April 14, 2011
Our last full day in Madrid, we started at the Mercado de San Miguel. The Mercado is an old covered market, which has recently been refurbished, and is full of food shops, bars, and even a bookstore.
We decided on churros con chocolate for breakfast. Churros in Madrid are not sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar like they are here, and they are usually not in straight lines. They are freshly fried, about a million calories, and oh, so good. They come with a rich, thick hot chocolate. The hot chocolate is so thick, it is more pudding-like than drink-like. The consistency allows the chocolate to cling to the churro when you dip them.
Before we left the Mercado, we purchased a tapas recipe book from the bookstore. I am anxious to try several of the tapas we enjoyed here at home.
Madrid is full of wonderful alleys that invite you to stroll down and discover a new place to explore.
Cerveceria Alemana is another Hemingway haunt on Plaza Santa Ana. Hemingway's table is at the window to the right of Greg. Alemana was closed when we did out tour with Stephen Drake-Jones. This was Stephen's day off, and we had so much fun on our tour, he had offered to meet us again for quick drinks here. He knew what a big Hemingway fan I was, and he wanted me to see this place.
Hemingway's table. Unfortunately, the flash did not go off because of the bright light from the window, so I had to fiddle with the photo electronically so our faces show. I think that it makes the photo seem more Hemingway-esque with the sepia tones (as long as you don't look too close).
Here is what it should have looked like if I had had the camera set up right. Greg and Stephen enjoying some Manchego cheese with their drinks.
After our drinks, Greg and I walked around the city revisiting some of the places we had seen previously. Greg in front of a fragment of the old city wall of Madrid. This is something we saw on our tour with Stephen, but I didn't get a picture of it during the tour.
We walked towards the Royal Palace, heading towards Plaza de Oriente to find a cool place to sit, relax, and do some people-watching.
Royal Palace:
Greg enjoying a Cuban cigar in the Plaza de Oriente:
It was a relaxing day spent strolling around the city. By this time in our trip, we were nearing exhaustion, so a day filled with lazy strolling was perfect (even if it was also difficult, because there was so much more we wanted to see and do).
It was time to start winding the trip down and head back to Britain for our flight home.
No comments:
Post a Comment