Madrid Knows What's Up (Country #8)

  

Where do I begin...... Once again, I was pleasantly surprised by a city. You hear so much about the PIGS (Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain) being in economic turmoil. I was thinking there would be lots of empty storefronts, homeless, crime, general dirtiness, etc. Nope. Madrid seems really just OK with itself, thank you very much. Granted, I was there for a weekend just next to the Plaza Mayor in a rather touristy area. We will definitely go back for another long weekend!

 In the spirit of our friend S.J. and his famous Sayulita report card, I am going to do a report card for Madrid:

• Eating tapas and drinking wine at four different bars each night. A
• Jamon, oh the glorious jamon - BUT you are a close second to prosciutto. B+
• The Retiro, a huge park on the east side of the city. On Sunday a million people were just walking around the park, no cell phones and no hurry. It was really amazing to see that kind of unstructured time for kids and families. It seems like in the US all those kids would be in 8 million different weekend sports leagues with no time to just go to the park and play around. A+
• Very little fast food and associated fast food-related trash. I love a country where people sit down, eat, and actually talk to each other, it feels civilized. A
• Wine, Campari, and beers at San Miguel Market on a Friday night - until 2:00 a.m. when we got kicked out. A for the night and D- for the hangover
• The Metro (subway) to the airport - cheap and clean but not linked to the area where we were staying. B+
• The Prado, sorry Madrid and art lovers out there but there is just to much "dark and brooding" in your paintings for my taste - and a bit too much Jesus. C+
• Running into K.M.'s friends Phillip (from the USA but living in Germany) and Helena (from Helsinki but living in Germany) on the street and sharing drinks, tapas, and stories with them. I love impromptu meetings like that! A+
• The kind folks with Iberia Air that put me on an earlier flight home because I was at the airport so early - though it took a million years and two passes through security to find an open desk. B
• The weather, almost 70 degrees every day we were there and sunny! My vitamin D supplies have been replenished. A
• The Hotel Plaza Mayor was charming, cheap, had a good location, but staff was really hit or miss. B 
• No veggies, really none. C- 
• San Miguel Market on Saturday at 1pm. Kill me now it was crowded. C

Daily cafe con leche (do NOT order a cappuccino in Spain).

Drinks at my favorite tapas bar/cave.

 

Jamon at a stand at the Mercado San Miguel behind the Plaza Mayor. 

 

Throngs of people in the streets over the weekend. The weather was unseasonably warm and SUNNY!  Everyone was out and about.

Me and the always lovely K.M.

Our Retiro picnic on Sunday, more jamon of course.

Madrid made me hungry for a little Rome. As much as I enjoyed Madrid, it isn't Rome because it lacks that decidedly Roman attitude and history - and food. Like I read in a magazine article last night, "Rome knows more than any other city in the world." So I am going to have to get our Roman Holiday booked. These weekends are filling up though, and our 2-year trip is already 1/6 over. Time flies when you're serving fries.......

We will have a guest blogger this week for you all - who's excited!?