Madrid — Week 3
We started Thursday with the Hey My Coffee café in the Lista barrio. Gali says it’s the best coffee in Madrid, but she likes her coffee sour. Then a one hour walk to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, or in English, the Art Museum of Queen Sofia, which is one of the most important private art collections in the world and hosts some key works from Picasso and Dale, including Picasso’s famous Guernica. To get to the museum we walked thru some less fancy barrios of Madrid such as Estrella and Pacifico. Gali didn’t like it. I actually like to see all facets of a city. We spent an hour or so in a museum so large and rich that you can spend few days at. BTW, it happened that entrance was free on this specific day, and I guess when you don’t pay you don’t feel obliged to stay there longer… We walked back to the apartment thru Retiro Park and were dead tired when we got back. But a quick home lunch, rest, and one zoom meeting after, we were ready to go out to town. We took the metro to Alonso Martinez, and strolled in Malasana and Chueka (recommended evening stroll) and then had dinner at Cesar Burger. A Mojito (Gali) and a glass of wine (me) at La Playita on the way back, and we were back at the apartment at 21:45 with 20km walked on the day.
I am starting to run out of places to go to in Madrid. The map on which I mark my walks is beginning to get pretty marked up. So on Friday I again used the services of gpsmycity (someone is going to think that I get something from promoting them…) and we walked the Miguel Cervantes walk, which is tracking some of the places the author of Don Quixote stayed at. The entire walk is in Lavapies, and it starts at his statue at Plaza de las Cortez. Apparently when the statue was erected there in 1835, this was the first non-Royal statue in Spain ever. From there to the House of Cervantes in 2 Cervantes street. This is not actually the house he lived in. That house was demolished and a new house was built there in 1833 (there’s an interesting story how the residents of Madrid and the king of Spain tried to save the house from demolition, but failed in that). But it is the site of the house he lived in. Next is the Convent of the Barefoot Trinitarians, where Cervantes was buried only in 2015, after his remains were identified — using modern days techniques — only earlier in that year. Then there’s the place where it is believed that he wrote Don Quixote, and finally to the place where the first printed version of Don Quixote was printed. All in All, a worthwhile walk.
Dinner tonight was as “nearby” as you can expect: we went to Manolita Chen, an Asian restaurant at the ground floor of the building where our apartment is.
The story of the day is La Tasquería, though. This is the restaurant to which Ron, Yossi and I walked into by pure coincidence a week and a half ago and had lunch there. Today, in a travel article, I found out that it’s one of the best restaurants in Madrid and the proud owner of a Michelin star. We had no idea. What are the chances of us walking by coincidence into a one Michelin star restaurant? This is the ChatGPT translation of the Hebrew travel article text about La Tasqueria: “The information crossroads between various guides, ratings, and recommendations from knowledgeable individuals ultimately led to “La Tasquería,” hidden in a nondescript residential building in Salamanca. The restaurant, which opened in 2017 and has been considered one of the unique and excellent establishments in the city since its inception, presents a modern Spanish cuisine. We won’t go into every detail, but this small place, which captivates us with its simplicity, justifies every euro spent and proudly holds the Michelin star it deserves.”
Saturday was a “stay in Salamanca” day, mainly since we planned to go to see Malinche in the evening in North Madrid. It is the musical produced by David Hatchwell (see week 1 blog). We strolled thru all the shopping streets of Salamanca, managing not to buy anything. We also visited the super busy Mercado de la Paz, but had a late lunch at the Indian restaurant Curry & Canela, where I had my first dinner in Madrid. We took the metro earlier to the area of IFEMA Madrid, where the musical took place, and a walked around for a while in the neighborhoods of Palomas and Pioveras, and in the outskirts of Parque de Juan Carlos I. Not a lot to see or do. At IFEMA we met David and Angel, and David gave us the grand tour of the theatre. It’s an amazing complex with food and drink areas, a huge Theatre and a 29 meters stage. Malinche is an amazing production with 70 actors, and some unbelievable stage elements and special effects. The story line is enticing, and the English subtitles — that worked most of the time (David says they are still working on it) obviously helped a lot. By the end of the musical I found myself standing with everyone and singing in Spanish. When the show ended around midnight the director Nacho gave a speech, but that speech didn’t have subtitles, so we didn’t understand it. Once the musical is over, around midnight, a party starts at the venue, but we didn’t hang around for it.
On Sunday the plan was to go to the Sunday El Rastro Market, but Gali didn’t want to fight the crowds, and I already visited the market, so we skipped the market and strolled in La Latina instead and had lunch at TateMado (Mexican, good but too few vegetarian options). BTW, our mornings always start with a coffee at East Crema Café in Salamanca. On the long walk back from La Latina to the apartment (one hour), we stopped for the second time now at Torrons Chocolate. It’s heaven for chocolate lovers. God knows what I will do with all the chocolates, etc. I bought there. At least some of them are for Tal and Logan…
Monday was a semi rest day, before Gali goes back to Israel. We strolled in Salamanca — you can never get enough of that — and had a late lunch at Casa Dani at the Mercado de la Paz. Recommended despite the need to almost always wait in line even way after lunch time. They claim to have the best Tortilla de Patata in Spain, and after eating it in several places, it’s quite possible this is the case. Later Gali was busy packing, and I got some work done, plus had more prep for the PCT. We thought we are done with food for the day, but around 8pm we went on yet another stroll and found ourselves at Honest Green. Great healthy food, creative, large portions, good drinks variety and reasonable pricing (thanks, Zohar, for the recommendation). I wish I would have found it earlier.
I just noticed that the last two days were almost only about food. It should not be a surprise. I live in Madrid for the month. It doesn’t mean that there’s something to see or do every day. Sometimes it’s just work, or walking around or watching TV. Lately, for example, every day is watching NBA. But you always have to eat, and while I am ready for some homemade food, we end up going to eat out almost every day, at least when Gali is here.
Gali left Tuesday morning, and I had half a day for myself before Mai, Roey and Hila are coming over. I mostly walked around until it started raining, bought a hat with a built-in flap for the PCT, and watched Ted Lasso, which is just great. I tried to go to sleep early, but one thing led to another and the earliest I was able to go to sleep was half past midnight.
Week totals:
Steps: 104,096
Kilometers: 87.6
