Madrid

2 weeks after our trip to Crete, we were headed Madrid.  We were looking forward to this trip, not only because neither of us had been to Madrid, but because we were going with 6 other people.  4 from Malta and 4 from London.  Long before I came into the picture, Mic was part of a group of guys known as the 4 musketeers.   They were Mic, Peter, Barrie and Andrew.  I know, and am quite fond of Peter and Barrie.  Andrew moved back to London before I knew them, but I had met him once and  really liked him as well.  Andrew would be accompanied by 3 girls, Charis, Safa and Gisselle, whom I had never met.  As much as I was looking forward to it, I was also hoping it didn't turn into a disaster.   It can be hard enough traveling with one person if you don't want to do the same things; 8 different people could be a nightmare!  It turns out, I had nothing to worry about because the whole group was awesome!  I now have 4 new friends in London who I look forward to seeing again very soon. We were quite the international group of friends, representing Denmark, USA, Austria, Brazil and the UK. 

I don't know what it is, but we seem to have caught very early morning flights lately.  This one had us leaving our house at 0440 AM.  A time I'm more likely to be going to bed then walking out the door, but all 4 of us made it.   One good thing about leaving so early, we arrived in Madrid just in time for lunch.  The London group would be arriving at midnight.  The 8 of us were staying in 3 different hotels about 15 min apart.  Mic, Peter and I were in the middle, which was nice.  We dropped Barrie off first, then agreed to meet at our hotel in 30 min.  Our hotel turned out to be on a main shopping street, with lots of bars, restaurants and major department stores.  I was really surprised at the number of American food chains.  There was a Taco Bell just down the street, TGI Fridays next door and Starbucks/Dunkin donuts across the way.  I'm used to seeing McDonalds and Burger King everywhere, even Starbucks in bigger cities, but Taco Bell and TGI Fridays?  Not so much. 

 

Of course our first meal had to be more traditional, so we opted for a tapas joint near by.  One thing about Madrid that struck us all as strange; no one spoke English.  The menus, for the most part, were only in Spanish.  Mind you, I would totally expect that in smaller cities, but a major tourist city like Madrid, not so much.  So lunch was the first of many culinary adventures, where between all our random Spanish words, we tried to figure out what to eat.  We lucked out this time, they had pictures.  After thoroughly stuffing ourselves we went for a walk about, to check out the surroundings.  We all agreed, though lacking in charm or any specific architectural style, we loved the vibe of the city and the people seemed quite friendly, even if we couldn't understand them.  After walking a few blocks, we decided ice cream was in order.  We found a shop and ate it while people watching.  We walked around some more before deciding we now needed coffee.  After coffee it was siesta time, so we parted ways to sleep it off.  Late that night, 9 or so, in keeping with the local tradition of eating late, Peter, Mic and I headed over to Barrie's to see his neighborhood.  His area was less commercial and had more of a local neighborhood feel.  We found a cozy Mexican restaurant and went in.  Again the menu was only in Spanish and the waiter spoke almost no English.  We finally understood that we could go to their web page and view a menu in English, but we had trouble getting on line.  After much discussion, we each decided on our order and hoped for the best.  We were all very happy with what we got.  I had hot, home made tortillas and taco makings.  Sooo good, it made me think of my Mexican sister from another mother-  Sylvia.  When I visited her in El Paso, her mom made us tortillas and even took me into Juarez to buy a tortilla griddle. After dinner we went for a stroll and a 2nd dish of ice cream.  What we found was a little market with ice cream bars which we ate in a crowded little neighborhood park. 

The London group was arriving about midnight so we made plans to meet them for a late breakfast on Friday. We had previously agreed to do the hop-on-hop-off bus tour, so after breakfast we headed out to the nearest bus stop.  As with most of the weekend, it was a rainy day. Just outside the hotel was a guy selling umbrellas for €5 each.  Giselle spoke Spanish so she was appointed our official spokesperson / translator. She tried to negotiate the sale of umbrellas for €3 each. The guy was having none of it, he demanded five. I convinced everybody to put their money away and just start walking.  Ha!! He caved and we got eight umbrellas for next to nothing. Best €3 we spent, it rained almost every day.

Apparently the hop-on-hop-off tour was not an original idea; all the buses were packed full. We decided to head to the beginning of the route and maybe find an empty bus, which we eventually did.  What we noticed first was that all of the outside seats on the upper deck were empty. Great we thought, plenty of room. Yea, plenty of room for a reason, the outside seats were full of water.  We dried them off as best we could and settled in for the tour.  I plugged my headphones in, found the English channel and tried to follow along. What I heard what's an oddly juvenile narrative, apparently from the viewpoint of a cat. About that time we were passing a palace and the cat was talking about the parties they used to throw and how he liked to hide in the corner and just watch. It sounded like a bedtime story that you would tell a child. Most of the journey was nothing but music, not even good music, but opera music.  I was really annoyed that we paid €27 for the tour and it hardly described anything. About halfway through the tour we moved seats so the whole group could sit together. When I plugged my earphones in to the English channel, I heard an entirely different narrative. Apparently I just spent the last 45 minutes listening to the children's channel.  Right after that we all decided the tour was boring and we got off to see the city on our own. I guess I didn't miss much after all.

It had been almost 2 hours since our last full meal, we couldn't risk starvation, so we found a tapas restaurant (imagine that) and headed in. We were handed menus again only in Spanish. Basically there were two choices - paella and Spanish omelet. We got four of each. While we were waiting, our server kept bringing small plates of food.  Bread, dips, chicken wings and I don't know what else.  Our table was so full there was barely room for our actual order.  And when it came, OMG the portion size!  2 of the dishes could have fed all 8 of us, especially since we filled up on all the appetizers they brought. I thought tapas was small portions!  After a bit more walking around it was siesta time again.

On the way back to our hotel, Mic and I spotted a teenager drinking Mountain Dew. Apparently I scared him to death when I tapped him on the shoulder and asked him where he got the drink.  He of course spoke no English, but I have no idea what he thought was happening, I didn't think I was all that scary. Eventually his friend figured out what I was asking and pointed in the vague direction down a side street.  We had already checked the local markets for Dr. Pepper, which is easier to find. I didn't find that and I most certainly did not see any Mountain Dew but now we knew they existed, the hunt was on!  We never found them that night, but the next day we hit the jackpot! Oh happy days, I could now have a nice drink in the evening.

After a nice siesta and an hour or two of free time it was time to meet up for dinner again. We met in one of the large squares, near many shops and restaurants. Admittedly a big tourist area and most of the restaurants were full of tourists.   Several people in the group, as with the previous meals, wanted to eat off the beaten path. They looked for the more deserted side streets where the locals ate. While I do agree with this strategy in general, several of us were getting annoyed with the hour-and-a-half search for the perfect place.  Meaning it was well past 10:30 pm by the time we ate. And 'the perfect place' was often very small, very loud, and a very limited menu that we couldn't read anyway. This time the food was not particularly good, and I personally was done with tapas and paella!

Saturday we had agreed to split into smaller groups. Mic was going to work and Barrie, Andrew and Peter were meeting some Spanish friends of Barrie's. The girls decided to do some local markets and shopping. 

We met at the San Miguel Market, one of the top 10 food markets in Madrid. This historic wrought iron and glass Mercado de San Miguel, near the Plaza Mayor, has become one of the liveliest culinary spots in this city. There are 33 stalls selling everything from fresh produce, fresh fruit juices, tapas, fresh seafood, wine and sherry tasting as well as chocolates, spices and nuts. Similar to the huge market in Barcelona, the food displays were so pretty that many people just walked around taking pictures. Safa notice somebody eating raw oysters and said she had never tasted them. I immediately took her over and bought her one. The brave young girl took a little convincing, but before long she did her first oyster shot and we got the whole thing on video. She said while she was glad she did it, it was the only one she would ever do LOL.

After sampling several of the food choices we decided to move on to shopping. We had heard there was another market that sold clothing instead of food but we never did find it. We did see some small shops along the way but mostly we just enjoyed hanging out together. We talked about trying the other route of the hop-on-hop-off bus but decided instead to try to find a park that Giselle had visited on a previous trip.

After a brief bus and train ride we arrived at our destination, out in the middle of nowhere. We had thought there would be places to eat near the park but sadly that turned out not to be the case. We did see some soccer fields with a small cafe but we didn't think the food would be very good. Just then we noticed a sign for McDonald's and Burger King. Let me just say for the record that as the American, I did not suggest either of these food choices. We started walking in that direction when we came upon another pedestrian. He said it was about a 10-minute walk to a mall, where there were several food choices. We thought that was a great idea and headed out. He must have been a fast walker because 20 minutes later we still seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. We couldn't even see the McDonald's or Burger King.  After a quick vote, mainly decided by our feet, we headed back to the soccer field cafe.  After a quick lunch that was indeed not very tasty, we finally made it to the park.

Parque de El Capricho is considered to be one of the finest parks in Madrid. It was designed as a retreat for Madrid's nobility; a place to escape the commotion of the inner city during the 18th century. It took 52 years to complete, and the garden was never even seen by the Duchess who commissioned it.  The work began in 1787 and she died in 1834.  There are lush green gardens that stretch as far as you can see and everything is interconnected by small streams, lakes and tree-lined paths. Hidden in the park are numerous small statues, iron bridges, old buildings, and duck ponds.  We even found a beautiful cabin to do a fun little photo shoot for Safa.

After a really nice day together, we headed back in the city with plans for another group dinner, but we couldn't get in touch with the boys so we all did our own thing.  Now was our chance to eat at TGI Friday's, and it was good!!! Mainly because it wasn't tapas or paella lol.

On Sunday everybody had their own plans. Some wanted to go to a football game, some to a flamingo show and some to museums.  Mic wanted to work and I wanted to shop so we all split up.  I got a pedicure, sat around the pool and hot tub in the spa, then did some shopping.   Most of us met up again for dinner at a market similar to the San Miguel Market. This one was more of a young persons hang out with lots of beer and of course tapas but it was still a fun evening.  

After a quick goodbye on Monday, our Madrid vacation was over so we split up and headed home. It really was a fun trip, we all agreed to stay in touch and plan another get away soon.

 

Link to pictures

 

https://goo.gl/photos/pXDBHhbJkUDaNnLq8