MADRID - Spain

Bear and the Strawberry Tree

I have realized that, recently, my blog posts related to traveling has had a strong focus on food. And honestly, this blog post could be titled “Eating My Way Through Madrid.” I seem to have been eating my way through many cities in the world over the years, but I must say, Madrid was definitely a real treat speaking of food. I am so happy I now enjoy good food and wine. This used to not be the case. When I was 10 my family took me to the Spanish island of Mallorca. I decided to personally compare all the Spaghetti Bolognese in the city we stayed in. Meaning, I basically only ate Spaghetti Bolognese for two weeks straight. I am not kidding! I am sure my parents tried to sway me into trying something different in order to get some other nutrients in my little body, but no. I have always been extremely stubborn. On another trip through Europe, 2 years later, I decided that McDonalds was the bomb and only wanted to eat that for the duration of our road trip. My poor parents were desperate to get their tiny Viking Princess to eat anything and obliged. THANK GOODNESS that I got my act together and now eat anything and everything! I am notorious for having tried the most weird and insane dishes. My recent trip to Spain was a heaven for a foodie like me. And yes I proudly accepted the title “foodie”, which was given to me by one of my travel companions Ken, a fellow food enthusiast. This blog post will be devoted completely to reviewing some of the places we ate at.

I flew down to Madrid in order to meet up with my dear American friends Ken and Cyndi (well they are more like family) as they were visiting Europe. Upon arrival I was welcomed by thousands of Greenpeace activists there to make a stance with regards to the climate conference held in Paris. Met up with Ken and Cyndi at their hotel and later in the afternoon we had an early dinner (for us early, but everyone thought we had a late lunch) at Los Galayos located at La Plaza Mayor. We enjoyed some seafood and pig – all washed down with a very fine red wine. Good start to the days in Madrid!  

Ramón

The next day, after enjoying some sightseeing, we returned to La Plaza Mayor and ventured into a restaurant called Hegar. It was by pure chance we walked into this restaurant and we were so happy we did. This is where we met Ramón. Ramón was a great waiter and even though he really did not speak much English and we really don’t speak much Spanish we manage to communicate with each other. We enjoyed some jamon (the famous ham) and chorizo (sausages) but the real highlight came when the fish arrived. Imagine placing a whole fish underneath a large pile of salt and hence cooking it that way. I am realizing I am missing a lot of steps in the process, but all I can say it spellbound us. Ramón was the person who expertly dug out the fish from underneath the salt, filéd the fish and served it. We only got a few cornels each of salt and the fish, my friends, was nothing short of a masterpiece.

Later that day, in the evening in fact, we had a reservation at the world’s oldest restaurant called Botin, founded in 1725. What a place! We were welcomed by waiters dressed in gentleman attire, white jackets etc. When walking up the staircase I caught a glimpse of the room where the roasting of the suckling pigs, their specialty, took place. This is definitely not a view a vegetarian would stomach. But I have made it a rule for myself that when I travel, I basically eat anything. Call me a hypocrite, but yeah, that’s my deal. And yes, that rule was implemented many years after the Spaghetti Bolognese/MacDonald’s silliness. Vegetarians, I would suggest skipping the next few sentences. When you bit into the meat, the skin of the pig which had

Botin

been roasted made a crackling sound and you knew the process of getting it like that had been perfected since, well 1725. The meal was wonderful and we enjoyed it with a very bold red wine. It felt like such a true Spanish experience. When we exited the upstairs region of the restaurant, and walked down the same staircase, we walked passed the room where they prepared the pigs one more time. Inside there was a man working away. I asked if I could take a picture and he proudly displayed a roasted pig. Again, this is not for vegetarians, but it was nice to see him take such pride in his craft. We walked home full and happy through the narrow alleyways all decked out for Christmas.

The following day it was time to visit Mercado de San Miguel, an indoor marketplace one of my tenants had recommended to me. I thought we, the three foodies, would enjoy it and so we did! You could purchase a

Mercado de San Miguel

glass of wine, walk around and buy various small snack-size meals. We had churros with chocolate and ham and olives. The quality of the food there was excellent and so was the presentation. This place is a must for visitors to Madrid. We walked around and did a bit of shopping. Had to stop at a sandwich place to hold us over until dinner time. Ken, Cyndi and I were happy to take part in various culture phenomena as we are well traveled individuals. However, eating late, as you do in Spain was not quite our cup of tea. 8 o’clock rolled around (I know that’s very early for some countries standards) and we were happy to finally be able to sit down at a table at a restaurant called Marina Ventura. We ordered the seafood paella, which I had wanted since I arrived. Not so say that the other dishes were not as

Paella

important to try (as they were amazing!) but leaving Spain without having paella seemed unthinkable. Ken made sure we ordered seafood paella which also included some pieces of chicken and pork. Having those additions to the dish made sure the paella had some added fat to it and made the whole meal better. And it was indeed heavenly. Again we had a great red wine to enjoy and seriously, it was a wonderful last meal in the Spanish capital.

So there, this post ended up, just like I predicted it to be, a kind of homage to the food culture of Madrid. And I am sure you, dear reader, ask yourself: Did she do more than eat? Yes I did, I reconnected with two people extremely important to me. But we truly enjoyed the culinary experience: food, wine and coffee and to experience it together was priceless. Madrid was a great city to relax in. We stayed in the city center, by Plaza de Santa Ana, and it was a real delight to walk the streets in-between meals. Seeing more of the city by bus exposed us to grand boulevards and lavish buildings. I would totally recommend going to Madrid for a long weekend. Just make sure you bring a large appetite.