We left London on Wednesday morning to fly to Madrid for Madrid Pride and five days of sun, celebration and sangria (I only drank one glass the whole time but I needed something for the alliteration). Last year we had planned to spend the whole three weeks of our holiday in Spain travelling around with friends and taking in Madrid Pride but plans changed. Still, Glen and I decided to keep the Madrid Pride bit and sandwich it between visiting family and friends in the UK and Germany. I’m so glad we did.

We got to our hotel sometime in the afternoon, staying in Chueca, the gay district and the main hub for the Pride celebrations. Rainbow flags everywhere, including all the stores gagging for the pink dollar. We stayed at B&B Hotels at Fuencarral 52, which turned out to be an excellent hotel. Right in the centre of things but soundproofed from noise from the street and other rooms, free tea, coffee, water, juice and fruit on the terrace on the fifth floor, and the rooms were clean and comfortable. Loved it. Highly recommended.

We didn’t really have any plans apart from a couple of booked parties for Saturday and Sunday night so we were free to roam, and if we ever go again, I’d probably only book one party in total. More on that later.

So Wednesday afternoon/evening we went wandering, stumbling across the free outdoor events that were getting ready, not realising how much free entertainment was being put on. There were five stage areas in the centre of Madrid all playing different music. There were also a lot of bars and clubs and parties that were on but if you didn’t want to spend a lot of money and still wanted to participate, you could go to these outdoor events. They went until about midnight so it would have meant an ‘early’ night but definitely an option. The streets didn’t clear until many hours later anyway.

We went into a bar because they gave us free fans and bags and ate some food. We ordered too much, thinking that the tapas we’d ordered would be small enough for ALL THE THINGS but when we put in our order the waiter’s eyes went wide. I don’t think I’ve ever had that happen before.

After dinner we went back to the hotel. I was still dealing with a head cold from London and hadn’t had much sleep the night before so I stayed in (I know, how sad) while Glen went out and partied with some Uruguayians.