M Preciado

Delicious food, welcoming service and atmosphere. The Thai dumplings were good, but the standouts were the salmon sushi and the drunk noodles. Tasty Thai Ice tea is also recommended.

Great experience. Outstanding service, fantastic imaginative food tasting menu consists of 25 dishes. The waiter explains the ingredients, provenance, and preparation techniques for each dish. The presentation is beautiful and bespoke for each dish. Plan for about five hours.

Cannot visit Madrid without a picture of and with the iconic Oso y el Madrono monument. You can't miss it, it greets you as you enter Puerta del Sol. Still trying to figure what a madroso is, as it translates to strawberry tree.

What a trek! Walked up but you can take a bus or taxi as well. There are two walks you can take to get here. The first is a main walk along facing the ocean. This path could be slippery, very steep I strongly recommend only trying this in sneakers or very comfortable walking shoes, I saw people struggling in flip flops and sandals. Be cautious. The second path is accessible from the street behind the Roman ruins. It is a windy path up a paved road, steep too, but more walk friendly. This is the path we took up. Once you get to the playground you can cut through the mountain via a trail on the mountain side.

Our first major site in Madrid, touristy? Sure. Hot? Yes. Crowded? Absolutely. But large enough were you can secure a space to people watch. A must visit. Take your photo at the bear and madrono statue, the official symbol of Madrid, and stand in the middle of Kilometro Cero, which is the starting point for 6 major Spanish highways. The lack of shade and seating gives the feel that they don't want a lot of loitering here and would rather move the people into the connecting streets that offer food, shopping, shade etc.