Back in Spain {Eating our way through Madrid}

Hola desde Madrid.  Actually, hello from San Francisco...  Michelle and I are slowly but surely catching up on the blog, one trip at a time.  We have to go all the way back to August 2013 for our weekend to Madrid.  

Why did we go to Madrid?  Why not?  Who doesn't like warm weather when you're stuck in an Irish summer (albeit the best Irish summer in 18 years)?  Who doesn't love tapas crawls?  Who doesn't love exploring a major European city for a few days?  Who doesn't love Spain?!

This was my third trip to Spain since we moved to Dublin and our second together.  In fact our first trip outside of Dublin was to Barcelona.  I fell in love immediately.  After an amazing weekend in San Sebastian earlier in the year I was itching to go back. 

 

Michelle in front of the Royal Palace

We flew in bright and early from Dublin and hit the town to see the sights.  First stop (after coffee) was the Royal Palace.  We've seen our share of grand buildings over the summer and opted not the pay for the tour and just checked out the view from the cheap seats. 

Inside Plaza Mayor

From the Royal Palace we took a short walk to Plaza Mayor, definitely one of the more impressive squares that I've seen.  Finally we saw enough culture to get to the good stuff, Mercado de San Miguel.  A newly renovated, fairly high end food hall in the city center.  It's basically a tapas mecca and the perfect stop for a mid day snack. 

Seafood galore, too bad we didn't have a kitchen at our hotel

The ultimate olive bar

The great thing about the mercado is that you can buy what you want from dozens of stalls and then just grab a seat in the middle to enjoy.  It was so tough to decide between all of the deliciousness around but we made do.  

Notice the octopus on toast?  I was craving octopus and can't believe I waited 4 hours after landing to get some.

Total happiness.

What do you do after a couple of beers and a tapas lunch in Madrid?  Sit outside, have a coffee, and watch the city go by...

Michelle looking adorable as usual.

Mercado de San Miguel was one of 3 mercados that we visited during our weekend but the only one planned.  The other 2 we stumbled upon were definitely local, not as geared to prepared food, and totally awesome.  We were so jealous not to have anything like it in Dublin.  I don't remember the name of the market below (I mean, it was 8 months ago!), but you can see how people do their everyday shopping.  I love how the shoppers are very particular about the stalls they go to and it seems like everybody knows each other.  Completely different than going to the Marina Safeway and bobbing and weaving around the store in a mad rush with the rest of the neighborhood after work. 

Typical fruit stall in the market

Meat mecca at the market, crazy how much variety they had on offer

We actually stumbled on the market above on our way to the Museo del Prado, Madrid's sprawling collection of world class galleries.  We don't have any pictures from in the museum, but it's definitely worth a trip if you are in town.  Not to mention, it was over 90 degrees and we were melting after getting soft over 18 months in Dublin, the air conditioned museum was much needed.  We spent the rest of the day just cruising the city and enjoying the atmosphere.  

Pretty sure this is actually a library, pretty impressive

On the recommendation of my buddy Eric we went to dinner at a place called Lateral, located right in Plaza Santa Ana.  What an amazing meal, we loved it so much we actually went back the next night!  I have actually never done that before in my life.  They do a great modern spin on traditional tapas dishes, exactly what we were looking for. 

I think I am in the middle of telling Michelle to hurry up and take the picture so I can finally eat my croquettes. 

Totally satisfied and happy enough to go back the next day for the dishes we didn't have room for our first night.

The next morning we woke up to another beautiful day in Madrid, but it was a scorcher.  We braved the heat, grabbed Michelle's favorite breakfast (croissant and coffee) and made our way to the train station.  We heard from a lot of sources (blogs, guidebooks, and so on) that Toledo was an amazing day trip from Madrid.  We heard wrong! 

Ignorance is bliss, enjoying our breakfast before heading out the train station

Down by our hotel, Madrid is an amazing mix of architecture

Toledo is probably a really cool place if you have never seen a medieval walled city before.  We're spoiled, we've seen our fair share.  Toledo was hot, I mean crazy hot.  It was also touristy, I mean, crazy touristy.  We walked around a bit but there was no oomph to the city.  Just your typical tourist junk and crowds.  There were some nice buildings, but nothing knocked our socks off.  

Madrid was cheap compared to Dublin, our amazing meal at Lateral was less than what we would spend for one of us to eat in Dublin.  Toledo was a whole other story, our only options were tourist traps and we spent a fortune for what had to be the worst Spanish food in the world.  They were definitely cooking for tourists, not Spaniards.  

We were also in Toledo on a Sunday and it's Spain so of course a lot of stuff was closed.  There was a  Jewish museum we were going to see but of course it was shut.  I guess that in Spain the Jews have the privilege of observing Shabbat on Saturday and the Catholic day of rest on Sunday, not a bad gig. We finally decided to through in the towel and catch an earlier train back to Madrid.   

Totally defeated

How we really felt about Toledo

And, if that didn't sum it up....

Back in Madrid, we were on the right path again.  We did what we do best, cruise around, check out the scene, maybe get a drink or two along the way.  We salvaged the afternoon, hit up some tapas bars for dinner, and vowed that we would never go back to Toledo again!

Hanging out in Chueca area

We came across this guy in Puerta del Sol on our walk home.  Unfortunately I cut off the guys broom, so guess where we had to go the next day as well? 

Take 1

Take 2

The next day for lunch we reluctantly went to Casa Toni for some tapas.  Rick Steve's raved about this little tapas bar on a side road by Puerta del Sol.  Rick is a great guide, but we usually steer clear of  his food and drink recommendations.  Typically you just find the tourists eating in guide book suggestions, but not here.  I was never so happy to be wrong. 

This little hole in the wall was cranking out some of the best traditional Spanish dishes I have ever had.  Not to mention the staff of 2 were awesome, as were the guys at the table next to us.  They were a fun group of middle aged drunk locals that were very passionate about what we should order.  They didn't lead us astray.   Not to mention, I always love a place that gives you a shot of home made booze with the check!   

Michelle probably saying that I ordered too much food.

Me washing it down with a nice glass of rosé

Who knew that Rick Steve's could be so right?

The rest of the day we continued our cruise around the city and tried to walk off some of our lunch.

We ended up in Plaza Ángel, just around the corner from where we were our first night at Lateral.  We sat down for  beer while the sun was out and didn't get up for a while...  I blame the little band that showed up and the awesome people watching.  I'm a sucker for an accordion and a stand up base, these guys had both. 

Afternoon beer

Same table a while later

As I mentioned we ended up back at Lateral for a light bite that night and sat outside.  Then, as if we didn't already eat enough we just had to hit up this 24 hour churro and chocolate place we heard about, Chocolateria San Gines.  I actually think that I wanted another drink and Michelle won that battle.  Totally worth it, crazy good churros with an incredibly rich chocolate dip.  

How happy does she look?

Our last full day in Madrid was spent cruising around the amazing Parque del Retiro.  It's an incredible urban park that rivals any other that I have seen.   Great way to chill out on our last day before flying back to Dublin.

At the Palacio de Cristal

#putafilteronit

Right after I took this selfie a homeless guy walked by with his junk hanging out, just like back home in San Francisco...

Hasta luego, Mardid.

We've been back in San Francisco for 3 months now and people keep asking us what our favorite trips has been.  It's tough to say, we have been very lucky to travel so much.  I can never decide what my favorite trip was, but Spain is definitely one of my favorite countries.  I hope it's not too long before we are back enjoying the people, the culture, and of course, the food!