Madrid

The Royal Cathedral in Madrid.


The bear and the tree are symbols of the city. This statue was on the corner of the pedestrian street that our hotel was on.


Dennis at the Royal Palace overlooking the rest of the city.


From Barcelona, we took the high-speed train to Madrid. On the train we really saw how wonderful the Spanish people are. The train had assigned seats, but Dennis and I were in a row without windows. Since we wanted to see out, we switched seats with the lady behind us. At the next stop, another person was supposed to sit in our row. The first lady explained the seat switch to him and he gladly sat down in the row with no windows. By and by, the lady got off and ANOTHER person came to our row. The guy explained and again, we were allowed to keep our good seats. That was pretty nice!

Madrid is right in the heart of Spain and is the capital. It’s a nice city with lots of pedestrian-only streets and beautiful squares. The squares and open space are relatively new. Jose Bonaparte (brother of Napoleon) tore down many of the Catholic buildings to create the squares from their courtyards. The Catholics were not happy but it makes for a nice walking city.

The first afternoon, we had time on our own. Dennis and I went to the Royal Palace. It’s a huge and beautiful building modeled after Versailles. It’s actually still in use and is therefore furnished. It’s rare because the furnishings are mostly original. Versailles is no longer original since the French Revolution when the people looted the place.

For a nice afternoon snack, we tried the typical Spanish treat of churros and chocolate. The churros are similar to what you get in the US, but without the sugar. The chocolate is really where the difference is. The Spanish chocolate is thick like a chocolate pudding, but more rich and less sweet. The little place that serves the churros and chocolate is tucked into a small alley. They have lots of outdoor seating and they only serve one thing. What a cool place!

That evening, the group got together for a dinner. The appetizers were good, but everyone agreed that the main courses were pretty bad. We had to choose between the ox-tail stew or cod. Dennis had the ox-tail and I chose the cod. Both dishes were painfully salty. If they weren’t so salty, I think they would have been good. Oh well, another disappointing meal…

Our hotel was on one of the main pedestrian streets. Since it was Saturday night, we sat out on the sidewalk café and drank sangria and watched the Madrilenos on their passeo.

In the morning, we had a walking tour of the city that included the Prada Museum. The guide showed us many of the famous paintings and explained their significance. Dennis and I were astounded that all of the paintings were religious or of royal families. How could there be so many paintings of Jesus and Mary?

For dinner, we got together with another couple who were also struggling with the cuisine. We decided that paella would be a nice change of pace from the tapas. I had checked a bunch of menus that afternoon as Dennis and I walked around. Lots of places advertised paella on large posters. Oddly, most of the posters were the same. Soon we noticed that they all had the same corporate logo on them. We realized these restaurants were serving frozen paella – not what we were after! We started checking the menus at smaller restaurants looking for REAL paella. Finally, right next door to our hotel, we found a menu with a note that you will have to wait 40 minutes for an order of paella. So this is where we went.

We had to wait until 8:00 for the restaurant to start serving dinner. But in the end, it was worth the wait. This was one of the best meals we had on the whole trip. The rice was savory and a little spicy, and caramelized on the bottom of the pan just the way it should be. The restaurant was not beautiful but the owner was very good to us. He didn’t speak much English, but we got by on my high-school Spanish. Again, we were impressed by how friendly and polite the people were.

So, Madrid was cool. They speak regular Spanish, are friendly and welcoming. The food is getting better, too.