Guiri 101: A Crash-Course on How to Find Summer Work in Spain

April 25, 2016 by · 17 Comments

Think of summer. Popsicles, parades, swimsuits (and if you’re me, likely a sunburn that sends you inside to pout about how you can never get a tan).

For me, summer is rarely synonymous with beaches and sunburns and barbecues, but rather pencils and books and scrambling for cash. Even though I am eligible for unemployment benefits when my contract finishes at the end of June each year, I nearly always work during the month of July to help pay for my tapas-and-beer binges and need to take advantage of my two months of freedom to travel.

Finding summer work in Spain can be both easy and frusterating. While many of my teacher friends choose to go home or just deal with the burn out in front of the air conditioner, I’ve compiled a list of jobs and websites that are available to North Americans (or otherwise) for the summer.

It’s important to know that tourism picks up during July and August, and most Spaniards have their holiday time during these months. This means unemployment takes a steep drop, and you can look for opportunities around Spain or even Europe.

Summer Camp Work

Like many other native English speakers, I have a ten-month contract as a teacher. The skills I use in the classroom transfer well to working at a summer camp, which can prove to be both intensive, but worthwhile and often lucrative.

What’s more, camps have gotten extremely popular for Spanish children whose families cannot afford to send their children abroad. Teachers can expect to earn from 500 – 1500€ for one month, depending on the job, hours, location and experience. If you’re at a residential camp, your housing and meals will also be paid for, allowing you to save up a fairly substantial amount if you’re smart.

Typical Summer Camp Schedule in Spain

I personally have worked for Forenex Wonderful Summer Camps in La Coruña. Based out of Madrid, Forenex is one of the oldest and best-known combination sports/language camps for Spanish kids from 5 years and up. Successful candidates will work for 4-5 hours a day with small classes to improve oral fluency through fun, dynamic activities. A course curriculum is planned, but having control of your own classroom is a great way to learn and see if teaching is for you. There are camps all around Spain that provide housing and your meals, along with emergency insurance.

TECS is also a popular camp in Andalusia, based out of El Puerto de Santa María. Most of the camps are in rural settings around the Cádiz province and include extracurricular activities in English, so you can expect to be outside of a classroom setting a bit more. As a counselor, you’ll be both a teacher and monitor. You can apply for these positions, as well as coordinator gigs, on their Work With Us page.

Two newbies to the game, Village Camps is now hiring around the Chiclana area for native English speakers to be both teachers and monitors (and around Europe, too!), and Imagina English Camp offers a more rural experience in the mountains of Jaén (note that you must have work experience for this one).

If you’re based in Seville, SOL’s day camps look to hire around 15 teachers each summer, as does Proyecto Búho for several native speakers. It’s also worth checking out private schools in the area, as many have begun to offer activities and day camps.

Fotos del Campamento

Canterbury TEFL out of Madrid is another company that offers veterans of its programs positions around Spain in various summer camps.

Want to volunteer teach while in Spain? You can try the Diverbo Pueblo Inglés, where you will participate in various activities as a language instructor and be compensated with room and board. Should you have more experience, you can also try for a coordinator position. Check out their jobs page to see if Pueblo Inglés is for you, and be aware that they also seek out teachers for available positions for the school year.

Websites like Busco Campamentos, Dave’s ESL Cafe and TEFL.com are also places to look for academies that run summer programs or intensive classes in your preferred area of Spain.

Au Pair Work

Au Pair jobs give you free room and board and a bit of pocket cash in exchange for several hours of light housework, childcare and cooking. Not the most glamorous way to spend your summer, perhaps, but many of the families who take on au pairs will spend some time at the beach or a summer homes.

Word of mouth is perhaps the best way to go – ask any of the people you tutor, Spanish friends with young kids, at academies or private schools. Alternately, you could try websites and placement services. Before you go, it’s a must to read this great au pair FAQ about how to find a family and have a positive experience from my blog friend Alex Butts (and check out her blog – it’s SandS with just as much sass and great German beer).

Teaching Online

Very much the job du jour, you can use your morning hours to teach kids online from Spain through various companies. Many will offer lesson plans an competitive hourly salaries, whereas some can connect you to students in your time zone. Expect to make money in US dollars (so you’ll need a US bank account).

Tour Guide Work

Jobs for tour guides abound during the summer months. Try wineries, seasonal museums or outdoorsy attractions, or even see if you can get part-time work through contacts at your study abroad school. As most Spaniards take off for the summer months, you may be in luck (particularly if you speak multiple languages).

A great way to get your foot in the door is to contact the tour company beforehand to take a tour yourself, or to ask the owners how they got involved in the business. As my friend Natasha says, people love to talk about themselves, so take advantage!

Bar Work

If you’ve got work permission and are looking for short-term summer work, consider working in a bar or restaurant. Think Spain’s Jobs Page has many real-time listings for jobs in holiday areas, particularly on the coasts and at summer camps. It’s also helpful to ask around at hostels in the city you’d like to spend a few months in, or just up and move there and hope for the best.

Jobs can also include PR and promotion, such as handing out fliers to tourists at their resorts or other venues, slinging drinks or, if you’re lucky and connected, you might even score a gig as a VIP (free drinks counts as a job, right?).

Resort Work

The July and August influx is not just about Spaniards flocking to the coasts – many holiday-makers from the UK and Scandanavia, as well as the US, come to Spain. Along the coasts, you can find ample opportunities in resort towns to work. Forget about hotel reception – resorts in Spain have been reinventing themselves during the crisis, and jobs are available as child care workers, water sport instructors or even drivers and couriers. Tour companies also look to hire people to be on-the-ground logistics handlers, though this may require work permission.

restaurante puerto blanco calle degustación7

Seasonworkers.com lists dozens of short-term work opportunities around Spain, particularly on the islands and along the coasts.

Hotels and hostels tend to fill up, so if you’re also looking for a place to call home during the summer, consider working at a hostel for a few hours in exchange for a place to sleep. Sites like Hostel Jobs (which also has forums on summer camps and resort jobs) and Hostel Travel Jobs have searchable databases with ever-changing postings.

Guiri 101- Ideas for Finding Summer Work in Spain

Cat says: I was not paid in any way to promote any of the jobs or companies posted here. Considering I get many emails regarding summer work, this post is purely informational and based on research and my own experiences. It is not, however, an exhaustive list, nor can I give you more advice than directing you to websites and giving ideas.

If you’re curious about working in Spain, visas, social security of have general enquiries about living in Spain, be sure to contact me on my other site, COMO Consulting Spain.

Filed Under: American in Spain, Expat Advice, Featured, Guiri Survival Tips, How to Work in Spain, Spain camping, Spain Lists, summer camp, Summer in Seville, teach abroad, Working in Spain · Tagged:

Chasing Don Quixote: a Detour through Castilla-La Mancha

April 20, 2016 by · 10 Comments

“Bueno, Castilla-La Mancha isn’t exactly known for its long, winding highways,” Inmaculada said, dragging her fingertip across the screen of her mobile phone six consecutive times as the car pointed towards Valencia. It had been nearly 100 kilometers since I’d had to even move the steering wheel for anything other than overtaking.

Literally called the scorch or the stain in Spanish, La Mancha may not be famous for its roads, but it is renowned for two things: Don Quixote and Manchego cheese. Resting comfortably on top of Andalucía and cradled between Madrid and Valencia, its size and its small towns have intimidated me. Everything seemed a bit archaic, a bit sleepy and, mostly, a bit unreachable without a car and an extra-long weekend.

windmills and Don Quijote

Stretching out on either side of the highway as I drove Inmaculada and Jaime to Valencia was land. Sand. Barely a glimpse of a small town. Like any other Spanish student, we were made to read Quixote in high school and made a point of paying homage to a fictional knight bound by the ideals of chivalry and true love. But the landscapes I’d read about in Cervantes’s greatest novel were nothing but  flat and brown. A literal scorch of earth, true to the region’s name.

Three days later, I left the coast, shoes and jacket blackened from Las Fallas, and tilted back towards the heart of Castilla-La Mancha. The great hidalgo‘s “giants” were only a few hours away. I took my old, tired car, an allusion to the old, tired steer, Rocinante, with me.

The drive should have been easy enough: the Autovía de Este until it met the Autovía del Sur and a few minutes’ drive west to Consuegra, where eight or ten windmills stand guard on a jagged crest of mountain, crowned by a medieval castle.

“Destiny guides our fortunes more favorably than we could have expected. Look there, Sancho Panza, my friend, and see those thirty or so wild giants, with whom I intend to do battle and kill each and all of them, so with their stolen booty we can begin to enrich ourselves. This is nobel, righteous warfare, for it is wonderfully useful to God to have such an evil race wiped from the face of the earth.”
“What giants?” Asked Sancho Panza.
“The ones you can see over there,” answered his master, “with the huge arms, some of which are very nearly two leagues long.”
“Now look, your grace,” said Sancho, “what you see over there aren’t giants, but windmills, and what seems to be arms are just their sails, that go around in the wind and turn the millstone.”
“Obviously,” replied Don Quijote, “you don’t know much about adventures.”

Per Trevor’s suggestion, I wanted to stop first in Alcázar de San Juan, home to a number of beautifully restored windmills that wouldn’t be run over with tourists. Spit out from the Contreras Reservoir that naturally separates La Mancha from the Comunitat Valenciana, the radio frequency suddenly switched to a CD, and soon the Eagles (could there be a more perfect band for a road trip?) were running through my stereo.

I calculated I had enough gas and my bladder could make it the 200 kilometers to San Juan. It was an easy jaunt on the A-3 until Tomelloso, where I’d hop onto the CM-42.

Maybe it was the Eagles or the long, flat, endless journey down the motorway, but I turned onto the wrong highway at Atalaya del Cañavate. As someone who uses landmarks to mark the way, the names of towns, echoing old battlegrounds and ruined castles, began to seem foreign. Stopping in Alamarcha, my phone confirmed what I’d suspected for several dozen kilometers: I’d gotten myself lost.

But the giants were calling, and I wasn’t too far off the path. Monty-nante roared back to life, I turned up the music and rolled down the windows. We set off, a girl and her horsepower, to slay giants. Or, take some pictures of windmills before lunch. The allusions end there for a bit, lo prometo.

Like our Quixotic hero, I blinked hard to make sure I was seeing what lay ahead. As soon as I’d gotten on the CM-420, the long, straight highways became curls around hills, between cherry and almond groves and without a soul or engine in sight. The brown patches of earth were immediately lush and covered in alfalfa, dewey from the previous day’s rain, and full of low, stout grapevines. I pulled over and turned off my GPS, happy to sit in near silence as Monty’s tires shifted effortlessly around curves. After all, this was as adventurous as my Holy Week travels would be.

“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!”

I began climbing a hill at what I believed to be halfway to San Juan. Just below the cusp, I saw the stationary arm of a giant – a set of windmills protect the town of Mota del Cuervo. We nudged our way towards them, standing in a solitary row of six or eight.

Windmills in Castilla

molinos at mota del cuervo, la mancha

Windmill landscape

The tourism office was closed and my car was the only one parked in the ample gravel lot. I had the giants to myself, and I practically squealed. Lately I’ve been feeling jaded as I travel in Spain, as if nothing else can ever impress me the way that laying eyes on the Alhambra or the Taj Mahal did; but feeling the wind whip by my ears as I looked across the scorched Manchego plain reminded me that, yes, there is still plenty of Spain to discover.

But I had to press on, to not let perception or kilometers or a low phone battery squash my dream of seeing Consuegra when I was this close. I drove right past San Juan and its beautiful windmills atop an olive tree grove crawling up the hillside. As soon as I’d crossed the A-4 highway some 40 kilometers later, the giants at Consuegra began to come into view, huddled around a castle.

windmills in my rearview mirror

The town itself was dusty and sleepy, as I’d expected. Streets had no names, rendering my GPS useless. Monty chugged slowly up the steep, barely-meter wide streets as old women swept street porches and clung to their door frames. Images of the old hidalgo became commonplace – bars named Chispa and La Panza de Sancho, souvenir shops touting wooden swords and images of windmills and an old warrior atop a barebones steed.

Rounding the final curve, a man waved his arms up and down, pleading me to stop and flagging me into a full parking lot. “It’s International Poetry Day,” he said, “and the molinos are closed to car traffic.” Closing my eyes and throwing the car into reverse, I consulted the day’s plan. After getting lost twice and being pulled over by a Guardia Civil, I had to make a decision: resign myself to hiking 500 meters up to the windmills as the clouds closed in ahead, or drive back down towards Andalucía for a winery tour in Valdepeñas.

I chose to buy a bottle of wine in the DO and call it a day. I had dreams and bucket list items to chase.

The windmills were barely visible, save a few solitary blades reaching over the rock face. After an entire morning searching for them, it was like they had stopped spinning, as if the proverbial wind had been blown out of my sails. And coupled with a bus full of tourists, they just didn’t have the wonder that the molinos and my moment of silence at Mota del Cuervo had.

Even the clouds overhead looked menacing and about to burst.

Panoramica molinos de Consuegra

Windmills at Consuegra

I hiked to the farthest point from the castle, to windmills bearing less common names and without selfie-stick toting tourists resting on the stoops. These windmills were decidedly less picturesque but somehow more authentic.

A View of Don Quixote's Giants

panorama of Don Quixote's windmills

Maybe it was a pipe dream to think I’d have the windmills all to myself for an hour of reflection. Maybe I thought they’d be bigger, like the giants I’d read about in high school. But like all things in the chronicle of the hidalgo, not everything is always as it seems. Feeling a bit dejected and pressed for time, I climbed back into Monty-nante, a true warrior after 1000 kilometers over four days, and took the autovía south.

“Take my advice and live for a long, long time. Because the maddest thing a man can do in this life is to let himself die.”

It’s been over a decade since I’ve studied abroad, and half a lifetime since we read an abridged version of Don Quixote junior year of high school. And it’s been just over four centuries since Miguel de Cervantes penned the closing chapter to a masterpiece that endures time and place.

Molinos de Consuegra

In high school, I remember thinking Don Quixote was a fool, a haggard old man with pájaros en la cabeza who should have listened to his trusted Sancho Panza. Feeling very much like a pícara myself at this moment, I had a car ride to reflect on things and my somewhat failed mission to fulfill a teenage dream.

After a few weeks that could very well change the Spain game, I couldn’t help thinking that the old man had a few things to remind me: about perspective, about the clarity in insanity and that failure is also a means to a happier ending.

EXHIBITION

Have you ever seen the windmills at Consuegra?

Filed Under: American in Spain, Books, Castilla-La Mancha, Cervantes, Daytrips Madrid, Driving in Spain, Featured, Miguel de Cervantes, photo post, Places with Encanto, reflections, Spain Travel, Spanish Language, Travel Stories, typical Spanish, Unexpected Places in Spain · Tagged: , ,

Things to Do in Madrid with Kids: the best activites for all ages

April 9, 2016 by · 3 Comments

Updated November 2025 – with kids in tow.

It’s no secret that Madrid is one of my favorite cities to visit – I love the energy, the options and the closest a Spanish city can come to my native Chicago. But it can get overwhelming as a capital city (and one of the largest in Europe!), and even more so for children. We chose to leave Madrid to head back to Seville in 2019, coinciding with the birth of our second son, but I truly love bringing my elementary school aged children to the Spanish capital often.Madrid Plaza Mayor

We love to check out what’s on during our frequent trips to Madrid, from new parks to temporary museum exhibits. And thanks to Spain’s attention to families, there is literally no shortage of things to do with kids in Madrid.

Where can I find ideas of what to do in Madrid with kids?

Start with Madrid’s official tourism page. You’ll find curated lists for family-friendly activities, ideas of what’s on and links to buy tickets. You can also drop by the tourism office in Plaza Mayor, a great place to visit in its own right.

 

Top things to do in Madrid for children up to 5 years old

Admire animals at the Madrid Zoo Aquarium (Casa del Campo. M: Casa del Campo, L5, L10)

This is not your ordinary zoo or aquarium, and your children will love to see animals roaming about without any chains or wiring. Conentiently located in Casa de Campo – a wonderful green lung not too far from the Royal Palace – the Zoo Aquarium is located within the city limits and on public transportation lines. The animals are mostly kept separate from the public by moats filled with water (and some that are not). There are more than 500 different species of animals who call the zoo home, including many animals native to the Iberian peninsula. The Zoo is making efforts at conservation to build populations of animals like the Iberian Lynx and Iberian Hawk.

  • Hours of operation: Weekdays 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., weeeknds until 7:00 p.m. Longer hours may apply seasonally and on local holidays.
  • Ticketing: At the ticket office, but far cheaper online and prices vary by day; Adults and children 8+ are 19,90€, kids 3-7 are 16,95€ children under 3 are free. Check online for promotions and discount days.

If you’re willing to go a bit further afield, you can also check out Faunia (Avenida de las Comunidades, 28, M: Valdebernardo, L9) in the Vicálvaro neighborhood to the south. This could be an option if your kids are various ages, and kids will pay by height but are comparable to the Zoo Aquarium.

Eat chocolate con churros at Chocolatería San Ginés (Pasadizo de San Ginés, 5. M: Sol (L!, L2, L3) or Ópera (L2)

best churros in Seville

What kid can say no to fried dough? San Ginés is a Madrid institution that is open around the clock and serves up golden,crispy churros to be dunked in warm, liquid chocolate. This is one of the few places to get both porras or churros, and the former is typical breakfast fare for a madrileño.

If you’re staying outside of the Gran Vía area, simply follow the smell to your nearest churrería to take away. You typically order by the number of units that you want, so it’s a good way to practice your números. You can also get San Ginés on food delivery apps, but where’s the fun in that?

  • Hours of operation: Open 24 hours
  • Cost: A ración (6 churros or 2 porras) will run you 5,20€.

Visit Ratoncito Perez’s house (Calle del Arenal, 8. M: Sol (L1, L2, L3 and Cercanías trains)

Book online and book early! The spots fill up fast – even on weekdays.

  • Hours of operation: Weekdays from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Weekends and holidays 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  • Cost: 7€ per person. Book via whatsapp.
  • Note: ages 3+

Explore Madrid’s sozens of parks and gardens

 

You’ll surely know El Retiro, Madrid’s mythical green lung in the neighborhood of the same name. Check out the hidden playgrounds and shaded spots for picnics, or grab a bench near the arifical lake for people-watching. But don’t stop there – small pockets of green can be found everywhere, and you’re sure to find a spot to sit and have a coffee or glass of wine while your kids run themselves ragged. (M:

My kids always make a stop a the recently renovated Plaza de España (M: Plaza de España, L3). Think rope swings, towers to climb and places to hide for an epic game of Hide and Seek. Another great space for families is Madrid Río, home to biking trails, a splash pad for summer visits and 17 playgrounds scattered along the 7km park and a weekend puppet show near the obelisque (M: Marqués de Vadillo, L5, or Puerta del Ángel, L6).

 

Top things to do in Madrid for kids ages 5-10

My kids (6 and 8 year old boys) are at the perfect age to enjoy Madrid: still small enough to enjoy parks and playgrounds but now mature enough for cultural exhibits and workshops at museums and cultural centers. We make it a point to visit something new every time we go to Madrid – and we still have endless ideas!

Visit the Natural Science Museum (Calle José Abascal, 2. M: Gregorio Marañón, L7 and L10)

Natural History Museum

A great destination for children and adults alike, given Spain’s long history. Kids are bound to enjoy all of the dinosaur fossils, while parents tend to take in the extinct animal specimens – there are 6,000! There are three separate zones to choose from and a plethora of activities that are geared specifically toward children. Parents can bring their little ones to educational workshops and have some free time to enjoy the remainder of the museum – we lived nearby when my eldest child was a toddler, and the museum was one of our favorite rainy day activities.

  • Hours of operation: Monday to Friday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Weekends and holidays, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
  • Cost: General admission is 7€, kids 4-16 are half price.
  • Note: Museum is closed Mondays. If you need another rainy day activity, the Museo Geominero is a 10-minute walk up Calle Rios Rosas.

Museo del Ferrocaril and Metro de Madrid museums

Anyone else’s kids obsessed with anything that moves? Exactly.

Touristic Train of Riotinto Huelva

Kids from 3+ will love the various museums sprinkled around the city that speak of Madrid’s railway prowess and its incredible subway system. Start at the Museo del Ferrocaril (Paseo de las Delicias, 61. M: Delicias, L3,  or Palos de la Frontera, L3). There’s a small museum, but the true highlight is the covered Delicias station, home to half a dozen locomotives that speak to Spain’s rail history. Kids can climb aboard a few of them!

  • Hours of operation: Times vary by season. From October to May, the museum is open weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m, and Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. In the summer, daily from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
  • Cost: In situ or online. 7€ adults, 4€ for kids; under 3 are free.
  • Pro tip: If you visit the Mercado de Motores artisan market on the second Sunday of the month, you can enter the train pavillion at the Ferrocarril Museum for free!

The Metro de Madrid also hosts a few small museums, and they’re a treat – and free! Check out the Pácifico (L1) engine shed to see old trains or marvel at its modernist lobby, take a guided tour of the “ghost” station of Chamberí (must reserve in advance; My: Iglessia, L1) or check out the Metro’s history museum in the Chamartín station (L1, L10). Kids can grab a Metro passport in any of the aforementioned stations and mark off the sites as they go before getting a reward, redeemable at the Ópera, Sol or Plaza de Castilla Metro Stores.

Museo Nacional de Arqueología (Calle de Serrano, 13. M: Colón, L4, Retiro, L2 or Serrano, L4)

Trace the history of humanity and civilization over three floors at Spain’s recently renovated National Archaeology Museum. My 3rd grade spent three hours exploring the expansive museum, home to some of Spain’s most treasured artifacts. My six year old enjoyed the hominids, mummies and a bag of potato chips at the museum café.

  • Hours of operation: Open Monday-Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
  • Cost: 3€ adults, free for children. You can buy right on site upon arrival or online.
  • Pro tip: check out the museum bookstore for historically-focused books and games for kids!

Mercado de la Cebada (Plaza de la Cebada, s/n. Metro: La Latina, L5).

Fruit stands at the Mercado de Triana food market

A staple of the La Latina area, this market is a delight for kids. Stalls hocking products from mundane to wacky as well as indoor eating areas make it a great stop for nibbles. There are always local kids running around the market or the playground right in front, and it’s one of my preferred alternatives to the touristy Mercado de San Miguel.

  • Hours of operation: Open Monday-Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
  • Cost: only what you consume.

Circo Price (Ronda de Atocha, 35. M: Embajadores, L3, or Atocha, L1 and all Cercanías lines)

Forget the animal circuses: Circo Price is the long-runnign favorite of madrileños, bringing acrobatics to a small, intimate theatre experience. You can also catch classes and workshops here – perfect for literally everyone in your family.

For shows, prices and more, check their website.

Check out the programming at Cuarta Pared, Teatro Sanpol and other children’s theaters

Madrid’s multitude of children’s theaters provide a wonderful entertainment for the child who enjoys plays and musicals – and the city is famous for theatre. The shows are typically put on during weekend mornings and tickets cost far less than most adult activities. Teatro del Arte and La Escalera de Jacob also stage their own shows for children and you’ll have a wide range of magic shows, funny stories and puppet based performances to select from! You can find shows and workshops on Teatro a Teatro‘s interactive guide.

Bonus ideas: the observation deck at the Corte Inglés Gourmet Experience or the Torre de Moncloa, rotating exhibits at CaixaForum, visiting the endless cominc book and vintage stores in Malasaña.

 

Top things to do in Madrid for kids ages 10 and up (including the kid at heart!)

Parque Warner (Cercanías C-3 to Pinto and bus 413 to the park)

What’s a vacation without an amusement park? Parque Warner is a wonderful destination for the child who loves cartoons, as all of their favorite Looney Tunes characters will be roaming around and signing autographs. If your kid is more of daredevil type, they will have six different roller coasters to choose from. Water rides are available too, and of course, there are a multitude of gift shops. Theaters and workshops provide visitors with a number of different shows to choose from as well. The park is located 25 kilometers south of Madrid and package deals are the best way to save money.

  • Hours of operation: vary by season.
  • Cost: Always book online, when possible, as you can save up to 50%. General admission (140cm and up) is 61.90€, Junior (100-140cm) is 32,90€ and kids under 100cm tall are free.
  • Tip: check local discount sites as well as PW’s web for deals and discounts. If you’re coming from out of town, there are stellar deals on accommodations and food if you book.

Check out the entertainment options at Xanadu Mall (Autovía A-5, salida 22, Arroyomolinos)

If you’ve got a car or are willing to go a bit out of your way, the Xanadu mall boasts tons of things to keep older kids busy. Think a small skill hill, endless Spanish fashion brands, food court, a bowling alley and even a small aquarium. Xanadu is about 25 minutes south of Madrid on the A5 highway.

  • Hours of operation:
  • Cost: varies depending on your activities.

OXO Videogame Museum (Plaza del Callao, Postigo de San Martín, 8. M: Callao, L3 and L5)

My kids moved from moving things (and their bodies) to being video game crazed really quickly. I’m excited to take them to OXO, a video game museum/arcade right off Gran Vía. From old school machines that we played in pizza parlors back in the 90s to endless Legos and temporary exhibits and workshops, I’m sure I won’t be able to get them out.

  • Hours of operation: Open daily from  11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
  • Cost: General admission is 21€, kids 5-13 are 16€, and family packs (2 adults + 2 kids) are 17.50€ a person. Prior reservation recommended.

Alternately, you could consider board game cafés like La Manuela in Malasaña (C/ San Vicente Ferrer, 29) or Replay Boardgame Café (C/ de la Ribera de Curtidores, 26, Local 3).

Walk in the footsteps of Real Madrid giants at the Santiago Bernabeu Tour (entrance is at Calle Concha Espina, s/n, M: Santiago Bernabeu, L10)

attending a spanish soccer match real betis

Football fans – madrista or not – will enjoy the recently renovated Santiago Bernabeu stadium tour, home to Madrid Fútbol Club. You’ll see spaces where Spanish soccer legends have trained, learn about the history of one of Spain’s most successful clubs and view the endless accolades. It can’t be missed for fans!

  • Hours of operation:
  • Cost: From 35€ online. You can also bundle experiences, like a guided tour or a game.
  • Tip: Do check online for game days, as some areas of the tour may be off-limits to visitors.

I, personally, enjoyed seeing Taylor Swift at Bernabeu but will stick to my hometown arena in Seville!

Take selfies at IKONO space (Calle de Sánchez Bustillo, 7. M: Estación del Arte, L1) or Sweet Space (Calle de Serrano, 61. M: Núñez de Balboa, L5, L9 or Rubén Darío, L5)

Your selfie-loving teen will have a blast at these spaces, designed for photos and goofing off.

IKONO:

  • Hours of Operation: Daily from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
  • Cost: from 15€ and more expensive on the weekend. Get your tickets online.

Sweet Space

  • Hours of Operation: Daily from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
  • Cost: from 15€ and up for adults, 12€ for kids 4-12. Free for children up to 3. Get tickets here.
 

Where to eat with kids in Madrid: some of our favorite places

food offerings at mercado lonja del barranco sevilla

My kids know that going to Madrid to visit family means plenty of eating out, and they often get to choose where. Madrid has every cuisine you can imagine, plus plenty fo fast food options. If your kids are adventurous, you can really go nuts here: grilled pig ear, squid sandwiches or sheep brain. Or, stick to tortilla, croquetas and montaditos de lomo, because hangry kids are grumpy travelers.

  • VIPS is always a big hit because their menu is extensive and rotates – it almost feels like a sleeker American diner. Apart from standard fare like burgers and sandwiches, you can usually get a half slab of ribs before a stack of pancakes or milkshake. Some VIPS also have a small kid’s corner with some games, and they pass out crayons and some coloring papers with the kids menu. Service can be slow and I find most VIPS to be dead zones for cell signal, so don’t expect to park the kids in front of a screen here. Closet to the center is at Puerta del Sol 3, or Calle Alcalá, 23, but you can find them around the city.
  • Bar Loreto (Calle Hartzenbush, M: San Bernardo, L2, or Quevedo, L1, L4) is a frequent stop, too, as it’s within walking distance of our home base in Malasaña. While it’s not extremely kid friendly, it’s on a quiet street off of Fuencarral, and each drink comes with a montruous plate of food. They serve a lot of kid-friendly bites, and their menú del día is heaping and cheap.
  • My kids are big croquetas fans, and Bodegas Rosell (Atocha / Estación del Arte, L1, or Palos de La Frontera, L3) is right around the corner from Uncle Alvarito’s house and the Puerta de Atocha train station. They’re famous for their croquetas, so don’t skip it if you’ve got a train right around lunch or dinner time!

Don’t skip plaza life, either! One of Spain’s national treasures is the park-bar combo. Local families snag a table at an outdoor eatery near a playground so that kids are entertained and parents can actually eat their food warm. We pop down to Plaza Dos de Mayo (M: Fuencarral, L1 and L10) and camp out at Madriz for some apertivos, but there are two pizza places anchoring the expansive square, as well as a few other places to nip in for a bite. Come early – these are prime real estate! Other ideas are Plaza de Olavide (M: Iglesia, L1), where restaurants ring a spacious plaza with fountains and playgrounds, or Plaza de Santa Ana (M: Sol, L1, L2, L3 and Cercanías trains) near Puerta del Sol.

Five Things to do in

What do you do with kids in Madrid?

If you liked this post, you can consider purchasing it on GPSMyCity, a GPS-enabled tour guide that’s available offline. Your euros go right back to helping this site stay up and running! I’ve also got a post on what to do with kids in Seville.

Filed Under: Daytrips Madrid, Habla de Tu Ciudad y Vive de Ella, Madrid, Things to do in Madrid · Tagged:

On Pessoa, Portuguese Cuisine and Hidden Tastes: a Food Tour with Taste of Lisboa

April 5, 2016 by · 7 Comments

The prolific Portuguese philosopher and writer Fernando Pessoa had no less than 80 heteronyms, facets of his personality re-imagined as thinkers and poets in his most notable works. And from his home in Campo de Ourique, where he lived on the last decade-and-a-half of his life, he explored the many sides of human life.

lisbon poets

And for someone who knew very little of Portuguese food outside of pasteis de Belem and mil manheras of serving cod, a historical food tour with Taste of Lisboa introduced me not only to Pessoa and his neighborhood, but of the multi-faceted nature of Portuguese cuisine from the very district where food trends are born.

Warning: no bachalau or custard tarts were consumed on this tour.

Climbing the historic Tram 28’s route that snakes through Graça, Alfama, Chaido and Estrela, we left Tourist Lisbon on six of the city’s seven hills and climbed higher on Colina Saõ Roque towards Campo de Ourique and the Prazeres Cemetery. Aptly named the Cemetery of Pleasures, our three-hour tour would begin here and wind us around to taste some of Lisbon’s most pleasurable treats.

Historic Tram 28 Lisbon

Lisbon and I have had a complicated relationship since 2007, when I struggled to understand the city’s vibe, its colorful history and why everyone seemed to love it so much. My country list then could be counted on two hands, and I had yet to learn how to be a savvy traveler. This meant far too many pastries and far too much money spent at mediocre touristic restaurants near Baixa. A second trip in 2011 was plagued by rain and that too-long-to-look-up-its-name volcanic eruption. Tiled homes, an empty hillside castle and Sagres imperiales were my biggest takeaways from Spain’s westernly neighbor.

Campo de Ourique was sleepy on a Tuesday morning as shops opened a few minutes past the hour and locals crowded into cafes for an espresso to accompany their flaky pastries. We got off a stop too early, giving us time to wander the parish’s main thoroughfares before meeting Filipa, a Lisboner and lifelong foodie who began Taste of Lisboa two years ago.

portuguese tiles

Like all food tours, there is an exchange of pleasantries. Where are you from? How did you hear about the tour? Oh, you blog and we have friends in common? I’d been told of the friendliness of the Portuguese, and with a wink and a few jabs at Spanish cuisine and culture, Filipa became a foodie friend.

The location for a food tour was no accident, though we’d picked it for its minimal walking – Campo de Ourique, a historically upper-middle class district considered a city within a city, bustles with concept restaurants, budding chefs and a part-market, part-international food haven sat squarely in the middle. From the start, I was surprised to find that cod had been left (mostly) off of the menu, anda sweet treat was up first.

“Unlike the Spaniards, we are quite humble when it comes to our cuisine,” Filipa stated, looking squarely at me. “But this is not something we claim for our sweets. Our chocolate cake is the best in the world.”

Where to find the best chocolate cake in Lisbon

The small pastry shop, imaginatively named O Melhor Bolo de Chocolate do Mundo, had just two round tables and eight chairs for our group of 11. I am one of those foodie anomalies – gasp! I don’t like chocolate! – but as the creator of the world’s best chocolate cake, Carlos Braz Lopes, turned up in the shop, I eagerly shoveled it into my mouth.

With a espresso cup of port wine on the house, we toasted what could be the best slice of cake I’ve ever had, layered with bitter chocolate and meringue. Portuguese custard and egg sweets may be known worldwide, but I was astonished at the complexity of a simple cake made from six ingredients that had been created by a former businessman with a killer sweet tooth (psst! There’s a shop in Madrid!).

Enjoying a food tour in Lisbon

Just across the street is the newly remodeled Mercado de Campo de Ourique, a fusion of traditional Portuguese cookery and fare with a fish and vegetable market. Tile-lined food stalls ring the perimeter, with high tables and stools occupying the center, much like Madrid’s Mercado de San Miguel. For someone who shops in a market regularly, I was drawn to the food more than the googly-eyed fish near the entrance.

Filipa brought us right to the salads stand. As Catholics and a people whose history is rich with seafaring explorers and far-flung colonies, Portuguese food combines ingredients from all over the world, making Spanish stews and legumes seem rudimentary and almost convoluted. Even the octopus salad I ordered brought out new flavors from one of my go-to summer dishes, flavored with a touch of cilantro and sweet red pepper instead of tomatoes.

marinated octopus salad

We ordered several dishes, all with a legume and fish base, like black eyed peas with flaky cod and tuna. As the food cooked, we sampled fried pork skin laced with black pepper, leitão à bairrada, and learned the origin of convent sweets – an abundance of eggs and flour plus sugar-hungry, bored nuns.

Perhaps the biggest surprise were the peixinhos da horta, or the small fish of the garden, green beans fried in tempura, another Portuguese invention born out of the Lenten tradition to abstain from meat. Tempura itself was created here, though perfected in Asia.

Portuguese craft beer

Mussels were next on the list, and Filipa led us to a concept bar where there’s little else on the menu but the clams and craft beer. Like Spain’s recent craft beer explosion, small batch breweries are elbowing into Sagres’s cornered market while producing not only great flavors but sexy marketing and names that poke fun at gluttony and excess.

Mussels (Moules) in Lisbon

And then there were the mussels themselves, cooked in butter and full cloves of garlic and seasoned with cilantro and a bit of lemon. Normally one to pass up the mollusks in favor of altramuces or boiled shrimp at a cervecería, I bravely took the first two bites to remind my family that half the fun of traveling is trying new foods.

The buttery flavor against the salty squish of the orange flesh added a different dimension to the mejillones I’d tried and quickly dismissed in my early days in Spain. I dug in to the brimming buckets, happy as a clam (pun intended) to have some time to visit with the other two American families who had joined us. The three young girls between them – no older than 12 – were pulling apart the had, shiny shells and slurping the mollusks down between sips of water.

Pessoa was a man of fine wine and ginjha, a cherry liquor served in nondescript, closet-sized bars. A Brasileira, the Cafe Irún to Pessoa’s Hemingway, is one of Lisbon’s oldest and most beloved cafes, and Pessoa is rumored to have sipped bica, espresso with sugar, and absinthe here with the occasional wine.

“Life is good, but wine is better,” he said of his love of the drink.

Foodie Experiences in Lisbon

I’ve long enjoyed port wine and the vinhos verdes, or young wines, cultivated in the Minho province. Filipa took us next to taste different wines from the country’s 2700 hectares of vineyards. In true neighborhood shop fashion, locals can bring their own bottles or wine glasses, try a few varieties, and then bottle up and take home their favorites.

Paired with a strong cheese and quince paste, even my mother enjoyed them.

cod fritter and naughty rice in Lisbon

The next stop had us in front of Pessoa’s last residence, right in the heart of Campo de Ourique. Crumbling buildings covered in tiles sandwiched the small museum, housed in an apartment complex, and its award-winning restaurant, which served us cod fritters (they were, sadly, forgettable, so excuse the claim that I ate no cod on the tour) and a creamy rice with another glass of wine.

Having consumed several dishes by this point and being in the very place where Pessoa’s landmark book, Disquiet, was found after his death, I had a completely different perception of Portuguese food and its intricacies. Like a human being, its relationships as much as its evolution and environment make it what it is, and different situations call for a multitude of adaptations.

Portugal’s tangled history is perhaps the cuisine’s biggest element, but there is much more than meets the eye – and stomach, for that matter.

spongecake Lisboa style

Campo de Ourique had one more dish for us to try, this time in the city’s hospitality school and concept restaurant. Just as we’d started the day with sweets, we’d end with a spongecake, pão de lo, made with nothing more than yolks, flour and sugar.

Proving once more that I knew absolutely nothing about Portuguese food, my spoon sliced into the toasty top of the cake, cutting into a creamy, spongy substance that in no way resembled the sponge cake I’d made as a kid for summer picnics. I scraped the waxy paper holding it all together, eager for the last few sticky crumbs.

Fernando Pessoa once said, “I have no philosophy: I have senses.” And I think I just found mine when it comes to tastes and food prejudices. The tour was more than just a way to spend a few hours with my family and share my travel style with them (and making Christmas shopping a one-gift production).

Lisbon and I had finally found a common ground: good food.

Taste of Lisboa Food Tours

I paid my own way on the Taste of Lisboa Food Tour; all opinions are my own and do not reflect a collaboration between SandS and Taste of Lisboa or any of its affiliates. You can find out more about Filipa’s food tours and courses on Taste of Lisboa’s website.

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Filed Under: Europe, Featured, Food Tourism, gastronomy, international travel, Portugal, Sobremesa, Travel, Travel in Europe · Tagged: , ,