Day 10 Madrid

Well I got up this morning and went down to the bakery again to watch the bakers make bread. As I had my nose pressed against the window, I could see them looking at me and I imagined them saying:

"There's that old homeless geezer from yesterday. Think we should call the cops?"
"No, just look at him, he's harmless."
"Maybe we should just throw him a donut, he's drooling?"
"Nah, don't feed him, he'll never go away."

Anyhow, the store part of the bakery wasn't open, so I went back to the apartment hungry. We still hadn't figured out what we wanted to do today.

Finally, we decided to do nothing special as tomorrow was going to be a long day. Although we did go out for lunch around one thirty and walked up to the Bilbao Metro station and stopped in a very nice restaurant called Cafe Comercial. It was fine except when we walked in they immediately gave us an English menu and a waitress who couldn't speak English and didn't know what was on the English menu. So we never got some of what we ordered and some other things that were just wrong. As it turned out it didn't matter, it was all good, besides, what we didn't get were the sweetbreads which Sylvia wasn't really looking forward to. We had a great buffalo mozzarella, a fabulous steak tartar, and a very nice looking caramelized pudding and rice with violet ice cream. The waitress didn't get the bottle of wine wrong, and it's a good thing or there would have been a scene.

Burrata de bufala con pesto de tomate seco, melon y brotes

Steak tartar de solomillo al gusto, a picado a cuchillo

Torrija caramelizada sobra arroz con leche y helado de violeta

I hope you read the captions because it took me forever to type them.

Tomorrow morning we leave for home. I will post a final blog when we get home.

Day 9 Madrid

Even though we had nothing planned for the day I got up fairly early and went down to the local bakery for a baguette to take back to the apartment. I got there a bit too early as they were in the process of making them. Not a problem, I just stood in front of the window watching three bakers making baguettes. They must have thought I was some hungry homeless man just staring in the window. When they were done making a couple hundred, they started on other breads. It seems as though they make the pastries first so I missed that, but I'll be back earlier tomorrow to watch that. A fascinating morning, can't wait till tomorrow. By the way the baguette was terrific, had it with butter and a smear of Camembert. I reluctantly left some for Sylvia, she doesn't like the Camembert.

Just before noon we decided to visit the Madrid Botanical Gardens. It was a nice 20 minute walk down past the Prado. I was surprised, after seeing pictures I thought it was small enough that we could walk it in an hour or two. Well, we walked around for less than that but we weren't close to seeing everything. It's 20 acres and contains 90,000 plants and flowers and 1,500 trees all well marked. I don't know how many beds there were but each one was lined with small box hedges. An unbelievable amount of work goes into this garden. There wasn't much in bloom, but I could imagine what it's like in the blooming season. I don't think you could walk all the paths in one day. It would be fun to see it five or six time a year. (Double click on the picture to enlarge it)

Botanical Gardens

We took the long way back and stopped for lunch at La Gustava in the Lavapies section of town. Again all the outside tables were full so we ate inside by the window. We had an omelette with onions and cheese, and ham croquettes, both of which are Spanish staples and served everywhere. They're very good, neither of which I could duplicate. We then marched back to the apartment for a few hours.

We did the 7:30 routine and went out for a before dinner drink at the Plaza de Chueca, but this time we managed to commandeer an outside table. The waiter gave us chips, olives, and nuts. They customarily give you one, but not all three. By nine o'clock we weren't very hungry so we got ice cream and went back to the apartment and I fell asleep early...again.

Day 8 Madrid

It was a slow day with not much to post. We did go to the Prado Museum and spent several hours touring a maze of galleries. The Prado's considered by many to be the best art museum in Spain and one of the five best in the world. It has a massive collection of old masters that's made up of massive paintings from the 1100's to the 1700's. It not easy to get around; we spent most of the time trying to figure out where we were. It was great seeing all the masters, but after two hours I was exhausted, and two hours is not nearly enough to do it justice.

Afterwards we went to an outdoor cafe up the street from the Prado and had a Jamon Iberico sandwich and some paella. It was fine but the people watching was better.

We've been traveling together now for eight days and it's getting a little tedious. At home we usually go our separate ways from early morning until late afternoon. Over here we don't get any time alone and the nerves get a little frayed. We haven't had much in the way of any "Lively Discussions". That usually happens in the car and we're getting too old and tired to argue very much - we just shut up. It seems as though most of our conversations consist of, "Huh", "What, "What did you say", "Did you hear me". I guess that's part of getting old? I think Sylvia can't hear, nor does she talk loud enough. Harumph!

In the evening we went up to the square by the Chueca metro station. As usual all of the 50 or 60 outdoor tables were taken, instead we got a window seat at a small cafe looking over the Plaza de Chueca and had a few before dinner drinks. As soon as it turned 8:30 we went to dinner Le Coco. Sylvia ordered a spinach fettuccine with three cheeses, and I had baked oxtail, pasta, and cheese that sort of resembled a lasagna. Both were very good. That was the end of the day and I don't know what we're doing tomorrow.

Prado

Large Art

Day 7 Still Madrid

Well we finally got off to an early start, if you consider 9:20 early? It's really not to bad because not much opens before 10. We walked over to the Royal Palace and got in line by 9:45. The line moved pretty fast for a museum line and we opted for the audio tour. It worked out pretty good because we didn't spend too much time on the first few rooms and got ahead of all the tour groups. The palace is unbelievable, there's 3,000 rooms but only 29 are available for touting. and that took an hour and a half. The royal family had it pretty good. You could easily spend 10 minutes in each room. I couldn't, but we still really appreciated it. One thing that stood out for me was the Stradivarious Room. There were five Stradivarious's in the room, 3 violins and two cellos - amazing. And they still get played occasionally by visiting artists. The whole place was amazing, beautiful, and interesting.  I highly recommend it, but go early and it's probably best to get tickets ahead of time. We didn't, but got lucky.

The next stop was a revisit of the Mercado San Miguel, and this time the crowd was half the size it was on Friday. We picked up a few tapas and a glass of Cava and managed to find two seats. Both the tapas and the Cava were excellent. The tapas were toast squares topped with various fish: cod liver, cod mashed with caviar, cod with honey, anchovies, and tuna. Sylvia also picked up a salmon wrap and a ham and cheese wrap??? It would be easy to have lunch there every day for several months and not get the same thing twice, and boy would I'd love to try. We stopped for another drink before going back to the apartment to do laundry. "We" might not be the proper word, but you get the drift.

Around 7:30 we went up the street to El Buho tavern for a drink before dinner. It was a pretty comfortable place and we had a good window table so we ordered dinner. Sylvia ordered a marinated pork kabob, and I decided to try some pig ears. I had never had a pig ear before so it was worth a try. They gave me way more than I thought they would, but I managed to eat all of them except for two. Sylvia had most of one and I left one. They weren't too bad, just a little gnarly. I won't be so quick to order them again.

Tomorrow we're planning on doing the Prado.

Royal Palace Dining Room
Can set up 110 people at one table

Pig Ears

Day 6 Madrid

Started off the morning with an espresso and a baguette with butter and cheese. Isn't it great when you can get a good baguette? Anyway, we headed straight off to what is called El Rastro. It's a huge Sunday flea market. It's supposed to be one of the must-do's on a Sunday in Madrid. I read a bunch of reviews and people either hate it or love it; there's not many in betweens. We tried to get there early but it didn't make a difference, it was already packed. The flea market started at the top of a hill and looking down I saw nothing but tents and people for as far as I could see. I said let's just do it and see what happens, so we waded in. It was no fun at all, but it was fascinating. For blocks and blocks it was tents with not much more than clothes, shoes, and accessories. This was pretty dull except there were so many people participating. After a half hour or so we got to the end and started back up a side road which was lined with at least a hundred antique merchants that had all their wares outside, and I mean these were real antiques, even older than Sylvia. (I just put that in to see if she really reads this gunk.) Anyhow, it was a pretty interesting event and I would recommend it if someone happens to be in Madrid on a Sunday; do go and have the patience to see it all and get ready to have a drink afterwards. It's worth a couple of hours.

Next up was the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, but on the way we stopped for lunch at a small cafe between Sol and Plaza Mayor. Sylvia had chicken and I had cuttlefish which was tough. We got to the museum around 3 and walked right in with no wait at all. The Thyssen is the second biggest private art collection in the world, just behind the British Royal Collection. This is a serious collection that is really well organized and includes all the biggies, Rubens, Van Dyke, Rembrandt, Monet, Renoir, van Gogh, etc. I really enjoy the Dutch and Flemish artists and there were plenty of them. What surprised me was how much North American art was on display. It was really, really good. I love the National Gallery in DC, but this was way more structured than that. I just wander around the National Gallery. Also, it was strange there was hardly any Spanish artists, a little Picasso, Dali, El Greco and a few I don't know, but that's it. I'd go back, no problem. We've still got to do the Prado which should be awesome.

For dinner we went down the street to restaurant Bazaar. We shared an excellent goose mousse with goat cheese. Sylvia had duck breast with some kind of sauce and I had a veal cheek cannelloni with the same sauce. Both very good except for the sauce. For dessert we had a something Madagascar, essentially ice cream and stuff which was very good. It was a pretty good experience that could have been better if we had ordered differently. We chatted with an interesting gentleman seated next to us, which was fascinating because here was a Chinese man, from France, in Spain, speaking English. Pretty cool.

Tomorrow we try the Royal Palace and Mercado San Miguel again.

El Rastro

Day 5 Madrid

There's not much to report today. We left around noon and headed to Retiro Park which is a park similar to Central Park in NYC, but a little smaller and a lot more trees. When we lived in New York going to Central Park on a Sunday afternoon was one of my most favorite things to do, but Retiro Park has Central Park beat by a lot, both in beauty and activity. I think if I lived in Madrid I would spend a least one day a week in Retiro Park, it's beautiful and a perfect people watching venue.

After the park we had a fairly good lunch at Taverna del Volapie. A bottle of wine, a tuna salad, calamari, fried anchovies, cod, and some other fish that I forgot it's name. Again we spent a lot of time walking just like the previous three days, according to my fit watch over 10 miles each day. Then we spent much of the evening sitting at an outdoor cafe just quietly watching people and avoiding any lively discussions. It was a late lunch so we skipped dinner and had dessert at a nearby cafe.

We've been to pretty many cities, but I've never seen so many people walking, shopping, dining as I have in Madrid. And this wasn't in the tourist area, this was the neighborhood where we stayed. These were people who lived here, both young and old. It was a remarkable sight and exciting to be around.  Madrid's way more interesting that I expected.

Below are some pictures from Mercado San Anton just two blocks down the street from where we're staying. Needless to say I go there a lot.

Day 4 Madrid

Managed to get a needed good night's sleep so we didn't get a very early start to do what we had planned to do. I was the first one up and went down to a local bakery and brought back a baguette and croissant for a late breakfast. We headed out around noon with the intention of grabbing a few tapas at Mercado de San Miguel then planned on spending the afternoon at the Royal Palace. As it turned out we were not very successful at either. We did get to the Mercado but it was way to crowded to get anything. Just walking through it was a real chore. It's very famous, although not a traditional market, but the best food court I've ever experienced. The tapas and drink stalls looked fabulous. It's to bad we didn't get to eat anything. We'll try again in a few days.

Undeterred, we had only a short walk over to the Royal Place. However, when we got there it was surrounded by barricades and hundreds of police. It seems as though there was some special event occurring there and it looked like it would be a long time before it concluded.  I understand it's a takes at least 2-4 hours to tour the Royal Palace, it has 3,000 rooms...yep 3,000. Pretty big place. We'll try again in a few days.

Somewhat disappointed, but okay with it since we have seven more days in Madrid. Instead we just wandered around checking out all the sights. We had a late lunch at an outdoor cafe and each had a Jamon Iberico bocadillo (ham sandwich). Only it's not your regular ham, it's really, really good ham. We walked a few hours more then went back to the apartment and waited to go out to dinner, When we did go out it was 8:30 and we went up the street to Lola Cocina. There was only one other couple in the restaurant, and they were Americans of course. By the time we had a drink and ordered our food and wine the place was packed. As is typical, nobody dines until after nine. We had a shareable appetizer of thinly sliced pork loin with capers and a sauce made of creamed tuna fish. It was very good. Sylvia had chicken and I again made a goof ordering. Instead of trying to pronounce the unpronounceable I pointed on the menu to what I wanted, and of course the waiter misunderstood.  I ended up with a hamburger and fries. Oh well, at least it was an excellent burger.  Overall, it was a good meal that we were more than satisfied with. That pretty much ended the evening.

Mercado de San Miguel

A few Tapas

More Tapas

Day 3 Madrid

It was a rather uncomfortable bouncy flight but at least we were on a working plane. We arrived at 7 am, got our luggage with no problem and took a taxi to our apartment that we rented through Airbnb. It turned out to be a nice newly renovated one bedroom apartment complete with washer and dryer. The owner and his sister met us and showed us around the unit. They were really nice and told us if we needed anything to just ask. We unpacked, and as usual, resisted the urge to take a nap. We were very tired since we hadn't slept much neither the night before or on the plane, but we found out it really works best if you stay awake and go to sleep the normal time. Otherwise we'd never get use to the time change. This is the most useful information I can give. Actually this is probably the only useful information I'll give.

The first thing we did was spend time walking the neighborhood to get the feel for where things are and what there is to do. The apartment is in the Chueca neighborhood which is noted for being Gay, trending, lots of fine food, shops, and culture. After spending a couple of hours checking out the area we were more than pleased with Chueca. We got all required provisions at a terrific nearby market and grocery store. By provisions I mean vodka, wine, coffee, baguette and butter.

Later in the afternoon we walked down to the Sol-Gran Via area to see what was happening down there. It was definitely the tourist area and way different from Chueca. We didn't have time to visit Mercado de San Miguel, probably the best market around, but we will probably go tomorrow. While we were there we had a late lunch in Sol at a place called Alhambra. It was busy and looked as local as anyplace around. Plus it didn't have an English menu, which is some indication that it's not too touristy. The downside is that we didn't know what we ordered. We ended up with paella, something with red peppers, tuna steak, beef steak, cheese cake, apple pie, and a bottle of wine all for less than $30. It was pretty good too, but way more than we could eat.

Afterwards we went back to Chueca and spent more time walking our neighborhood and had a few drinks at a nearby outdoor cafe that we'll probably go back to. We got back to the apartment around 7 and I managed to stay awake until almost 10 o'clock.

Our street

Out Apartment

Days 1 and 2 Newark, New Jersey to Madrid, Spain

I was undecided as to whether or not I really wanted to blog on this trip since we were just planning on going to Madrid and hang out for 9 or 10 days not doing anything special. But, since I'm always up by five every morning and have nothing to do I might as well write down what we did since it does settle a lot of future discussions about where we went and what we did when. Okay, so here goes, this should not be very exciting.

We started off at noon by driving up to Newark, NJ for a 8:30 pm flight to Madrid expecting to arrive at 7:30 the next morning. We've left from Newark several other times when we could not get a direct flight from any of the Washington/Baltimore airports. It's only another two hours drive, it saves us time since we don't have to change planes, there's less chance of losing luggage, plus it saves us about eight hundred dollars. We got there by 4:30 and in plenty of time to have a bite to eat and a few drinks. The International Terminal C is a really nice airport terminal and is a good place to kill time with so many dining and browsing options. Practically every seat in the terminal (restaurants, bars and waiting areas)  has an Apple tablet with an attached credit card reader. All you have to do is order what you want from the tablet and a server will find you. What a fabulous way to spend money, and we did. Unfortunately we ended up spending fourteen hours over two days in that damn terminal. It started off by a flight delay from 8 to 9, then from 9 to 10, then from 10 to 11, etc. all the way to 1 o'clock in the morning when they finally told us the flight was rescheduled until 6:30 the following evening and they would be providing everyone with hotel rooms and transportation. It was a pain, but I'd rather be on a plane that works than one that doesn't. It all sounded reasonable except that there was a mad rush to the courtesy desk to sign up for a hotel room and with 300 people in line Old Bill doesn't do so well. So I booked a room through the Hoteltonight app instead. We ignored the shuttle service and took a cab to the hotel only to find out there was actually no room booked or available. This was a problem, we were stuck in a hotel lobby at 2 am with no place to stay. We were very tired and not completely happy. Fortunately, the very, very nice hotel clerk gave us a transfer sheet to the Renaissance Hotel down the street and got a driver to take us there. She also got us the $366 room for free and made sure the Hoteltonight web site would refund us our original room rate. Who knew one could find a true angel at 2 o'clock in the morning pretending to be a hotel clerk. We got a very nice free room while those people who got rooms via the airline didn't get in their hotels until after 4 am. We were lucky, and for once my impatience paid off.

We got up the next day, had breakfast and got to the airport by noon and waited for the six thirty flight. We again exercised the Apple tablets way too often. The plane left on time.

Newark Airport, Apple tablets everywhere