Spain - Madrid

So it's been a while, but I finally took another international trip, the last one being to Italy. I decided on Spain because I speak un poco de Spanish and I love ham, so it seemed like a perfect getaway, and it was!

Delicious ham and bacon for breakfast at the little Bar Horreo close to where I was staying.

The trip started off well travel-wise in that all of the flights managed to be on time and I made all my connections, a miracle considering I was going through Chicago in February. I got to Madrid, found my AirBnB, and was allowed an early check-in, so I headed straight for the Prado after breakfast.

So for me, I got to see some famous paintings, which was really cool. For this first one though I found some of the really famous ones first together, so I got to see Las Meninas, De Goya's May 2nd and May 3rd paintings, and his "Black Paintings," among others. Unfortunately, there are no pictures allowed in the Prado. After that, I went exploring...

Street performers... street performers everywhere! Good ones too.

I walked around near the Prado a lot, checked out the Retiro Park and stopped in some cafes. I didn't realize how bad my Spanish had gotten until trying to communicate, but thankfully Google Translate, which I had downloaded ahead of time, was my savior. My first stop while exploring was at the Museo del Jamon (or "ham museum"), which wasawesome.

Lovely fountain in front of a bar I checked out, which was also lovely and had great empanadas.

The "Ham Museum"

Complete with its own ham cutting expert.

It was delicious... I ate way too much.

Up next I picked up a deck of cards. It sounds funny, but this is actually the only souvenir I was looking for. Spain has its own deck of cards that you can use to play a game called Mus. I've been playing with a friend, Julio, who is from Spain, for the past couple of months, and I wanted my own deck, so it was cool to get those from Spain. Plus they didn't take up too much room, which was good as I managed to only pack personal items for the entire trip.

Front right you can see my new Mus deck! It's a really fun game, you should check it out.

Next I booked a train from Madrid to Barcelona back at the bnb. I flew into Madrid and was flying out of Barcelona, as a high-speed train connects the two and it just made the most sense. I also booked a trip to Toledo, which is its own post.

Up next I did some walking around, crossing of some things on my list of what I wanted to see and just exploring the city.

There were delicious pastries and food taunting me from all sorts of windows.

Who knew the home of the good burger is actually Madrid?

The Puerta Del Sol.

I just thought this was cool....

Tapas!

Would definitely recommend this little wine and tapas place.

Found a nice little hookah bar to do my journaling in the evenings.

That ended day one, and day two was Toledo, which I'll do in a second post, but I had dinner on day two back in Barclona and went tapas-bar hopping. I started out at Txakolina and Txirimiri.

Actually, first I stopped on the street to get some churros, which were delicious.

Freshly made...

Salmon at Txakolina... mmmm......

Choices were difficult, even if they are small plates.

This was like a tandoori chicken almost.

That's Brie on top of mixed vegetables... delicious.

This is called pinxto de tortilla, which I think has potato in it. It was delicious too. I also found out here that Spaniards seem to love drinking straight vermouth. It's OK, but not exactly my thing. 

For my second full day in Madrid (and last day there) I went off exploring again and did quite a bit of walking. Along the way three people asked me for directions, and they were all Spanish! I felt honored.

I started my exploring by walking all the way to the municipal Museum of Madrid, which is nice as it's one of the only free ones I encountered. You can find some cool artwork, but more interestingly to me it tells the story of Madrid going from a backcountry "capital" to a truly cosmopolitan city. It really only capitalized (pun intended) on its central location within the country after the introduction of the train system. It's a nice little museum, especially for the price.  I also walked down the Calle de Fuencarral, which is a pretty big shopping area that you may want to check out if you're into that scene.

Breakfast was at Bar Horreo again, where I got the potato-heavy Spanish omelet. It was really good.

The Reina Sofia.

I went through town and did some exploring.

Lots of cool buildings and shops.

This was one of the places someone asked me to help them find their bnb.

My initial quest was to go see the Plaza de Dos Mayo, or May 2nd plaza. It's just a park with a statue though, so I wouldn't say it was totally worth the walk. Check out this picture instead.

Another view at the May 2nd Plaza.

The outside of the municipal Madrid Museum. No pictures allowed inside.

Next I went to check out the Reina Sofia and see some of the cool artwork they have, like Picasso's Guernica (no pics allowed of that one). After that I stopped for lunch.

A Salvador Dalí.

A Picasso.

The Great Masturbator, a Dalí.

I thought this was cool... on one side the eye is closed...

But stand on the other side and it's open!

Calder's work, who did work with kinetic sculpture. If you know local artist Terry Welker, it's much like what he does as he was an inspiration for him.

Up next I took a long walk to the other side of town, through the Plaza Mayor and to the Mercado de San Miguel, where you can find all kinds of fresh food and tapas. Unfortunately, I wasn't as hungry, but you can see how amazing the food looks!

After some dessert, I wanted to go see the Pallacio, but first I came across the Cathedral de Santa Maria la Real de la Almuneda, which stands just opposite of the palace, so I stopped in there first. It's a beautiful gothic cathedral complete with a crypt.

The Almuneda Cathedral.

Inside the cathedral.

A view of the Pallacio.

I decided against going in because of the line.

At this point I had gotten my steps in for today and tomorrow....

Finally, I reached my destination: Ermita de San Antonia de la Florida, the chapel where De Goya is buried and where the beginning of the end of Carnaval takes place. I witnessed the beginning of the "Entierro de La Sardina," or the burying of the sardine. This takes place each year to wrap up the festivities, and it was a pretty fun event, even though everyone pretends to be in mourning for the sardine.

Me with a "mourner" and the "sardine."

Mourners weeping over the fish.

Bands come out and play for occasion.

They also get some large statues for the parade.

Ok I don't know who these guys are, but they showed up right before it started in a large bus wearing tuxes, holding drinks and cigars, and brought the sardine with them. I want to be them.

It's the sardine!

Before the march they must address the crowd in front of De Goya's statue.

NBD, just showing off the sardine.

Finally time to get going.

 

Finally to round out our experience in Madrid, I went to a Flamenco show. I saw the Flamenco Essential Show, and I can definitely recommend it. The performers were amazing, and I don't know exactly how to describe the music, but it's definitely percussive, which I love. I don't just mean drums - in fact all they had was a box for a "drum," - but their entire bodies. I don't know that, as a drummer myself, that my hands can move as fast as their feet. Probably not. The dancers were amazing, and what intrigued me the most about it was that you definitely get a sense of the blending of cultures that's at the heart of Spanish culture. The singer sounds like he's doing a call to prayer, so I looked it up and there's definitely an Islamic influence in Flamenco, which I didn't know.

The band was amazing.

The dancers even more so.

Definitely check out a show while you're there!

After that I decided to hunt down some tapas for my final time remaining in Madrid. I found a bar called El Tres, which is cool because Tres is my nickname, so I had to stop.

El Tres... and the other El Tres.

Just got some delicious ham...

Madrid was playing a soccer... sorry, football, match as well.

 

Also stopped in El Sur before heading in for the night.

Had a good risotto there, although it was kind of cold to be honest.

So it's funny, but with the number of people who speak English in Spain vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina, I found it easier to communicate in BiH than in Spain, in spite of knowing more of the language in Spain. That said, everyone was really friendly and I didn't really have any major miscommunication issues or anything.

That's it for Madrid! Definitely a fun time and loved being there. Would do it again! Next up: Toledo and Barcelona.