Eco(ol) friendly places in Madrid

During my visit in Madrid the weather magically turned warmer (15 degrees C) and sunnier! It was so lovely and the air seemed so clean, although my friends, who are now living there, told me that normally Madrid is a very polluted city. Didn't even notice it. I owe it to the fact that I was coming from Sofia.

And as part of my new category EcooLiving around the world, I visited some environment-friendly places that I would like to share with you in this post.

Actually, before going to Madrid, I marked out several eco(ol) friendly places I would like to visit and review, but thanks to the siesta hours, my timing was unfortunate. I would like to mention them at least, because their concept is very cool indeed.

While tracing down some places to visit for review on the blog, I found a super cool resource for environment friendly places around Europe, which I would love to share with you :

Good Goal - The sustainable guide

So be sure if you're into discovering new eco-friendly places or searching for original souvenirs, to take a look before visiting a new city.

So first of all, let me start with saying that people in Madrid are all about living the good life. Fancy and cozy bars and restaurants are all around the center and beyond and you can't find a place without reservations. Except for the multiple mercados where the food is already prepared and you can taste all kinds of it as well as fast food places for super nice burgers or traditional tacos. I don't even need to mention the party life, after all it's Spain we're talking about here.

And nevertheless, the atmosphere is inspiring, filled with artsy and innovative spirit, especially in the Chueca district.

The coffee shop

My friends in Madrid are so lucky - they can have the best stuffed wholegrain croissant with parmesan and prosciutto whenever they feel like it because the place is just around the corner - Religion Speciality Coffee.

From 100% recycled napkins to bamboo cutlery and water in cardboard bottles for takeaway, this place has amazing food, amazing coffee and is environment-friendly. Hits the bullseye if you ask me.

The grocery stores

My next encounter with an environmentally friendly place was Carrefour - the famous supermarket chain - but specialized for maniacs like me: only Bio products and thus, sustainable.

I can argue here a little bit about the sustainability of this place because even though there was the possibility to buy some products in bulk and biodegradable trash bags, some of the fruits and veggies were pre-packed in nylon which is not cool at all. But I guess that's why they call it bio and not zero-waste. Imagine how great it would be if massive grocery store chains start to implement zero-waste grocery stores? Hopefully in the near future.

But if we focus on now, another grocery store but that I didn't have the chance to visit and review for you guys is Pepita y Grano (wait for me next time). However, this is actually a zero-waste store where products can be purchased in bulk and is under the so-called concept "slow shop", which means that the products are from local farms. Also, a very nice thing about this store is that when you bring your own container you get a discount (for being so ecool). They are insisting on reducing plastic waste, while maintaining good product quality.

The local atmosphere

In the small streets of Madrid, especially in Chueca, you can run into some craft shops and beautiful art. They represent the so called slow fashion, where garments are created locally and offer only few pieces of one model, which make them unique.

Another thing about local atmosphere is the way of transport. People in Madrid have of course the possibility to rent bikes around the city, which are easily dropped off at various stations. The bikes are not electrical, though it may seem like it. I think further possibilities need to be created as a way of transport, for example electrical scooters (like the ones in Vienna, which I mention in a previous post).

Something really cute that caught my eye in the Retiro park were the benches with static wheels, allowing you to always feel on the move and exercise, even when you're taking a break from the walk.

So these were all the environment friendly places I could encounter during my visit in Madrid. As for my next time to Madrid, I'll discover some more and update them in this post.

Make sure to like or share this article if you think it was interesting! Also, feel free to comment if you have any additional observations about Madrid or any other ideas that could be a great fit for there or your home town :)