New Year in Madrid

Everyone raves about new year in Madrid - about the dropping of ball, eating grapes as part of countdown, popping champagne and the grand fireworks at Puerta de Sol. Year 2015 was a little different. There were no fireworks. So it was a little disappointing for us who came all the way from the hot summer Australia, and had to wait in the biting cold with no one counting down (because people were busy eating grapes as part of countdown) and it was a bad financial time in Spain with no expenditure in grand fireworks to welcome the new year. It does not feel right without fireworks. There were individuals who took the opportunity to light their mini (and probably illegal) fireworks instead. Explosive-like sound and smoke were made every now and then which was a little annoying. Then there were the mini fire flares which is pretty and nice. We could also hear Chinese style fire crackers. As we were heading back we caught a glimpse of fireworks from a distance and the sound kept going but we could not work out exactly where it was from.

If there are no fireworks, don't bother trying to get there unless you are able to be there much earlier to be at the centre of the events. Or go there with a party group and head to bars for drinks after. We were a tired couple who had too much of a walk of Madrid, Toledo and Segovia and knew no local friends or places for bar and food so the after party was definitely not high in our list. But overall it was still a nice experience, hanging out with the Spanish folks and foreigners who are hopping onto the grape and champagne tradition. We were offered some champagne by some strangers, so that was quite nice.