“Pichel de Sangria, por favor:” Pitcher of Sangria, please!
We finally arrived in Madrid on Saturday (2/13) midday. We took the metro from the airport to Plaza Espana, which was located on the big street, Gran Via. Since we were supposed to go to Salamanca that morning, we did not actually have a hostel in Madrid for the night. Most of the afternoon was spent backpacking around the city looking for a place to stay…slightly stressful, but I was happy enough to be Spain! There were people walking about everywhere, car horns, scooters, big buses, bright lights…big city! Unfortunately, Madrid was not much warmer than Clermont-Ferrand, however, we left about 8 inches on snow in C-F, and it was sunny when we arrived in Spain.
Saturday’s lunch was not so good, as we just stopped in a cafeteria while walking around because we were all famished. The dinner on Saturday, however, made up for a crappy lunch. After looking around for a Spanish restaurant, we actually unknowingly settled at a Brazilian one. It was terrific anyway! For an appetizer, we tried this fried mix of beans and shrimp, and for my meal I had part of a pumpkin filled with cheese and shrimp, with rice on the side.
Sunday was Valentine’s Day, yet unlike in the U.S., Spain did not seem to rub the holiday in your face and make you aware of your romantic status every chance they could. To the contrary, I did not see much celebration of the day of love besides a few signs and special menus. We took the opportunity of sunny (yet, still cold) weather to tour around the city by foot, stopping by the royal Palace, cathedral, and a few parks. For lunch, we popped into this little joint by Puerto del Sol to finally have some tapas. Ordering wine was a breeze, reading the menu, however, proved slightly difficult. We all just kind of ordered and awaited the result. I ended up with the best empanada I have ever had in my entire life; it was more like pastry layers with meat inside than a pocket pastry as I have had at home. In the late afternoon, we took advantage of free admission the Prado museum, which holds many classic paintings and works of art by the likes of Goya and Velasquez. It is a huge museum where I probably could have spent hours wandering around. My favorites were Goya’s black period pieces. For Valentine’s Day dinner, the five of us found a sushi place, and the three of us girls were given red roses.
Monday morning, we awoke to a snowy/rain mix and frigid temperatures…not exactly ideal for touring. We tried to do indoor activities, saw the inside of the royal Palace and Cathedral, the palace being obscenely ornate as palaces go. We also visited the Museum Reina Sofia, which is the modern art museum in Madrid. I admired Picasso and other cubist painters’ masterpieces…again, I probably could have stayed in this museum all day. For our last meal in Spain we found it prudent to try some Paellas. Kate and I shared a huge paella filled with chicken, rice and vegetables. Quite delicious.
Overall observations about Spain:
- Smoking is allowed indoors, and everybody smokes, therefore I felt as if I constantly smelled of smoke for three days.
- If you think French have start late with dinner and such, Spain starts about 2 hours later. Late afternoon is siesta time, dinner is not until about 10pm or so, and you go out at about 1am.
- Knowing French gets you nowhere in Spain.
- Things seemed to be slightly cheaper in Spain than France.
- Fresh Sangria = fabulous. I drank it every night in Spain.
- Best foods to eat in Spain: empanada, Spanish omelet, patatas bravas (which is like fried mashed potatoes) and paella.
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