Don and Veronica's Post Card From Holland: Madrid for the Weekend

It was the weekend before Christmas, classes were winding down for Christmas break, and it seemed like a good time to go somewhere really festive. So we did! Off to Madrid for a long weekend. It’s only a two hour fight, and we had come across some cheap tickets. We had never been there before, so there was no excuse not to go. We loaded up the carry-on bag, joined our friends David (in the same program at the University with Don) and his wife April, and scurried off to the airport.

Welcome to Madrid, Earthling!

We arrived about 8:00 in the evening and, after a little confusion figuring out the metro connections, finally got on the right line to our hostel. We had gotten a really good price for the room, so I was a little concerned about the location, but when we emerged from the metro, we were greeted by a huge lively square filled with throngs of people, surrounded by stately ornate Spanish style buildings, decked out with an electric blaze of lights, and a 100 foot tall electronic Christmas tree. We were in the middle of Plaza de la Puerta del Sol, Madrid’s version of Times Square, in the heart of the city. Our Hostel was a block and a half away.

Madrid is a very social and lively city, and the square only got busier as it grew later. We checked into our room and decided to join the crowd and explore the city center. Of course all the shops were open, so it wasn’t long before Veronica and April fell under the spell of the impressively inexpensive Spanish prices, and Boot-and-Purse Shopping Fever set in with a vengeance. Much later, we made our way back to the hostel loaded down with goods.

Plaza de Cibeles

We had signed up for a “free” (tips please) walking tour of the city the next day, so we were up and out early. Our tour guide, a bilingual grad student, was full of interesting historical and social facts, so we felt like we got a good feel for the city. We started at the Plaza Mayor, a 17th Century Square surrounded by stunning grandiose facades, once the site of the condemnation of heretics during the Spanish Inquisition, then later the scene of spectacular bull fights. It is now filled with street vendor booths and tourists. We wondered down the winding streets to the Chocolateria de San Ginés, famous for its chocolate con churros (churros dipped in melted chocolate). We spent the next couple of hours going from plaza to plaza, past the original moorish city wall, the Iglesia de San Nicolás de los Servitas, the Palacio Real, and heard story after story. It was delightful. When our guide invited us back for a tapas bar tour that evening, we jumped at the chance.

Tapas, the Spanish custom of eating a variety of small sampler dishes with your drinks, is a uniquely Spanish experience. There are many stories about how Tapas originated. One says that medieval travelers often arrived in town with only enough money to buy either something to eat or something to drink, but not both. Usually, they would opt for drink, and trouble would soon follow. To prevent drunken rowdies, the government decreed that inns could only serve beer or wine with food, so the owners would place a slice of ham or cheese on top of the glass, like a lid (tapa). This also conveniently kept dust and bugs out of the drink.

Traditional Paella- Yummy!

Fortunately, we didn’t have to worry about dust or bugs on our tapas tour. We had a wonderful time in La Latina quarter going from tapas bar to tapas bar with our guide, sampling the various dishes, and sharing laughs and experiences with her. The night life in Madrid starts to ramp up about 10:00, when groups of friends start accumulating at the various favorite watering holes, and often goes long and loud all the way through to the next morning. Hemingway described it by saying that “nobody goes to bed in Madrid until they have killed the night.” In our case, however, the night was winning, and we were back in our hostel shortly after midnight.

This baby needs a shave....

The street performers in Madrid were undoubtedly the cleverest and most entertaining we have seen anywhere, including San Francisco. With unemployment currently hovering around 20%, they have a plentiful supply. Of course, you have your standard selection of human statues and cartoon characters. But you also have a wonderful variety of interactive street performers, including a magician worthy of any stage in Las Vegas, an invisible man with his hat and sunglasses suspended by a thin wire above his jacket, a clacking tinsel covered llama, and our favorite: the man-baby in a carriage. His body is concealed beneath the carriage and his head pokes up into the carriage on top of the baby body with little movable arms. He was engaging all the passerbys and flirting with all the women, and was totally hilarious.

Our final day was spent quietly at the world famous Museo del Prado (Prado Art Museum). It houses an impressive collection of Goya, El Greco, Rubens, Rembrandt, Dűrer, and others. We returned home both culinarily and culturally enriched, and ready for our next adventure.