Tam and Joe in Madrid
Thursday, October 13, 2011: Arrival in Madrid
We flew from JFK to Barajas on American Airlines. The plane was a Boeing 767 and is way too small in our view. In the future we will try to get flights on an Airbus A310 or other large plane. The Airbus planes we have flown on also have those nifty seatback entertainment systems.
We arranged for transportation with Aerocity at Barajas and were glad we did. I have never seen an airport as huge and spread out as Barajas. I certainly would not want to attempt to find ground transportation on my own. Our driver was great and gave us a guided tour as we headed towards our hotel, the Arosa, on calle de la Salud. I speak Spanish fluently so I translated for Tam and another passenger with us.
After dropping off our luggage we went out walking, stopping for a café con leche at a neighborhood bar and shopping at an open air market and the fabulous Corte Inglés department store. Later we got bocadillos with Serrano ham and beers for lunch at another local place on calle de la Salud, El Abrasador. It is a very nice casual place and I enjoyed talking with the staff. After that we took four hour siestas to try to get acclimated to Madrid’s late night activity.
Later we walked to the Academia Real de Bellas Artes which unfortunately is only open 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM so we missed that and unfortunately never did make it back there. In any case, we headed over to Plaza Mayor where we took the picture of a delightful couple from Colombia and vice-versa. We had beers at a café on the plaza. The waiters, at least when we were there, were not at all pushy like those in Piazza Navona in Rome and it, like all of Madrid, is far less touristy than Paris or Rome.
After tapas at a bar near the Arosa we settled into our comfortable bed for a good night of sleep.
Friday, October 14, 2011
The breakfast spread at the Arosa, included, is wonderful. First they have the most fantastic coffee machine. You merely place your cup beneath the dispensing tubes and press a button for your choice: café solo, café con leche, cappuccino, decaf café solo or decaf café con leche. There is also fresh orange juice, four kinds of ham, tortilla española, rolls and croissants, toast, yogurt and the most delicious scrambled eggs I have ever tasted. I know I’m leaving some things out, but that will give you an idea of the bounty.
Well fortified with breakfast, we headed to the Prado. Again, unlike Rome or Florence, there was no waiting and we just bought our tickets and entered. Actually we got a pass for the Prado, Thyssen-Bornemisza, and Reina Sofía for around € 20 each. The Prado lives up to its reputation. We saw about 2/3 of it and all we did not want to miss before coming down with Stendhal syndrome.
We had paella at a bar on Puerta del Sol, Arysol. It was nice but nothing special, but a nice segue into siesta.
Late afternoon we walked to the Museo de Cera (wax museum). Everyone has secrets and one of mine is that I love wax museums. Like the Grevin Museum in Paris was filled with French people, so the Museo de Cera was filled with Spanish people. Tam took my picture standing behind Franco and giving him the cornuto sign. A Spanish couple saw that and thought it quite amusing. I told them he was my uncle.
In the evening we enjoyed talking with the barman in the hotel. Too tired to think about going anywhere after sipping delicious Mahou Beer which is made in Madrid, we had grilled ham and cheeses at the bar and called it a night.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
After the great breakfast buffet we walked to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Museum. I got sore quickly though the galleries are staggering in their scope. The mind can only absorb as much as the feet can endure.
We decided to take on the Reina Sofia Museum after Thyssen-Bornemisza. We no doubt bit off more than we could chew for one day, perhaps even for one trip. Tam got dizzy in route so we tread slowly over there. We limited our visit to seeing Guernica as well as a most interesting exhibition of works and realia from the Spanish Civil War.
On the way back to the Arosa we kept getting lost. We had the Streetwise Madrid map as well as one from the hotel. They are hard to read and seem to lack certain streets and features. Unfortunately there is no equivalent, as far as I know, for Madrid of the Penguin maps of London and Paris, as well as similar ones, which are in book form and contain every single street and major feature from the city center to the outer suburbs.
After some help from a señora who thought we looked lost as well as a couple of Scandanavian girls who asked us where Puerta del Sol was, we made it back to calle de la Salud.
We had big salads for lunch at El Abrasador. They were very tasty with copious amounts of Manchego cheese and lomo, or pork loin. The gal at the bar, it turned out, was from Ecuador so we hit it off as I have had several students from there. After our satisfying meal we went to our room for a needed siesta.
That evening we ventured out to another cervecería on Calle de la Salud where we sat outside. There were several groups of demonstrators going down the street on their way to Puerta del Sol where there was going to be a big rally. We took some pictures and cheered them on. They, like people all over the world, were rising up against the financial shenanigans being pulled by the financial cartels.
We ordered a ham torta but couldn’t finish it so we offered it to a group of school teachers who had been part of the protests and were sitting at the next table. They were appreciative. We told them we were in solidarity with them. The waiter wanted to know where the board with the torta went but calmed down when we told him we gave it to our friends next to us. He said that Americans always are doing that. I guess We’ll take that as a compliment. Anyway, we bid goodnight and headed back to the Arosa.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
We took a bus tour to Toledo today. Our original plan had been to go there on our own but we thought better of that since we were so sore from our previous sightseeing. The company terminal was nearby just off the Gran Via on calle San Bernardo, so that was also a selling point. The company is a Gray Line affiliate. There are several operators who provide bus trips to Toledo and they all are more or less the same. Ours was typical in that lunch was offered, at a price, and there was a stop at a damask factory which was useless but, like stopping at a cameo factory on the way to Pompeii, all of them do it.
In any case, we did do plenty of walking in Toledo but it was great to be able to take the bus directly to the Alcazar. That was, IMO, the highlight of the trip. Another plus of the bus travel is that admissions to the various sights are included in the price. We had a knowledgeable guide who took us on a walking tour from the Alcazar to the lower town. We also made a photo stop at a point overlooking Toledo and the Tagus River.
The almuerzo típico or typical Toledo style lunch was only fair but it was at the end of the walking tour and neither of us had any desire to walk any further or explore on our own while the others ate. That is an option but not one we were interested in. Our tablemates were from Brazil so we were able to converse in a mixture of Spanish, Italian, English and Portuguese. They were mother and daughter as were two other people we talked to quite a bit while on the tour. The latter duo were of Cuban origin and lived in Miami. I talked quite a bit in Spanish with the mom, a delightful señora.
We arrived back in Madrid around 6:00 PM. We did some exploring of streets we hadn’t been on before and stopped at a couple of watering holes for refreshment. Rather than bothering with dinner after the late lunch, we just picked up bocadillos de jamón from a Rodella (chain café) location on calle Montera. They are one of the few places equipped for takeout as a specialty. They have good restrooms as well.
We headed back to the Arosa tired but happy, knowing that our last two days in Madrid would be spent meandering.
Monday, October 16, 2011
We walked to the Royal Palace but it was closed for some sort of conference. It was suitably impressive from the outside and we did see the relief and posting of guards of the Guardia Real.
On the way to the palace we stopped at the lovely Plaza de la Villa which is lovely. The highlight of the day was the Mercado de San Miguel, adjacent to the plaza, which is a delight to the senses of sight and smell. I got a Panama hat there which is not only stylish but useful in sunny Madrid.
Before heading back to Plaza Mayor for lunch, we we went through a park, Campo del Moro. A very nice walk.
We also stopped at another pleasant place, a public library, near Plaza de la Villa. We talked to one of the librarians regarding their classification system, which is of interest as Tam is a librarian. We also spoke with one of the building guards, after he cautioned us not to speak above a whisper. When I apologized he said the library is the only place where Spainiards don’t talk and laughed. We talked a bit. He asked us if we were German. I’m guessing that perhaps he couldn’t identify my accent. Yes, that must be it
We had lunch at Museo del Jamón in Plaza Mayor. There are many of these throughout Madrid but this is the only one I saw which was a full service restaurant. The others are more delis with the delicious hams. We had combination plates, I had merluza (hake fish) while Tam had chicken. They were quite a bargain at around € 10 each. We also had delicious cold Mahout beers.
We had our usual siestas after lunch. Later I went to Casa del Libro, which is almost next to the hotel, to shop for some books while Tam did some sketches at Plaza del Carmen. We met up there and had cervezas at the café of Hotel Garbo, which has a lovely pink façade and is gorgeous in the light of the setting sun.
After dark we made our way to one of the side streets, calle del Pozo, near Puerta del Sol, where we had tapas of albóndigas (meatballs) and calamari which were just delicious.. The name of the café is Nueva Galicia.
I made the arrangements to be picked up Wednesday at 7:00 AM to go to the airport. Sadly all good things like this wonderful adventure in Madrid must end. Our Tuesday morning destination is Retiro Park. After that we will see where we wind up.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
We ambled down to Atocha Railway Station after breakfast for a look at that beautiful building. Then we headed to lovely Retiro Park for a stroll through it. Like all our days in Madrid, this one was beautiful: high in the 70s, crystal clear sky, and humidity in the low 20s. We saw a young American couple obviously enamored of one another. Ah, to be in the flower of youth in Madrid.
We had paella again at Arysol in Puerta del Sol along with some cold Mahou. It is nice to be an older couple in Madrid as well.
After a siesta we packed up stuff and headed out to café hop. We had bocadillos de lomo (pork) for dinner as we were still working off lunch. It was a great day in the city.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Our Aerocity driver was at our hotel promptly at 7:00 AM. He picked up two other couples along the way to Barajas. He was quite efficient if not particularly friendly or talkative—quite the opposite of the driver who took us into the city when we landed. It is such a big airport that by the time we jumped through all the hoops, we only got to our gate about 20 minutes before boarding. We did have time to grab bocadillos and café con leche at a food stand.
Luckily on the flight to JFK there was an empty seat on our side so the flight was much better on the return. I will endeavor to avoid JFK in the future as it is such an awful airport. I would also recommend to anyone that they allow a good deal of time to negotiate Barajas as it is so large and spread out. I would not have such an early flight either. Had we been delayed in traffic, we would have missed the flight.
All in all, Madrid was great and went far beyond our expectations. We definitely want to go back to Spain. The food doesn’t compare with France or Italy, IMO, but the ambiance and the cafes cannot be beat, nor can the warmth of the Madrileños, both native and newcomer.

Too bad you did not get a chance to sample some great tapas on Cava Baja or visited the
elegant Salamnca district just north of Retiro.
Glad you enjoyed the city...Thanks for the report.

That's the way to go, thanks for a great report!

Only one remark, every person is so unique, we all have our own priorities, no one is better than another, just different,
if I read correctly joe's trip report of his trip to Madrid, I gather the Prado was not included>?
If I am wrong then I am sorry, and please disregard this posting.
However if the Prado was indeed not included I only wish to say that I have been many times to Madrid,and that each time I have visited el Museo del Prado, sometimes more than once in the same visit.
I could not phantom a visit to Madrid otherwise. As I said the beauty of it, is that we are all different.

Yes, they spent a long time in Prado

When in Madird,

I have to take a walk in Retiro and, in the evening, Plaza de Oriente.

Thank you Danon, now I see it, how could I miss it>?. toucheé...

TTT

Thanks for your wonderful report. I was in Madrid early October and loved it. The people were friendly, the food was good and I felt very safe. I was concerned about this after reading many reports. I walked, road the buses, metro and just used city smarts. The Guernica was very impressive, as is the story behind the painting.

Thanks to everyone for your comments.
Danon, I was sorry we didn't get to Cava Baja but so many places, so little time! We were briefly in the Salamanca district.
Nlingenfel, we were not sure what to expect either, but are in complete agreement with you. We miss it already!