Exploding with Happiness!: Madrid

This morning, Laura got up and went to class and the rest of us packed our bags for Madrid. We left our Barcelona apartment and headed to the Sants train station via the Metro and made our train with a couple minutes to spare. The train was really nice – very smooth and clean and fairly comfortable – for those who consider airplanes comfortable. A little over two and a half hours later, we pulled into the Atocha train station in Madrid. As soon as we reached Madrid, we went straight to our apartment, where our host’s cleaning woman met us and showed us around. The apartment is lovely and right across the street from the Prado in a beautiful area.

We were pretty hungry, so after we dropped off our bags and picked up the keys, we went out to find something to eat. Our guidebook suggested Los Gatos, a little restaurant a block away, for traditional tapas, so that’s where we headed. It was a cute little place, and we were soon seated at a table in the back room. However, whether because the middle of the afternoon is not the time that tapas are usually served or because we didn’t understand this restaurant’s approach to tapas or some other reason, we had a hard time figuring out the tapas menu. The offerings all seemed to be full meals – with nothing that we found particularly appealing, since we were more interested in lunch. The one item we might have wanted (a chicken entrée) was unavailable, our waiter told us. We decided to pay for the drinks we had received and look elsewhere. No go. Our Spanish language skills (without Laura) were pretty limited and we didn’t do a very good job of communicating our intentions. However, it all worked out fine, as eventually our waiter indicated that he could get us some kind of chicken. We ordered what turned out to be some pretty tasty chicken skewers as well as a Spanish omelet and shared them.

After lunch, we walked across Madrid, taking in the principal sights, including Plaza del Sol, Plaza Mayor, Plaza de la Villa, the cathedral, the Palacio Real, and the Plaza de Oriente. Madrid is pretty and dignified, and the buildings and squares are very attractive. We had fun looking around. However, before we had finished our walk it started sprinkling. We decided we would accelerate the rest of our tour and head for the section of town we had planned to reach for dinner – an area called La Latina that reportedly has the best tapas bars.

The rain soon stopped and our walk to La Latina was very scenic. Because the rain had driven a lot of tourists indoors, the streets we walked through were pretty peaceful. We reached our destination, the Calle de la Cava Baja, and found loads of tapas bars. However, as it was still very early by Spanish standards (only about 7:15), they were all closed. We weren't having much luck with tapas, so we decided to get some sandwiches and try again later. On our way back to our apartment from the La Latina area, lo and behold, we came across one of the same sandwich restaurants that we had eaten in last night in Barcelona before we went to the Magic Fountain! It was exactly what we needed. We got a plate of delicious little sandwiches and a couple of beers and were plenty satisfied.

Sara is now out with a friend from high school who has just finished a semester in Madrid. Sara’s friend, Emily, is flying home tomorrow, but tonight was going out to celebrate with friends and invited Sara to join them. The rest of us are enjoying a quiet evening in our apartment. At this point, it looks like we won’t resume our quest for tapas until tomorrow. Maybe Sara will be able to tell us when and where to find them.