I absolutely loved Madrid! Granted, we didn't see too much of the city in the daytime, but the nightlife is great, and the food is relatively cheap (but really, anything compared to the south of France is going to seem cheap).
We drank at a Sangria bar that only served authentic Spanish Sangria that had a little brandy in it- just enough to make it nice and warm and sweet. Plus, this Sangria only cost 10 euro per pitcher (not like that rip off in Barcelona!). We ate at a really great tapas bar, El Tigre, where you go up and order a beer for 3 euro and then they bring you all your food for free! Tapas is the Spanish cuisine that is kind of like eating a bunch of appetizers for your meal. They are all small finger-foods like a piece of baguette with sausage, ham, cheese, vegetables, Spanish tortilla, anything at all. And they are so good! So we all got a beer and the guy brought out about 8 plates full of tapas! It was definitely a good experience.
I just really enjoyed the culture of the city. Even though it is the capital, I felt like it was more authentic "Spanis" than Barcelona. Nothing felt staged, and the city felt safer than in Barcelona, although once we got back we heard about the kidnapping and death of a 6'5" American guy, so I guess the city is just as dangerous as any other big city.
Our hostel was really fun. It was the first one that we have stayed in where they really set it up for the common areas and so you meet people from all over the world. On Saturday night the kitchen (the main common area) had about 30 people in it. Everyone was cooking, or drinking, or just hanging out. We had Italians, Germans, Americans, Venezuelans, French, and Spanish all in one room. And between all of us, communication was not hard. It was a pretty funny night- some Spanish guy was cooking intense Spanish cuisine with his shirt off, the French guys were drinking rum mixed with brown sugar, the Americans were playing Euchre, and the Italians were walking around without shirts just to show how Italian they were. It was really fun and we all had a great time. I felt sorry for anyone that was actually trying to sleep in the hostel because it was impossible. We were all way too loud and there were just too many of us. But all in all it was a fantastic hostel for the environment and you couldn't get any closer to all the action in the city. We were right in the middle of it.
We went to one club in Madrid, Kapital, and it was really fun. A little Cancun-esque. Four floors with paid dancers on the stage and cool air shooting down in columns from the ceiling. It was really fun and the clubs don't close until... maybe 6am? I have no idea really, they seemed to just never close.
We met a ton of people and made a lot of friends that we are still in contact with and will possibly run into in our further travels in Europe! That would be crazy haha reunions already!
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