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Published: June 10th 2010
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Well, we made it. After a stopover in Frankfurt for a Hermann’s sausage, we landed in Madrid at 7 PM local time. We took the metro with 3 connections to our hotel. Gigi kept noticing local fashion trends: we were planning on shorts, skirts and t-shirts, and the locals were wearing layers, sweaters and long pants. After we exited the metro we discovered why: it is 60 degrees and rainy here.
Our hotel is quite modern and has a good location, but we’re both adjusting to European hotel sizes. The room is about the size of our bedroom at home with a bathroom adjoining. Free mini bar includes a beer, some waters, and juices. Nice touch.
Wednesday night our goal was to get some tapas and cava and hit the hay to try to beat the jet lag. Chris used his various resources to figure out that Calle Baja was the place for tapas. We zeroed in on Casa Lucas, entered, and stood at the bar for a while. Chris ordered “dos copas de Cava” and also “un copa de mesa blanco” (house white wine). The proprietor brought us a couple of tapas that looked like pate. We settled
on a tapas that contained chorizo and egg and looked very good. 5 minutes later we were served a bowl of chilled soup with a loaf of bread.
Thursday we wanted to get out and see Madrid and the plan was to leave nice and early. We finally rolled out of bed at 11 am (4 am Chicago time). By 12 we were on our way to see the sights. Our first stops were the Plaza Mayor and the Puerta del Sol, where some demonstration was going on. On many of the streets we saw street performers, and the best one was the headless man who blew up a balloon. Had to take a video of that.
We then arrived at the Mercado de San Miguel where we ordered some tapas. There was a tuna salad with a roasted red pepper on top that Gigi thoroughly enjoyed. Also ham, but I’m leaving that out of the blog because basically everything in Spain contains ham. We made our way to the Catedral de la Almudena where we arrived at 2:00. The cathedral closed at 2:30, so we made like the Griswalds in the Louvre and raced through it.
We dodged the rain to find out the Royal Palace is closed until Monday, so it doesn’t look like we’re going to see it.
In the afternoon, we made our way to the Reina Sofia to see Picasso’s Guernica, and then to the Prado where we saw masterpieces by Rafael, Goya, and El Greco. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped for tapas: a chorizo sandwich and tortilla Espanola. Back to the Hotel Preciados for a siesta.
Tonight we had reservations at Sobrino del Botin, the world’s oldest restaurant. Luckily we got a table in the cave basement, and not the first floor where they seat the tourists. Must’ve been the broken Spanish we tried to mutter to the maitre d. We enjoyed two of their specialties: roast sucking pig and roast suckling lamb. If they had any other roast sucking animal you can be sure we would have ordered it. We also enjoyed a side of artichoke hearts with Iberico ham (of course). For dessert we shared La Torte Botin and San Isidro strawberries con crema. No ham on either dish, surprisingly.
We found our way back to the hotel without a map so we
feel pretty proud of ourselves. It’s 1:20 AM here and off to Segovia at 8:30 AM! Adios!
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Golden Jet
Ken Boehne
Nice pictures
Thanks for the nice pictures and the description of your travels. We really enjoy seeing what you are up to. Looks very interesting and lots of fun. Take care. Dad (Ken)