travels with toby

As most people know, I spent my junior year of college in Madrid so we always build in several days to visit this wondrous city when we travel to Spain. It was during my year in Madrid when it captured my heart and why I always return. We began our latest adventure last month in Madrid staying in the center near the Santo Domingo metro station, just steps away from our hotel.

I only had my walk down memory lane planned for our first couple of days in Madrid(see my first post about our trip to Spain for a fun story at the end) and had a few other ideas for things to see and do, places to eat. One thing on the list was to try a new churros place and we did that our first morning. San Ginés is great too but it’s so popular that there are usually long lines. Instead we went to Churrería Chocolatería 1902 where a woman next to us struck up a conversation after she heard us speaking English. She told us she had been living in Washington state for 20 years and they come back once a year to visit their daughters who still live in Spain. She reminded us to be bold and speak up when we want the bill. She was such a nice woman! The churros and chocolate were delicious.

Another on our list of places to eat was to do a tapas crawl, except we’re not big eaters so going to only a couple tapas places at a time was more our style. Our second night we ventured to Cava Baja where there are many bars and restaurants. One place I wanted to try was Taberna La Concha. According to James Blick’s YouTube channel, you should try their vermut. They have their own special formula that James describes in the linked video and it was indeed delicious. I was so proud of myself because when we arrived the place was packed which usually hinders me but we were bold and in we went! It’s not very big but the bartenders are great at making eye contact and greeting the customers. So we squeezed into the crowd, waited for some room at the bar and had a lovely vermut with a tapa of ensaladilla rusa(potato salad), yum! I had several vermuts during the trip and really enjoyed them.

Next we went to Casa Lucio where I wanted to try their huevos rotos but they were very busy so the service wasn’t great and the food was actually a bit too much. Next time I think I’d like to visit that place in the early afternoon instead of the evening. And try some other food.

By this time we were ready to call it a night and started heading back to the hotel. As we approached Plaza Mayor we could hear live music so we went to check it out and wow! It was an orchestra playing Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol. It was super! We had seen the orchestra setting up when we passed through earlier in the day so how nice that we got to see and hear them play. Yet another magical moment from this trip.

We happened to be in Madrid during the San Isidro festivities and there was a lot happening including a women’s race(and the concert we caught the end of). We saw all kinds of women wearing pink shirts that were part of the race. Some of them joined us at the Faro de Moncloa where after going up an elevator you have a near 360 degree view of Madrid. There are maps that point out main sites. The views were spectacular! I especially liked seeing the University where I attended classes all those years ago.

We always go to the “corner bar” near Hotel Preciados. It’s a Galician place called O’Faro Finesterre and it’s where we had our first plate of boquerones en vinagre (anchovies in vinegar) this trip. Hubby also ordered his first plate of large shrimp. He enjoys peeling them and eating them. I’m not that big of a fan. While we were there a group of couples were in what I assume was regional dress and they were all dancing across the street. I hurried over there to try to photograph them dancing but I was too late. They did walk by our table so I got another chance to photograph them. I didn’t get the best photos but you get the idea. So fun!

We went to the Templo de Debod our last night in Madrid before going to Granada and strolled through Plaza de España too. Templo de Debod is a Nubian temple donated by Egypt to Spain in 1968 because Spain participated in the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia. You can read more about it at the link but the campaign was to make room for the Aswan Dam in Egypt. I had read this is a good spot to view the sunset and we did have a very nice sunset! Complete with a very talented musician entertaining the crowd. He was playing guitar but he also had a machine that was accompanying him. He had a huge crowd around him and people were dancing and having a great time. I’m so glad we walked over there. We took the metro back to our hotel even though it was just one stop. We walked so much that day, we did not want to walk all the way back to the hotel. In the Plaza de España metro parts of the book Don Quijote are on the metro walls. I managed to take a couple of photos before the doors closed.

One other special meal was at Botín, the oldest restaurant in the world. Yea, it’s very touristy but the food is great and service is impeccable. I decided this would be a great spot to celebrate my birthday. I had the lamb and hubby had the roast suckling pig, both were delicious. We ordered sauteed mushrooms and the house wine. For dessert I had the crema catelana. It was delicious!! I think that was my favorite dessert of the trip.

Taberna La Fragua de Vulcano was very close to our second hotel our last three nights in Madrid and I was craving another ensalada mixta. Since they had that on their menu and it gets great reviews we went there and that salad was fabulous! They also gave us a free tapa that wasn’t potato chips and it was delicious. Hubby noticed a painting on the wall in the bar area of La Fragua de Vulcano. The story is Apollo coming to Vulcan’s workshop to tell him that his wife was having an affair. But here’s the fun thing: while at the Prado the next day we saw that painting by Velázquez! Neither of us had any idea about that painting and we just happened to pick this place to eat because it was convenient. We went back the next evening too and sat by a lovely British couple who struck up a conversation with us. They gave us another free tapa that wasn’t potato chips. Wonderful little place! But we never did get a photo of the famous painting. Click the link above to see the painting.

Here are a few more photos from Madrid that didn’t fit into one of the previous galleries. These are mostly from our last three days in Madrid

Overall we had a great time in Madrid even if we split up our 6 nights there. Many new and wonderful memories were made and some great food eaten and enjoyed. I am missing it already…..

Stay tuned for more from Spain! Next up: Granada scenes.