Madrid — Week 4
On Wednesday I was up early (9am…), and took the metro to go meet Mai at the airport. It was exciting to see her after three weeks, and an opportunity to thank her for taking care of Juno. Mai had breakfast at — where else — East Crema, where I am a recognized client, and after introducing Salamanca to her we had lunch at Honest Green. We spent the day walking in Salamanca and resting at the apartment, mainly Mai who had a 5:30am flight and didn’t sleep much last night.
Roey and Hila arrived after midnight on Wednesday, so we met them Thursday morning and did the standard Madrid walk of the main highlights: Puerto de Alcala, Chueka, Gran Via, Sol, Plaza Mayor, Mercado San Miguel, the Royal Palace, the Cathedral and back thru La Latina, Prado and Retiro Park. This time we did go into the Cathedral and climbed up to the top which is a worthwhile view of the palace area and the city. The were of course, multiple coffee and food stops along the way: brunch at Zenith Brunch & Cocktails (Mai’s recommendation), drinks at La Musa Latina in La Latina, and coffee and bakes at the Pum Pum Bakery (Mai’s recommendation). This day has been a total upgrade for me: I don’t have to find places to eat/drink (Mai does), I don’t have to navigate (Mai does), and I don’t have to try and speak in broken Spanish (Hila speaks great Spanish). After taking some time to rest at the apartment we went for dinner at Ornella, an Italian restaurant, which I liked a lot.
Friday was a shopping day, mainly for Mai and Hila, but Roey bought some stuff too, and walking with them thru the stores, I found myself buying stuff at Pull & Bear (I never even entered that store ever before), Zara and Muji. Small things, but still stuff I would probably not buy if I was not going with them. I told them they have to pay for it… 😊. Breakfast was at Bucolico Café (it’s unbelievable the places that Mai finds!), lunch at Five Guys (they had burgers, I had fries with lots of ketchup and peanuts) and dinner at Honest Green, which quickly becomes my favorite eatery in Madrid. On the way to Honest Green we ran into Julia, Yusef and Lana Zaher, as we were walking on Calle Serrano. What are the chances of that?
Saturday was time for Mai to leave 😩, so we started the morning at East Crema café, and then the girls went shopping, while Roey and I had Tinto Verrano and Tortia de Patata at the Mercado de la Paz. After Mai left I stayed at the apartment, while Hila and Roey walked in Madrid. We met in the evening to go for an Indian dinner at Swagat.
When Mai was here we started to watch Silo on Apple TV. It’s a great SciFi TV series based on the book Wool by Huge Howey. After Mai left we wanted to continue to watch it and agreed on Simul-watch, I.e. Watching together at the same time. It took some initial adjustments, but it works great including sharing experiences during the episode.
Between two zoom calls in the morning and one in the evening, I dedicated Monday to a part of Madrid I didn’t visit yet, the northeast part of the city. I started in Arquelles, walked thru Parque del Oeste, Monclova, Gaztambide and Arapiles and then south to Malasana. There’s not a lot to see in these barrios, but the park is awesome: spacious, clean, walking trails, creeks and small waterfalls, and almost no people. Eventually I stopped for coffee at the Camden Cafe and then continued walking thru the interesting Plaza del Dos de Mayo to Malasena and Chueka and took a takeaway veggie burger from Mad Mad Vegan which I ate later at the apartment. Really good. The sky got really cloudy with dark clouds, but somehow it didn’t rain for a while. But then, three blocks from the apartment it started to rain cats and dogs, and in just 3 blocks I got completely drenched.
I am getting close to the end of my one month in Madrid, and there’s not a lot left to see, although I did spend the day (Tuesday) walking in Salamanca and Chueka, and coffee at Natif Cafe. Dinner today was a farewell dinner with Nir at Barganzo, an Israeli restaurant in Madrid. Who would have imagined that some of the best Israeli/Middleeastern food I ever had will be in a small restaurant in Madrid? Barganzo was full with people, and only thanks to Nir’s connections we were able to get a table on a short notice. The food was amazing, and the prices reasonable. We had shakshuka, hummus, falafel, tabule and cauliflower, all just awesome. And when I thought I can’t eat anymore an amazing knafe arrived and all of the sudden I was able to eat more. We were also joined for a while by the chef and owner {together with his wife Tami) Aviv Mizrahi.
Don’t miss.
Wednesday is my last day in Madrid. I am flying out to San Francisco tomorrow morning. I decided to use the last day to take advantage of the allowance I give to myself for spending one day of my month stay outside of the city. Yes, I went to Kinnernet in Costa Brava for a weekend, but this was a special event. After going to sleep very late (kudos to Israel’s under-20 soccer team for an amazing last minute win over Uzbekistan and reaching the World Cup quarterfinals to play Brazil!) and an early morning zoom meeting, I walked to the Madrid Atocha station (30 minutes walk) and took the 10:15 high-speed train to Toledo. The train covers the 71km in 30 minutes. Walking from the train station to the town takes about 20 minutes, but it’s climbing uphill thru streets and stairs. Fun.
The gpsmycity self-guided tour of the city highlights is an up and down experience as the old town is on a hill and you keep going up and down that hill. It starts by climbing to Plaza de Zocodover, which is derived from the Arabic “market of animals offloading” . It’s Toledo’s central Plaza since the middle ages, and in the past was an animal market and a bull ring. From there down to Puerta del Sol which was built in the 14th century by the Knights Hospitalers who also founded the Saint John Hospital in Jerusalem. Then up again to the Monasterio de Santo Domingo (built in the 6th century) and down again to the Monasterio de San Juan de Los Reyes, a massive building with a nice square. A good place to sit and rest from the climbs. In short, the city is full of historic buildings. On the way to the Monasterio I see a “חי” tile as part of the pavement (see photo).
Next is the Jewish quarter, where Sinagoga de Santa Maria la Blanca is the oldest synagogue in Europe (12th century). It’s so simple inside compared the Christian Cathedrals. Then deeper into the Jewish quarter is Plaza Barrio Nuevo and the Synagoga El Transito and the Sephardic Museum. The synagogue was built in 1357, but was converted to a church when my Jewish ancestors were expelled from Spain in 1492. This synagoge is more impressive with many Sephardic jews relics inside.
It’s recommended to get coffee in Taberna Tristan just next to the synagogue. Good coffee, clean bathrooms, nice views. Then in Calle San Tome everything changes. Suddenly lots of people, cafés, restaurants and shops. At some point in the trail, the number of historical buildings overwhelms you, but the Toledo Cathedral is a building of a different scale. It’s huge and very impressive.
Bottom line: if you in Madrid for few days, take the high-speed train to Toledo and spend 4 hours there. It’s worth the trip specifically if you like history and/or you are Jewish…
Week totals:
Steps: 125,256
Kilometers: 105
