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Celebrating the Festival of San Isidro
The crowd was much larger but this was an impromptu celebration, despite the pouring rain. "Barguiarena, have you heard the name before?" I asked Marcell from Barcelona as we were smoking shish-a at our hostel in Marrakech. It's a question I like to ask every Spaniard I meet, which unfortunately isn't often enough. "Ah si, suena como nombre de Basque, no?" (Ah yes, that is from the Basque region, no?) Marcell replied. This has been confirmed by at least half a dozen travelers from Spain, our family name is from the northern Basque region. I'm ashamed to admit I have yet to visit that part of the country. Third times the charm I guess, I'll make it a priority next time I am there.I left Lisbon Tuesday afternoon to meet up with a buddy in Madrid where we were going to spend a night before we headed over to Morocco. David had never been to Spain and given our flight schedules we were able to enjoy one night in the city before we headed south. It's funny how difficult it becomes to sync up with someone when we don't have access to cell phones. My flight arrived 90 minutes after David's so we were going to meet at my baggage claim, unfortunately we wound up in
Pulpo
TAPAS!
Pulpo, or octopus, tapas and the most amazing Sangria ever. Dinner was super pricey though so we only had two dishes. different terminals so after 90 minutes of roaming the airport I ended up catching a bus into Madrid. Luckily he ended up being the first person I saw when I walked into our hotel. It was dinner time by the time we synced up so we dropped our bags in the room and headed right out. With the help of Foursquare I found a "trending" restaurant near our hotel. Ten con Ten was bustling with locals as we walked in, the bar was packed but we were able to find a table in the dining area. Tapas and sangria were on our mind so we tried some risotto and a crazy octopus dish, the food was good but I'd had better. But the sangria, oh my, the sangria was incredible. I'd go back to that place for a jar anytime. It was raining by the time we headed out so we caught a cab to the Mercado de San Miguel, conveniently located right next to one of my favorite places in all of Spain, Plaza Mayor! Unsurprisingly, David was still hungry after dinner so upon entering the market he caught the first jamon stand we saw and picked up a
Menacing Fish
Not sure what this was or even how to eat it. tray. Not quite my thing but I gave it a shot at least, Dave devoured most of it and after a half-kidding suggestion by me, put the rest in a napkin and stuffed it in his pocket (this proved to come in handy later). It was pouring by the time we got out of the market but the bars were fairly packed. After stopping in for a few drinks we walked around the covered perimeter of the square and happened to come across what appeared to be a marching band warming up. I wasn't sure what was going on but I'm not one to turn down a chance to hear live music so we stopped by the nearest bar and picked up a few beers to enjoy outside. Just as we walked back a circle started to form and the band got going. Honestly, at first, it didn't sound very good. But something amazing happened after the second or third song. A few older couples showed up and started dancing a little bit, not too much at first but as the band started to find their groove you could see the enthusiasm ramping up. There was one older gentleman in
Jamon Serrano
Wasn't very tasty to me but they took each of these and sliced thin pieces off in a tray. particular that really stood out, he wore a bright red sweater with a full head of gleaming white hair, he must have been at least 70. A dressed down, Spanish version of the Dos Equis guy.About four or five songs into the impromptu set they started to play what sounded like nationalistic songs, the crowd chanted a few words as the band jammed on. My new role-model-in-life began to get very animated as the songs went on, singing with his hands as much as his voice. His wife wasn't quite as enthusiastic but she soldiered on with him as he spun her around several times. It was entrancing to see this older gentleman get such sheer joy out of the music, and he was a damn fine dancer as well. He epitomized everything I love about Spain, the passion and pure love of life that the Spanish culture is so well known for. It was midnight and the circle grew larger, the crowd got drunker, and a few random musicians showed up so the music got louder.We hung around for another hour, the bars started closing but the music kept on going and no one was leaving. A random guy
Sherry Casks
Only 2.50 euro for a 4 oz pour of amazing cask sherry. The cream flavored was by far my favorite, I would have bought a bottle had they let me. approached us selling beer in cans for only a euro so we promptly picked up an additional five to share between the two of us. I finally worked up the courage to ask two Spanish girls standing behind us what was going on. It was apparent this wasn't a normal celebration, it was raucous, even by Madrid standards. "Manana es el Festival de San Isidro!!" (tomorrow is the festival of San Isidro), she replied. What fortuitous timing! The celebration got crazier and there were even synchronized movements amongst the whole crowd, which we naturally took part in. It went something like this: as a trumpet solo finished a solo the whole crowd went down to the floor, squatting in a sense, and then the drummer took over, slowly tapping at first and as he got faster the crowd slowly started rising. It culminated in a loud cheer, arms in the air, then the whole band joined and everyone jumped up and down. Incredible, amazing, so fortunate to get to join in on the experience. If I could bottle up the essence of Spain, this was it, no question. Once the beers were done we started to make our way to
the hotel, despite the fact the band was still playing. We had a flight to catch in 6 hours. Next stop, Marrakech, Morroco.
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David
non-member comment
What a treat
Always a pleasure to venture the other worldly lands with such an worldly gentleman Eddie B.