Melting in Madrid

We left Toledo for the drive to Madrid which was not very far, and curiously along a freeway where we barely saw any other cars. We arrived and parked the car in a car park near Plaza Mayor which was near where we staying. This car park was the stinger of the trip - 30 Euros a night (odd considering our hotel was 55 Euros a night). Anyway, we just wanted to dump the car nearby for a few nights so just sucked up the 90 Euros.

Churros and chocolate and coffee

After stopping for a coffee and some churros we then hauled our bags through the massive Plaza Mayor and made our way to our hotel which was right in the centre of everything. On the walk to the hotel we had seen a little bar nearby advertising "Vinos generoso". With our now near fluent Spanish we were able to translate that as "generous wines" which had our names written all over it. So we stopped by and Ryan ordered a beer while eagerly awaited one of the generous wines. The waiter then comes out with something slightly bigger than a shot glass of wine. I'm still not sure whether he was serious or not. Anyway I had to order 2, to accompany some garlic prawns! We continued to wander around and came across a place Ryan had read about that had 1 Euro bocadillos and 1 Euro drinks - kind of a Spanish fast food place but at those prices it was hard to resist!

All for 4 Euros!

After stopping by plaza Santa Ana when it was starting to get very hot, we then freshened up in the hotel for a bit before heading out to an area called La Latina which has a heap of tapas bars. Although it was a Sunday, this place was jumping with people filling up the tapas bars and spilling out on to the street. There were lots of pintxo bars (where the tapas are on display and you help yourself). We stopped in at a couple but then sat down in one which we found on trip advisor which was a bit more fancy, and had some yummy sliders (mini burgers) and some sort of mixed tapas with prawns and different meats. So tender, yum!

Royal Palace

The next morning we went and had a coffee at mercado de San Miguel, a market place (mainly full of tourists) but with lots of little stands selling different foods and tapas that you can eat there or buy to take home. It was pretty early and quiet so we just had a coffee and a mini hot dog/bocadillo thing, then headed to the Royal Palace nearby, a beautiful building in a massive square. Madrid has some really grand and beautiful architecture.

Ryan waiting to order surrounded by his favourite meat

By this time it was starting to heat up. This time of year in Madrid is very hot - the mornings are pleasant (low-mid 20s) but by 2pm it's a stinking 37 degrees or so and stays that way until around 9pm. The whole shutting down shop and siesta-ing is a completely valid idea. So we went back to the mercado de San Miguel for a snack (some oysters and truffle arancini balls) and a wine, then stopped in at Musee del Jamon, a tapas bar just downstairs from our hotel which has a million legs of jamon hanging from the ceiling and dirt cheap tapas/food plates/drinks. We got 1 coffee, 1 wine, 1 beer and a little plate of food for just over 3 Euros!

Ryan eagerly awaiting the suckling pig at Botin

We then retreated to the safety of the air-con in the hotel for a couple of hours or so until we were ready to head out to dinner at Botin, the world's oldest restaurant which has been running since 1725! It's a bit touristy, but hey we had to do it and apparently the food is good. They were right - we ordered a few of their specialty dishes including the suckling pig, and they were all divine!

Plaza de Cibeles by day

The next day we got up fairly late, and stopped for a coffee and some brekky before heading down to a big park area, then attempted to go to one of Madrid's many famous art galleries. We had picked Musee Reina Sofia because it had more contemporary art, but once we got there we discovered it shut. Dang, we'd forgotten to look that up before, but I remembered that the Louvre was shut on Tuesdays too. Well there goes our attempt at getting some culture in Madrid. It was already fairly hot by this stage, so we had a fairly lazy afternoon, bought a Spanish soccer jersey which we have both agreed to share, and then just chilled in the hotel for the rest of the stinking hot arvo.

Plaza de Cibeles by night

Later that evening we had arranged to meet up with Beverly, my good friend's sister who has been living in Madrid for a few years, so we met her outside her work and then went to a swish little tapas bar not far away for a drink and a chat. It was really interesting hearing a bit about some of the strange ways Spain functions! And surprising to hear how hard Spanish professionals work - a 12 hour day is pretty normal! We stuck around afterwards for some tapas which was pretty yum, including our best tortilla of the trip. Then on the way home stopped in for a night cap at a bar showing the Olympics, which we have been watching a fair bit of each evening now if we can!

The next morning it was check out time, so we dumped our bags back in the car in the expensive car park, and had some churros and chocolate and coffee at San Gimes, the oldest churreria in Madrid, before making the drive to one of my favourite towns, San Sebastian.


And yes, I have put on like 5 kilos.