Saturday in Madrid

We were out of our Airbnb at 11 am and had about a 20 minute walk to our hotel, mainly downhill. It was another beautiful sunny day in Madrid. We thought we would only be able to drop off our bags but, to our surprise and delight, our room was ready. So we unpacked and settled into our new digs. We met our tour guide, Gabrielle, when we were checking in.

I wanted to visit the Mercardo de la Paz, which I had seen on ‘Somebody Feed Phil’ to try the tortilla made by Casa Dani. We headed off on foot, to see a bit more of Madrid and have lunch at the market. It was about a 3.5 kilometre walk on a sunny 30 degrees day. We passed some lovely buildings and parks and a huge book market on the Paseo del Prado on the way.

The walk was worth it as the market wasn’t full of tourists, it was full of locals doing their Saturday shop. We found Casa Dani and lined up to purchase our tortillas. I then lined up to get some Jamon Iberico and Ian found us a spot to eat. The tortilla did not disappoint. It was delicious and worth the walk. While eating our tortilla we started talking to a couple sitting next to us. They were from Iceland and spend the winter in Madrid to escape the Icelandic winter. Anna, works for a chocolate company from Colombia called moxē. The company is trying to assist farmers to transition from growing for cocaine production to chocolate and also becoming independent operators that aren’t tied to the cartels. She and her husband were very friendly and we bought some of their chocolate.

We decided to leave the market and head down to the Retiro Gardens with our Jamon and a fresh baguette to have our second course. The park was absolutely beautiful and full of people wanting to enjoy a warm sunny day outside. We found a bench in a nice shady spot to eat our delicious Jamon and baguette and just enjoy the atmosphere.

We wandered through the park, which is just glorious. It is full of statues and wonderful trees and shrubs and has an artificial lake in the centre of the park with an impressive Monument to Alfonso XII, which is situated on the east edge of the lake. In 1902, a national contest was held to design a monument for King Alfonso XII at the initiative of the Queen Mother Maria Christina of Austria.

We then made our way back to the hotel passing the Prado and several other lovely statues and buildings. We stopped at a cute little bar, Harlett, for a cocktail which was well deserved after our big walk.

At 7 pm we met up with our tour leader and the group. There are eleven of us in total. There are six Canadians, one American, one English, one Irish and the two of us. We are the youngest of the group and the oldest is 78. After a bit of information from Gabrielle our tour leader, we went out for a meal to get to know one another. I think it is a pretty good group and everyone will get along. The Canadians are a very friendly bunch and definitely like a drink.Read more