We Found Europe’s Best-Kept Secret – Madrid…See It in 2024

    [Music] when you think of traveling to Spain  what immediately comes to mind. you probably   think about a dazzling trip to Barcelona Madrid’s  sophisticated northern neighbor or maybe it’s a   sundrenched weekend on the stunning Spanish  Coast. in the list of Europe’s most visited  

    Cities Barcelona is number six at 7 million annual  visitors and Madrid doesn’t even crack the top 10.   but we think you should move Madrid up on your  bucket list of travel destinations right now. why?  

    Well we lived in Madrid for a month but now Madrid  lives in us. Madrid’s unique blend of food culture   and music art and architecture weather and nature  and don’t forget nightlife was simply magical. we  

    Are going to show you some of that magic in this  video so you know what to expect on your next   visit and how to make the most of your stay here.  we travel a lot and one of our favorite countries  

    Of all is Spain and we’re in the center of the  country today in the capital city of Madrid. let’s start at the beginning. we’ll show you  where we stayed for a month then take you into the   city that they say never sleeps. hey everybody  Welcome to our Airbnb in Madrid we just got  

    Here. we took an overnight flight of about 8  hours during direct from DC so it’s early in the   morning here. it’s about 3:00 in the morning in DC  but we just checked in and this place is really  

    Beautiful so let me show it to you. we’re going  to be here a month so we’re going to get time   to explore the city. this place is right next to  the Opera and it’s in central area of downtown and  

    So you can see it’s in a 1918 building but it’s  been totally modernized and had great reviews on   Airbnb. great kitchen with a washer and dryer  so we’re excited about that. nice eating area here   beautiful high ceilings with TV leather sofa. you  know we like our leather sofas. this thing has two  

    Balconies so there’s one here and there’s one  out here in the bedroom. ceiling fan, desk, of   course air conditioning, because you never know climate  change what it’s going to be. a beautiful bedroom   that’s separated from the living area and tons  of closet space. another one of these beautiful  

    Balconies. looks over this incredibly beautiful  street. so we’re happy with that. a lot of light as   you can see coming through. really cool artwork and  then you kind of come back through where we were   a while ago and a great modern bathroom which  we’re really pleased with cuz you never know what  

    You’re going to get there and then back here  is cool because it’s an office and a separate kind of single bed up here with iron and ironing  board and all that kind of kind of stuff. it’s

    Got an elevator so you come up to the second  floor and you’re in here and it’s really quiet   and we really think we’re going to love it so  stay tuned here comes Michael and Chris into Madrid. [Music] we’re here in the center of  Madrid and that’s Plaza mayor and this  

    Has been the historic center of the city since  Madrid’s been around. the guy behind me on the   Statue is Philip III. he’s the king that paid to  have this Plaza built. the Plaza’s been built   and rebuilt over history. it’s burned down  a few times and if you look at it now you’ll  

    See it’s not very typically Spanish. it’s  because the last people that rebuilt it   were the Hapsburgs from Austria. so this has got  a very Austrian look. it’s a beautiful spot but   you can see it’s not very Spanish looking  and even some of the frescoes on the walls  

    Are Roman and Greek inspired. and as a kind of  a tidbit they were just completed in the late 1990s. despite some amazing architecture  throughout the city Madrid in reality may   not offer anything that special to the  traditional traveler. there’s no Eiffel  

    Tower, no Grand River, and no particularly  spectacular skyscrapers, but Madrid is full   of hidden gems. and a wonderful magic that  you’ll enjoy if you know just how to look for them. it’s Michael’s birthday so to celebrate I’m  taking him to a traditional flamenco dance. we’re  

    Excited we’re going to have dinner first and then  we’re going to see the flamingo dancers so it’s a   really cool way here in Madrid to celebrate my  60th. when you come to Madrid you’ve got to do   Flamenco and there are several places to go. we’ll  probably go to several ourselves while we’re here  

    But tonight we’re here and we’re at the most  famous of the Flamenco shows. a lot of stars   have come here. we’ve seen in their marketing  materials people like Nicole Kidman have been   here among others. so we’re going to give it a  shot it’s also got a Michelin starred Chef  

    That prepares two menus one very exclusive that  we’re not doing and a second for the rest of us   folks. it’s a fixed menu before the show so we’re  excited to check it out tonight it’s our first   time in Madrid our first Flamenco show and we’ll  take you along and let’s see what happens [Music] we just finished our first flamenco show and  it was so much fun it was a full evening of food   and entertainment. we really enjoyed it the talent  was great they had singers dancers and of course  

    A guy playing guitar and the energy was great.  they interpret the music and they play along and   the singing is intense. it was really talent on display. I love it. Yeah amazing talent [Music]  Madrid was named a European capital of culture  in 1992 and once you experienced Flamenco and  

    The richness of the other cultural offerings  here you’ll understand why. we had always heard   about how Spaniards and people here in Madrid  love to stay out late at night. they don’t   eat that much during the day. when they do they  eat later in the day and then they eat and drink  

    Very late at night. and we didn’t really get it  but now that we’ve been here a while we get   it. this place is perfectly set up for doing so. at night it cools down and the weather has just  

    Been amazing and this place is just perfectly  set up for living that way. everywhere you go   it’s pedestrian friendly. it feels very safe  there’s little cafes and restaurants of every   type everywhere. so no matter what you want or what  you want to do there’s somewhere neat to go  

    And we’ve seen you know many many locals so this  is not just a tourist thing. this is the way they   live and as we’ve been here a while now we’re  really starting to get it and are really enjoying it

    [Music] so we lucked out we just happened  to be in Madrid during Hispanidad 2023. that’s   a celebration of Hispanic culture throughout  the world especially as it’s focused here   in Madrid. it’s an amazing night and  we’ve got venues and all the plazas  

    And they’re all free and it looks like a  lot of fun so we’re checking it out. [Music] The food in Madrid is amazing we can’t recommend  any places in particular cuz they’re all great.   there’s tapas everywhere we’re in a restaurant right  now. we’ve been having the menu of the day which   is a couple of courses with bread and beer  and everything else for a really reasonable  

    Price. so you’re going to be able to eat your way  around Madrid and love it it’s really really a treat. In addition to the cheap tapas, great  wine, sangria and beer, Madrid has been serving   up the sweet treat of churos with hot  chocolate for well over a century. but   be prepared for some long lines to get  to them. I don’t know how we did it. but  

    There was a long line. we ordered and we  got a great table in the chocolateria so   we’re about to nosh on some dark chocolate and  some churros. how lucky are we? look at this! yum! Madrid is dotted with all of these amazing  pastry shops and there’s this one nearby that’s   been open continuously since 1894. so we  decided to do a little bit of historical research   and we had to have the chocolate turtle, the donut,  and the pan du chocolate. so we’re trying these now

    [Music] there is so much more in Madrid that  makes it special so check notifications   and stay tuned in the next video we  go in search of historical hidden   gems in Madrid that help us to better  understand what makes the city so special

    In this Madrid Spain vlog in 4k we give you a Madrid city tour and share with you why we think you should visit Madrid before it further explodes with tourists. Madrid nightlife, Madrid food, Madrid architecture and more makes it a must visit.

    Luxury Madrid Airbnb
    https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/42088914?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=0067b23a-eb58-47dc-a07b-1f45c91129a4&source_impression_id=p3_1701702543_qeyLm2MMWM5mfSkY

    The Top 15 Most Visited Cities in Europe

    The Top 15 Most Visited Cities in Europe


    Airbnb

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    Keywords: #dchiddengems #slowtravel #travelvlog #gaytravel #spain #madrid
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    🎦 Chapters
    00:00 Introduction
    00:56 Madrid Airbnb
    03:26 Madrid Architecture & Plaza Mayor
    04:37 Madrid Flamenco
    06:41 Madrid Nightlife
    07:47 Madrid Hispanidad
    08:46 Madrid Food

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    5 Comments

    1. Thanks, but it IS very Spanish. It's not very Andalusian, what many people wrongfully think Spain is. You should keep moving around Madrid and further north. Flamenco is great; nevertheless, it is NOT Spain's national dance, the Jota is. Flamenco originated on the south, Jerez, Utrera and Sevilla. Cheers and best wishes. 👍🏼

    2. My husband had business in Madrid, so I flew over to join him and we extended our time together there. We were unprepared for how hard we would fall in love with Madrid and its people. Madrid is a city that puts a little hook in your heart and gives a 'come back' tug whenever you think of it.

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