October 30 - Madrid Spain

Today we woke to light rain and dark skies.  Bummer.  Especially since we have a walking tour scheduled.  Fortunately it was off and on rain, mostly off. 

The walking tour included a couple and their young daughter from Orange County, California but currently living in London.  The English schools have a one week break every six weeks so they are seeing Europe during those breaks.  What a wonderful opportunity for the young girl to get such a well-rounded exposure to other countries.

The walking tour first took us to the Royal Palace for views of the main courtyard.

The line to get general admission tickets was pretty long.

The relatively new (consecrated 25 years ago) Catedral de la Almudena, faced the courtyard of the palace. 

We also stopped by a small park near the cathedral.  Facing the park was the only remaining portion of the old city walls.  It was a pretty small section.  The guide said that as the city grew and no longer needed the walls the materials in the wall were used to build other sections of the city.

The walking tour took us through some old streets, to the Mercado San Miguel.  The Mercado is about 110 years old and is a covered, enclosed market where you can get meats, baked items, fruits and vegetables, and tapas (small plates).  

We also wandered through Plaza Mayor.  The plaza dates from 1577 and is surrounded by buildings that house primarily apartments.  Our guide said the apartments are not too expensive because the plaza is rather noisy.  The plaza was also filled with rows of rather jarringly modern stalls which really detracted from the look of the plaza although they certainly added to the liveliness of the area.

The tour included hot chocolate and churros and ended at the Palace.  No photos were allowed in the palace except in the entry stairs area but the rooms were pretty magnificent.

After the tour and a short rest (it was too early for lunch, the Spanish don’t eat lunch until 2:00 or 2:30) we headed out to find a restaurant.  On the way we passed by the San Ginés Chocolaterier.  The previous evening we had walked by and there were at least 15 or 20 people in a line way out the door.  Today there were only 3 or 4 people in line so we decided to get in line and get whatever it is that everyone is  willing to stand in long lines to get.

Turns out the big draw here is the very dark, spoonable hot chocolate.  So we got hot chocolate and carrot cake.  Both were every good (although Mary likes the hot chocolate from Angelina’s in Paris better).  Since cake and chocolate don’t really make a meal we also stopped at Mercado San Miguel and picked up bananas. 

During the walking tour the guide pointed out various plaques on the ground in front of different shops. These plaques are for any establishments that have been operating in the same location for at least 100 years. This chocolateria had a plaque showing that it had been in business since 1894.  And we can understand why.

Since the day was still pretty dreary and damp we headed back to the hotel for the afternoon. 

After dinner we managed to get a bit lost wandering the streets following the not so good directions to the show venue provided by the staff at the hotel desk.  We had very good seats at the flamenco show.  The show featured four lady dancers and one man plus singers and musicians.  It was a very good show.  

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Watch video of dancer.

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Watch video of dancer.
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Watch video of dancer.
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We only got slightly lost on the way back to the hotel.