We
flew in from London just a little late. We had dropped the car off with valet
parking, narrowly avoiding arrest for following the signs to the wrong side of
the drop off area! Breakfast was in the no1 Lounge, where we had cereal, yoghurt,
pastries, a bacon roll (Alan) and coffee.
The
metro into town was very good, two changes, but only a couple of minutes
between trains. At our stop, Retiro, it was a two minute walk to the Hospes
Madrid Hotel. We were soon booked in and unpacked before talking a walk in the
park.
With
Retiro Park just across the road, we decided to stroll down it's shady avenues,
perhaps even getting as far as Sol. But the park was so interesting, we just
managed to walk through by the Estanque, the boating lake with its impressive
Monument to Alphonso XII and the numerous rowing boats hired by intrepid
rowers; passed the Palacios de Velazquez with it's tiled friezes; around the
lake with turtles and a great view of the Palacio de Crystal; into the Rosaleda
and down to the statue, El Angel Caida, by Ricardo Bellver, believed to be the
only public monument to the 'fallen angel', Lucifer, in the world.
We
came out of the park onto Calle de Alphonso XII
and crossed over to see the Real Jardin Botanical, but the entrance was
diagonally opposite, so we walked down Calle de Claudio Morano where we found a
row of antiquarian book kiosks, some open and stuffed with all sorts of old
books. At the bottom of the street is the Estacion de Atocha, the station which
houses a tropical garden. It is an amazing place filled with palm trees and a
pond just full of turtles. We stopped for light refreshment at a station cafe,
before exiting again and heading up Paseo del Prado, sussing out where we will
be coming tomorrow. We made it back to the hotel in time for a quick freshen up
before we were due out to meet the people from Adventurous Appetites who were
going to take us on a tapas tour.
We
walked down to Puerto del Sol, taking in the architectural gems along Calle de
Alcala as we went. As we came into the circle that is Puerto del Sol, we
discovered the bear and the arbutus tree statue that is the symbol of the city.
As we had some time to spare, we walked around the area and found the point
where all distances in Spain are measured from.
Soon
it was time to meet our guide who turned out to be a Dubliner called Paul. He
definitely had the gift of the gab, and lead us on a merry tapas tour, with a
running commentary of historic facts of the places we walked through,
punctuating the walk with stop offs at various tapas bars from different
regions of the country. We began with Asturias, sampling cider we had to pour
from a height into a glass held down low, to give the cider the correct
flavour! With this we had potato salad and Iberico ham. Paul suggested we then
order some typical dishes - bread and cheese, tuna empanadas and some spicy
chorizo, all very delicious, but we had to move on. It was decided that we
should run a kitty with Paul, starting with twenty euros per person.
So
off we set and we arrived at the plaza Major with its long buildings, touristic
restaurants and horse mounted figure in the centre. Lots of chatter from Paul,
including pointing out the oldest restaurant in works le Botin, from
17something. But we made tracks to a tapas bar that s famous for its
delicatessen. The Walls and ceiling were lined with four kinds of am wrapped in
blue, green, red and white coverings. They look like decoration, but apparently
get used up in two months in a constant rota! Here we were introduced to Summer
Wine. Not Sangria, which should be prepared a day or two in advance, but red
wine with lemonade poured over ice and a slice of lemon. It was wonderfully
refreshing. This came with sliced chorizo and whacking big green olives that
were extremely tasty. We then ordered some of the ham - a sort of iberico, and
manchega cheese. We placed a slice of ham on a slice of cheese and ate down to
the rind of the cheese that then gets thrown on the floor with the olive stones
and the tissues - all part of the experience, apparently. On we went, down
interesting pedestrian streets passed several shops with tiled edifices. We
came to one bar that Paul decided would be our next stop and here we chose some
beer and wine to our taste. A bottle of Ribera del duero served us all coming
with a dish of fresh salty prawns, and here Paul ordered (with our agreement)
some green peppers, meat balls and for all the world Dutch croquet ten. What
fun, especially as here we sat down for a while. It was already getting Kate,
but once again we were off to see more interesting sights and bars, and down
the street of letters to another bar where we waited to be seated. Already we were reduced to six from eight,
having lost one of the Canadian couples. Now we were choosing individual drinks
as well as ordering a second round of tap water! More white wine for me and A
to go with squid ( not for A), and mushrooms with lardons. But it was really
getting late and we decided to call it a day, as did the Swedish couple,
leaving Paul and the young Canadians to go on to find mojitos and maybe
chocolate and churros to finish. Back to
the hotel to crash before our visit to the Prado tomorrow - or actually today!
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