Prior to jet setting I checked to see if there were any meetup groups in Madrid. I ended up finding a couple worth exploring. One was a Madrid expat meet on Sunday and the other two ; a local organizing a pub crawl for the last Saturday in 2013 and Madrid wine lovers. Perfect! I was all set to go with the wine lovers but then saw there was a 20€ fee and it didn’t really say what it included…so bar crawl it was…I wanted to chit chat with some locals anyway. We were set to meet at 10pm at the Vodafone store on plaza de sol. Blinded by all the stimuli walking around I realized I had not eaten dinner yet. I quickly came back home to drop off my gear, clean up and head back out. I left early enough to stop somewhere on the way. VIPS, was in route and I had walked past several times earlier while exploring. I didn’t even sit down though as I went to the adjacent take away area and grabbed (in no particular order) a smoked salmon sandwich ; perfect before I meet some peeps, some organic yogurt, a cup of strawberries and finally at Kirin ichiban can of beer. Strangely enough I felt right at home, thinking about the many times stopping at the combini in Japan. Package sandwiches, another thing someone else does better than the states. I don’t trust those things at gas stations, turnover is terrible – they probably sit there for weeks. I was contemplating having another. I finished my beer quickly ; maybe punching a hole in the side and shot-gunning it would have been slightly faster. I headed to plaza in a hurry.
Long story short…the meet-up was a bust. I arrived early, waiting with only one other person for more than 45minutes past 10pm we decided to give up. I mean I know there is “Spanish time”. Emma, the other women that was waiting was originally from Madrid but has been living in Wales since ’97. Deciding not to make a complete wash of the evening I tagged along to check out a local salsa joint. No intention of even trying to salsa but rather watch. Its like karaoke in the states apparently where everyone are pretty much professionals. I have yet to see anyone get up on stage in the states a people immediately cover their ears. Same applies here…women wait patiently to get asked to salsa, most of them have just finished class and they are good. If your potential partner agrees…you will always be asked again. I didn’t notice anyone struggling on the main floor. I was cool just sipping my gin and tonic. Didn’t take me too long to use up my tickets and I headed back. At least on the way I had a pretty good conversation of why Madrid was better than Barcelona ; something I would have to decide later.
For some reason I’ve always had this affinity with Barcelona. When I first started collecting soccer jerseys, FC Barca was my first. I love Meissi and hate Ronaldo…ok hate is strong word but Ill just make sure when I travel to Portugal soon to keep my mouth shut on that one. I always thought Barcelona would be the first city I stayed in when taking my first trip to Spain. But my travels brought me to Madrid first. I had basically 4 full days to discover the city, eat some tapas and drink some great Spanish wine.
There are plenty of touristy things to do, museums, art galleries and others, and I needed to at least build up an appetite and keep my mind occupied from not wanting to walk-in to every freakin cafe to grab some cured ham. Plaza de Sol was my end location for today, hopefully I would make it there. Interestingly, the plaza shared a similar wheel spoke design as Detroit with several streets leading to the plaza. The area is apparently the place to be for shopping and nightlife. A perfect combo to drink away your guilty shopping spree. Still jet lagged though, I got my caffeine fix every morning at Bendita Locura just the around the corner from where I was staying. Admittedly, my spanish is embarrassing. I took 2yrs in high school and you would think I remember a little more than I actually did…but hey that was 15yrs ago ; maybe I thought that I would actually try and go to Spain sooner, but I guess better late than never. Acting like a tourist I’ve been using my dictionary to make an attempt to piece together phrases or even complete sentences/questions without sounding like a 3yr old. But being from ‘Murica it seems like everyone would know some English. At the cafe, ordering coffee was easy, but figuring out what I wanted for breakfast was a bit more difficult. Desi, the barista at Bendita was great. She was super helpful and gave me a lot of information on where to go, what to see and most importantly what to eat. Originally from Bulgaria, she has been in Madrid for the past 12yrs. So, continuing to not practice my Spanish I just visited Desi every morning to get my Cafe americano and spanish breakfast, basically just toasted baguette with tomato.
Waiting to meet the housekeeper of the place that I rented while in Madrid, I realized how tired I was. I needed a serious nap. I had decided that I couldn’t even walk the 3km from the station to get here so I hired a cab to complete the journey. I even passed out a bit on the train ride from Barcelona, but still felt like I was hungover. The trip was roughly 3hrs on a high speed rail and I also had my first meal – Red wine and toasted baguette with spanish jamon and camembert cheese. A great start even for a train cafeteria. While I was waiting, a guy named John (seemed to be the neighbor of the person of whom I was renting the place from) showed up and started chit chatting with me. He asked me if I was staying at Sterlings place, in which I replied yes, and I was reassured that someone would be meeting me to drop off the keys. We had a quick friendly conversation about how he has spent time in Boston, New York and finally Miami (one of those places is not like the others…), and then he was gone. As he walked away it sounded like he said someone will be here soon to let me in, so I waited. About 15 minutes later, still no one. Turns out I just need to turn the handle and walk in…the door was unlocked! There were the keys sitting on the table. Relieved, it was time for a nap, then some good food. Here are a couple of pics from the place
Tapas, by it’s very definition is almost an oxy moron…at least in the American sense of the word. Small plates but meant to be shared between 2 or more people, and most importantly, to spark conversation not necessarily focusing on the food. Wait!?…what? smaller portions but still meant to be shared and have a conversation while eating. Seems like taboo in the states where ‘Muricans eat extra large portion sizes for one and sometimes rarely speak to each other. This tapas thing…what a concept. Before I left for vacation I was able to get some pretty authentic tapas at a new place in Ann Arbor called Aventura. Doing it right by sharing some great good with a great person was getting me stoked for this trip. And yes the portion sizes were appropriate…I couldn’t wait to see how much more authentic I could get.
Since my journey here took me from Detroit to New York then to Barcelona, then taking a train from Barcelona to Madrid, I almost favored skipping dinner after I awoke from my slumber. Then I realized that shouldn’t even be an option…I’m here and needed to experience as much as possible. I did a quick google search of where to get tapas and I found Gastronomique – about a 2.5mile walk from the salamanca area of Madrid.
It was much cooler here, and raining, than it was when I arrived in Barcelona three hours prior ; thankfully this time I remembered to bring an umbrella. After my nap I mustered up the energy to walk through the Christmas themed streets that lit up Madrid. Using an android phone that my best friend Matt graciously lent me, I was able to use maps to guide me a bit to the restaurant location. As I made my way there I started passing through what I thought for a moment was a the red light district. I had a moment of deja vu when I was in Nagoya, Japan when searching for a thai restaurant I had gotten directions from some friends but no mention that I had to walk past sex shops and girls asking me if I wanted a massage. This time didn’t see to be any different as I passed a few interesting shops and finally…success! I walked in and realized the place was still empty. It was 9pm! Oh yes…the slow life. Just as I was being served my bread basket, people started coming in one after another after another. The sign on the wall to my left indicated that reservations were necessary to dine, but talking to the owner he said since it was just me, I could have a seat at the bar. Even better if you ask me. I could see everything from this perspective. Even though the place was big enough for probably about 15-20 people, I had a good view to people watch.
I did my usual and began ordering way too much. The owner kept reassuring me that I would not be able to finish everything on my own so I took his advice. I ordered the cockles with butter and white wine, the frois gras, and the goat cheese with honey and basil oil. After that, if I’m still good, I’ll just get some more. Everything was just amazing and not to mention that I ate 50grams of duck liver pate by myself (I would say about the size of a racquetball) which was dusted with a sweet lightly sugared topping. The goat cheese was probably the highlight. Either flambéed or put in the broiler prior, the hunk of goat cheese arrived with a crispy outside and was smothered in honey basil oil. The cockles where equally amazing. Lots of butter in white wine sauce ; I ordered like 3 baskets of bread to soak up the rest of the juice. A great first meal on my first night. Some pics of the food below…although not very clear. No iphone and my goPro died.
Well I guess that is assuming I will live to 99yrs of age – highly unlikely but there is always hope. Awhile back a good friend messaged me telling me to come to Andorra for snowboarding while on assignment for work ; sounds like a terrible assignment. Since I didn’t snowboard even once last year, I was getting excited for the upcoming season. This could possibly be a once in a lifetime invite to board the Pyrenees with a side weekend trip to Slovenia. How could I honestly pass this up.!?Two days after the invite…ticket was bought and planning started
That was about 2 months ago and with a blink of an eye I’m one week out of my one month hiatus. I usually start the planning process early, but this time I kind of let it sink in that I would be going to Europe for a month. I knew straightaway that it would just be me on this trip so I didn’t fret. Working backwards I started making a playlist. I was going to need some inspiration walking the streets of Madrid and some heart-pounding edm for the downhill adrenaline rushes in the Pyrenees.
Awhile back I got hooked on theclymb.com (still am) and occasionally they would offer lonely planet guides at half-off prices. So I began and travel library making sure that whichever guide I decided to purchase I would make a promise to myself that I would visit that country. Needless to say it was surprise to me that I would be diving into any of these books earlier than I had planned. I had almost two weeks prior to meeting my friend Rachel and heading to the mountains, so I had to decide where I was going to be and what to do. Furthermore, the decision where to be over New Years however, was tricky. Paris or Madrid? Etouffe or tapas? Spanish wine or French wine? ; all good questions that didn’t make my decision any easier. Ultimately, I decided to remain in Spain. For some reason the thought “France is for lovers” kept popping up in my head. Probably didn’t want to be that guy taking selfies in front of the Eiffel tower. Staying in Spain would also allow me to make my way over to Portugal and stay in Lisbon for a few days.
The only questionable portion of my trip was to head over to Slovenia for a weekend just to snowboard. The only flight I could find that fit in my itinerary was $650. Will I ever come back to Slovenia…to snowboard nonetheless. Im definitely someone who lives by that “never say never” mentality but I felt that I had enough to keep my occupied in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. I guess I can only see how it will play out….
Current Itinerary:
12/27- 1/1 – Madrid, Spain
1/1 – 1/3 – Salamanca, Spain
1/3 – 1/5 – Porto, Portugal
1/5 – 1/9 – Lisbon, Portugal
1/9 – 1/12 – Andorra
1/13 – 1/17 – Barcelona, Spain
1/17 – 1/19 – Slovenia
1/20 – 1/24 – Casablanca and Marrakech, Morocco
1/25 – Barcelona, Spain to Amsterdam, Netherlands
1/26 – Detroit