look long but you actually do not have to wait for too long so try their churros with chocolate. You can try Spanish churros with thick chocolate dip here and if you like chocolate, you will love it. From here, you can also walk to San Miguel market. San Miguel market is a little expensive but it looks nicer than other markets so it is great to spend some time there taking a look. I personally like markets in general so I really like it there. We just had a cup of natural fruit juice and took a look around the market but it was still fun.
Madrid actually does not have that many tourist attractions besides museums, but the Royal Palace is in Madrid. Not that many parts of the palace are open to public but you can still see the splendidness from the parts open to public. It does not take that much time to see through the palace so take a visit and have a glance at how Spain once was one of the most powerful empires in the world.
We also went to one of the three most famous art museums in Madrid, Reina Sofia, to see Guernica. I wrote about Reina Sofia and the other two famous museums in Madrid in my last post so I won’t write in detail about the museums. Check out my last post for more about the museums!

Jiyoung Sim, Skidmore in Madrid

My final recommendation for you is a tapas bar called Platea. This place is expensive but has good food and mood. It is very crowded on weekends so if you are going there on a weekend get there a little earlier than typical Spanish dinner time. Here I really recommend trying croquettes from Oído Cocina. They are the best croquettes I’ve had so far in Spain.