Madrid

I put on my tour guide once again and showed Amy the sites of Madrid. Amy is a fan of Anthony Bourdain just like me and she really wanted to go to a bar that he just went to recently on his Madrid show. They are famous for their tortilla and I hadn't been there before so we made it our first stop of the day. I showed Amy how to ride public transportation- bus and subway- and we made it downtown and found the very cute bar. We had coffee and a tapa of tortilla and it was very good. The bar was super cute and very old. Nice find!

Outside view of the bar

the famous tortilla in the dark bar

Next, we walked up to the Gran Via and headed toward Retiro Park. We snapped some photos along the Gran Via, in front of the City Hall and the Puerta de Alcala.

Madrid City Hall

Gran Via

We walked through the park and enjoyed the nice sunny day stopping at the big lake and the Crystal Palace before stopping to have a glass of wine. As we left we stopped in a Rose Garden and saw one of the few statues of the Devil that there are in the world!

Self portrait in front of the lake

Stopping to smell the roses

Wine in the park

We rounded out the day by stopping in Atocha and then having a menu del dia for lunch. After lunch I had to head back home for classes and Amy stayed downtown to check out the Reina Sofia art museum.

The second tour day in Madrid we started out in the Puerta del Sol and walked down to check out the Royal Palace and Cathedral.

Royal Palace

Then we walked back toward the center and stopped for lunch in the San Miguel Market. It is new market that has really great food stalls and bars. It is very expensive but it is a fun experience. We dinned on croquets and cheese and Amy tried oysters and caviar along with champagne and white wine.

Wine and Champagne in San Miguel Market

Croquetas- really good, really expensive

Amy trying the oysters

Our cheese plate

Next, we carried our cheese plate with us (it was so much and expensive we couldn't have it go to waste) and checked out the Plaza Mayor and neighboring streets. The funny thing about the cheese is people in Spain don't have the custom of taking their food to go with them so walking around the streets with a plate of cheese is a little strange!

Taking the cheese with us

Plaza Mayor