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Tapas
Hams, Cheese and Patata BravasMay 7, 2016
Much needed rest
On every trip there is that day that you just need to rest. Today was our day. We have been going pretty much non-stop since we got off the plane and it finally caught up to us. So, this morning we opted out of breakfast and opted in to sleep. In fact, we didn’t get out of bed until 11:30. This did require a bit of rearranging with the schedule, but we managed to do everything we wanted. With our much needed extra sleep, we were off to our first stop, lunch in Chueca, which also is the center of gay night life, they had a bar for everyone and I mean everyone. Chueca is also a somewhat trendy shopping area.
Lunch
The initial plan was to have lunch at either Cisne Azul (a spot noted for local mushrooms in all dishes) or Mercado de San Anton. We checked both of them out but neither really spoke to us. Cisne Azul would have been fine but it was very crowded and mostly locals and we didn’t feel like being obvious tourists in a local establishment. We then
Round Two
Ham Croquettes, Huevos Rotos walked through the Mercado it was similar to Mercado de San Miguel, but not nearly as well laid out and more international food and not traditional Spanish Tapas. They also had a roof top terrace restaurant but that was way to trendy for us. That lead to the first search for food walk of the trip. This use to be how we always found a place to eat, but as we age we tend to pick our places ahead of time.
It took us about an hour to find the right place, it was on a side street calle perez galdos. It didn’t look like much but the food was very good. It was called El 3 de Galdo’s not the most inventive name ever since its basically the address. The served everything from traditional tapas to paella. They also had other things I just can’t mention because they are just to American. No English what so ever was spoken by the staff, so we had to do our best to communicate. Fortunately ordering is pretty straight forward since we know most of those words and can point.
It was 3:00 by the time we finally ate and
we were pretty hungry. Lunch consisted of a variety of tapas: an assortment of Spanish cheeses, a trio of ibericos (jam), patatas bravas, jamon croquetas and Huevos rotos. This last dish needs to be explained. It was a layer of thick cut potatoes cooked to almost potato chip likeness but still with a bit of tenderness to them, these were then covered by eggs over easy and jamon. It was really good.
Dos Muesos
After lunch we took the metro to the Chamberi area of the city. This is a pretty upscale residential area and was very quiet. Located in the heart of the district is the house turned museum of Sorolla, perhaps the most famous Spanish impressionist painter. The museum was a combination of his art and how he lived. We could easily live in this house, if we had too. It was a small museum so only took about an hour to tour. This gave us time to make our way to one of the top 4 Madrid museums, Museo thyssen-Bornemisza. This museum/mansion contains one of the largest private collections of art ever donated to a museum.
I could attempt to explain everything
that we saw, but I think instead I will let the pictures and the following names give you an example: Rubens, Rembrandt, Renoir Monet, Manet, Rodin, Degas, van Gough, Dali, Pollack, Picasso and Matisse. The museum was very well laid out and very easy to get through. You could of course spend hours there, but 90 minutes really does the trick, especially since they give you a list of the big paintings to see and exactly where they are located. This is the only museum we did not have enough time for, since we had to come back to our room to get ready for our Flamenco show.
It was a short day, but still we crammed a lot in and made good use of our metro card since we were in three different sections of the city.
Flamenco
The last night of any city we are in is typically a big thing, we either go to a very nice dinner or try to do something that is very much of the culture. In Madrid we choose the cultural option. While Andalucía, the capital being Seville, is truly where Flamenco was born, it is the
Vincent van Gough
Les Vessenots in Auvers national dance of Spain, much like Paella the national dish. Now, I know many will disagree with that statement but when I think of Spain three things come to my mind, well maybe four 1) Flamenco, Siesta, paella and late nights. The last one really depends on the part of Spain you are in. While Flamenco may not have been born in Madrid, there are several Flamenco clubs and shows to choose from. I think we found one of the best. It was about a 5-minute walk from our hotel in the Plaza de Espana area.
The name of the club is Café de Chinitas, doesn’t sound very Spanish but the food and show inside truly are. You can do just the show and drinks, or dinner and the show. We choose dinner and show and went with the prix fix dinner, of which there are two options one is less expensive but only one choice, not that gazpacho, and paella are bad choices, but maybe not everyone wants to eat the same thing. We choose the second option which had two choices for a starter and two choices for your main, everyone gets the same thing for dessert.
For 67 euros a person you got three course a bottle of wine and water, and the show. Just the show is 36 a person.
It is important to make sure your waiter speaks English, unless of course you are fluent in Spanish, if not many food orders could go wrong. The menu was simple but for a dinner and a show establishment they did a very good job. I wouldn’t go there just to eat, but considering you also were entertained for 90 minutes it was perfectly fine. I usually go into detail of the menu, but here I don’t think it really deserves the blog space so will just rely on the pictures.
What does deserve a few comments in the Flamenco. Flamenco is much more than dancing, it is also the guitar style, singing and a very specific way of clapping. The dancers were outstanding. There were four females and one male dancer along with the rest of the performers. The women reminded me of the Movie “The Turning Point” with Ann Bancroft and Shirley McLain playing dancers one at the end the other at the beginning of their career. All of the dancers were
outstanding, but the younger two had more energy and were more enthusiastic in their performance. The older two, had seen their day in the sun and looked ready to be done. They were still very good, but their performance lacked the high energy of the two younger. Not to mention that is must be murder on their knees.
It was a very fun and we really enjoyed the show. It was a great way to spend the last night in Madrid. We still have a full day as our train does not leave until 9:50 pm, but we have to pack, get to the train station, etc. We do have one museum and our last meal in Madrid. I choose the place we are going for two reasons 1) paella the one thing we have yet to have and 2) Jerry’s B day. We were supposed to make this trip for his 50
th, but work and other things prevented that from happening. So May 8 is exactly 8 months after he turned 50, so better late than never.
Tomorrow’s blog will probably be a day late, unless there is Wi-Fi on the train.
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