Madrid
Madrid - "I do not believe anyone likes it much when he first goes there. Yet when you get to know it, it is the most Spanish of all cities." (Hemingway)
Yes it's big, yes it's ugly, and yes it's expensive (compared to the rest of Spain). It may not have the wonderful picturesque atmosphere of say Toledo but it has a life of its own - we enjoyed wandering around the barrios with their markets, restaurants, bars and favoured small shops selling everything from fresh meat to hand made shoes.
Yes it's big, yes it's ugly, and yes it's expensive (compared to the rest of Spain). It may not have the wonderful picturesque atmosphere of say Toledo but it has a life of its own - we enjoyed wandering around the barrios with their markets, restaurants, bars and favoured small shops selling everything from fresh meat to hand made shoes.
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| The street signs of Madrid all tell their stories |
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| Best tortilla we ever tasted - in El Mercado de La Paz Slightly burnt onions, potatoes cooked till mushy and just runny egg |
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| A Madrileño favorite - calamari sandwich |
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| Melt in your mouth Jamon Iberico, in crispy bread |
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| The Madrid Cathedral is quite "plain" inside ... |
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| ... but below is a neo- romanesque crypt with 400 columns |
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| Crystal Palace (glass & iron, 1887) built to exhibit Philippines flora |
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| Always a queue for hand made shoes here, from €7 a pair |
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| Matadero - former slaughterhouse (Neo-Mudéjar 1911) is now an arts complex |
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| The world's oldest restaurant (1725) "We lunched upstairs at Botins. It is one of the best restaurants in the world. We had roast young suckling pig and drank rioja alta." (Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises) |
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| Crowded San Miguel Market (opened 1916) is now an upmarket tapas area |
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| Plaza Major |
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| Bar La Torre del Oro on the Plaza |
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| Sunday afternoon in Madrid |