Attempting to get to the airport on time was a bit of struggle; it was raining and there was a bit of traffic.  Fortunately, the traffic only lasted for a short bit and quickly dissipated.  Upon arriving at the airport, I walked up to the machine and began entering my info, continuously receiving an error message.  “What the heck is going on?” I looked around and there may have been about 3 people checking-in, and about 4 attendants per airline chatting idly.  I was about to call one of the attendants over when my eyes shifted to see the American Airline’s logo and realized I was at the wrong station!  OMG, I was so embarrassed!  The guy behind the counter gave me a look that could have been read at first as, “do you need help?” but then turned to, “dumbass…you’re at the wrong airline counter aren’t you?”  I gave him a completely blank stare which was obviously a tell for, “yup…”  I then spotted the USAirways counter and proceeded to check-in.  After printing my boarding passes, I headed for security.

Dang, there was no line at all!  I took my backpack off, emptied my pockets, and then passed right on through.  Later on after boarding the plane, we taxied out to the runway and then I hear the turbines slow and then completely stop.  The captain came on and said that just as we were marked second for takeoff, the flight tower had sent word that we’d be grounded for half an hour due to storm activity in the area.  After dilly dallying through a quarter of a word puzzle as I sat in my seat, I heard the turbines begin to spool and the buzz of the engine began to get louder.  A few minutes later, we were racing down the runway.  The flight to Philly only took an hour or so.

Once in Philly, I walked from concourse B to concourse A in order to meet my parents who were flying in from Charlotte.  Together, we walked to our gate, stopped to buy coffee, and then began the boarding process.  The plane ride from Philly to Madrid spanned about 7 hours or so, and for some reason didn’t feel that long at all.  That may be due to having flown to Spain within recent memory or the fact that this flight is nothing in comparison to the flight from Atlanta to Tokyo, haha.

Arriving at Barajas International Airport brought a flood of memories.  As you come in, you see a beautiful view of snow capped mountains and the beginnings of the outskirts of Madrid.  Upon landing and exiting the airplane we went to go pick up our luggage and begin the journey to the Metro station.  We took the train to La Estación de Callao.  We then walked half a block to our hotel, checked-in, and then showered in order to head out for our first day in Madrid.  On a side note, the hotel we were at had a wonderful view of the city from the seventh floor, overlooking Callao station and the neighboring shops.  It was pretty cool to see everyone from above, and I was glad that the rooms were well sealed, because there was a huge difference in sound pollution when the windows were open versus closed.  Oh yeah, another thing to remember, you have to put your hotel room key into a slot in order to turn the AC/heat on.  On boy did that room need AC every time we came in from going out – it was a furnace!  But opening the window for a bit certainly cooled things down .

View of the mountains before descending to Barajas Int'l Airport

A yes...the smell of the Madrid metro system, haha

The hotel bathroom. The shower's glass cover less than half of the tub's length

The television...which didn't offer that many channel, but enough to get by I guess

The beds...I had to sleep on a extra bed that they brought to the room, not too comfortable

The view from the room. You can see one of the mainstays of Madrid - El Corte Inglés

Another view of the city from the hotel. I love the tejas on the roofs!

Looking down @ the people below as they make their way through El Plaza de Callao

Taking a quick photo of myself in the elevator as we make our way down, haha

Feeling hungry, our first stop was Lena, a restaurant that my father and I had frequented on our last trip to Madrid.  Seeing that they had a menu del dia, we were excited for our first meal in Madrid – not to mention very hungry.  Upon beeing seated, el mesero (waiter) asked us for our drink order, suggesting a table wine made specifically for the restaurant.  We elected for the wine, when he then asked if we wanted it “¿con o sin casera?” which to us was a question out of left field, haha.  Casera is a brand of tonic or seltzer water with a lemony taste.  You add this to the wine to give it some carbonation (basically a wine spritzer) of carbonation – it changes the complexity of the wine and, in some people’s opinion, either kills a very good wine or enhances the flavor.  Considering you are doing this to a table wine, often a simple cheap wine, it isn’t a big deal.  This time, we drank the Casera separately from the wine, telling ourselves that we’d combine the two during another meal.

The front of the restaurant had people smoking, so we sat in the back with other patrons

Now that we were ready to order, I was ready to eat!

After a few minutes, we were ready to alert the waiter of our choices.  My mother and I decided on the soup: Judiones con almejas (large white beans with small clams).  It was great!  I’m telling you, one thing I do know about is beans.  Sounds funny, but rice and beans is about as good as it gets.  But here, the next best thing was a large soup of large beans in a caldo (broth) of beans and small clams.  My father on the other hand opted for: Revuelto de morcilla (scrambled eggs with blood sausage).  I know for some of you that may sound disturbing, but it actually tastes very good.  Often times, the coagulated blood is mixed with various seasonings and other ingredients like rice, bits of meat, or vegetables, to enhace the flavor of this very unique item.  Here, the blood was only mixed with a seasoning that I could most accurately describe to you as something similar to Sazon Goya (for those that know ;D) or a mix of pimenton (Spanish paprika) and various other spices.  Los segundos (entrées) were a choice of: Bistec a la plancha, lacom gallega, filete de gallo, and tortilla de bonito.  My mother and I went for the filete de gallo.  In this case, gallo is a type of fish, and not a rooster, which is also commonly eaten.  My father elected for the bistec de ternera a la plancha; a thin grilled beef filet.  Finally for dessert, my parents went with the flan while I went with the strawberries with whipped cream & syrup.

Lena has their own wine, bottled for them by a local winery

so...¿con o sin casera?

Fresh bread...soft on the inside but crispy on the outside = PERFECTION!

Judiones con almejas (large white beans with small clams)

Revuelto de morcilla (scrambled eggs with blood sausage)

Bistec de ternera a la plancha (a thin grilled beef filet)

Filete de gallo = a filete of fish...not rooster, haha

A great way to end a meal...flan

Like many in Madrid, the restaurant has a simple appearance but great atmosphere

After eating, we walked back towards La Puerta del Sol, a centralized location of shopping, restaurants, and a metro station.  The alleys located around Sol are full of independent stores selling: clothing, jewelry, shoes, eye glasses, accessories, etc.  Of course, no famous shopping district would go without El Corte Ingles.  El Corte Ingles is a very prominent department store chain in Spain that sells just about everything: books, DVDs, music, clothing, shoes, sporting goods, furniture, coffee, kitchen supplies, outdoor equipment, etc.

Some graffiti on the way to La Puerta del Sol

Looking down one of the many streets leading to Sol

You see why its called Sol...there is a lot of Sun to go around!

The Madroño tree & the Bear - the symbol of Madrid

That cool architecture there is just the entrance into the metro below!

Many people use Sol as a common meeting area before heading out

The statue of Carlos III on horseback

There are statues pretty much wherever you look in Madrid, lol

Seriously...these streets are almost always packed with people!

Window shopping for sweets!

Too many good sweets...and they all are different!

As you can see, some of the spots were vacant as people must have already bought it all!

A very typical pastry - Ensaimada

Many different kinds of tartas or cakes

Museo del Jamon...a staple of Madrid. It offers a great atmosphere and list of tapas!

Once done looking around Sol, we headed on to La Plaza Mayor.  There were a ton of people eating, drinking, and even sleeping on the ground.  Yeah, they were lying on the old cobblestones and were basking in the warmth of the sun…or just lying in everyone else’s way – depending on your vantage point.  Although La Plaza Mayor was buzzing with people, our real mission was to go see El Mercado de San Miguel.  My father and I had visited this market on our last visit to Madrid, but we wanted to show my mother this very elegant market.  It’s styling matches what I’d visualize as an old metro or trolley station – black railings, wood accents, plenty of natural sunlight filtered through large window panes, black sign with white lettering spelling out each stalls name or specialty.  We walked through the crowds of people, marveling at all the fresh produce, fish, poultry, dairy products, and baked goods.  Although we came a little late, we made a promise to return to the market for tapas; something that the market is known for.  Don’t worry, I took so many photos from El Mercado de San Miguel that I’ll be making a separate post regarding this place…yes, that many photos.

A grand opening to La Plaza Mayor

Even La Plaza Mayor is a busy place! You can easily get lost from your group if you're not careful!

Marking La "Plaza Mayor" - it is surrounded by residential buildings...people live there!

Messing around, or stretching

People lounging around...watch where you step or you might trip on someone!

Don Quixote de la Mancha

Trying to sell his work...a painting of La Gran Via

Isn't the color so vibrant! I wish I could have bought it and brought it home!

Awe, what a warm embrace! Traveling with family is awesome!

Messing around. I was trying to balance on a pole alongside the road...pretty good balance huh!?

A car passed by and I lost my concentration...uh oh!

A look back at another entrance to La Plaza Mayor

I love the colors of the buildings in Madrid

So...where are we? Looking at the map of Madrid.

Having just bought a large bottle of water...not my best expression

Just outside El Mercado de San Miguel

Anyways, once we were done marveling at this wonderful food paradise, we headed back towards Sol.  My mom did a little shopping, stopping into Punt O Roma (a clothing store) while my dad and I people watched outside.  We then went in to the store for a bit to help give my mother opinions regarding some bufandas (scarves) that she found.

Took a quick pick of myself while in Punt O Roma, haha

After walking around, we found a nice place to buy: pan, Jamón Serrano, Tetilla cheese, y una botella de vino rosado.  Wow, I was so surprised at the price of things! It was very cheap to buy all this and the quality was superb, much better than anything at this price point in the United States.  These are the same cold-cuts and cheeses that sell for $25-100/Ib in some specialty “European” stores in the United States.  After our purchases, we went back to the hotel and ate our meal, enjoyed the wine, and watched a bit of Spanish television.  What a great night.

So many cheeses for sale...and they won't break the bank!

You take a number in order to get in the queue and then they will get your order from you

Cutting the Jamón Serrano with ease and care

Just look at all the different cuts of meat! Hungry?

This is not ice cream! They are different spreads for breads and what not.

Crema de Membrillo! (Quince Paste) is so good on bread or anything for that matter!

We found many liquors and wines cheaper in Spain than are in the US

El Jamón Serrano, YUM!

Getting ready to serve the Tetilla cheese

Heading back to Sol @ night can be a large task, haha

We made it to Sol! That Tio Pepe sign sure brightens things up, haha

Filed under: Travel by Giancarlo Deleon