The Rain in Spain ... Makes Gill Walk With a Cane! (Day 3)

[Gill H]

<<Day 2

Another night with very little sleep. In addition to the usual coughing and wheezing, my knee stiffens up overnight and by the morning I find it pretty difficult to walk on. And yes, it’s raining again. But hey, we came here to enjoy ourselves, and by heck we’re going to! So we trust that the last of the Beechams Cold Capsules will be enough to stave off the knee pain too, and head down to the beautiful breakfast room again.

This morning we decide there is such a thing as too much ham and cheese in one holiday, and we head for the hot options instead.

There’s scrambled egg, bacon (streaky – are we really the only country that likes back bacon?), frankfurter sausage and potatoes.
It’s not a bad spread, particularly when followed up by a few pastries and some fruit. We chat to two English ladies who arrived last night, and tell them about all the good stuff we’ve found so far.

The ever-helpful hotel staff lend me a walking stick. It’s a proper wooden one, but is rather short, so I do feel a bit like Gandalf. Or maybe Yoda, take your choice.

We have decided we want to visit the Cathedral, which is next to the Palazio Real where we were yesterday. We know the 124 bus stops nearby (it’s the one we should have caught yesterday). The reception staff tell us where to catch the bus – it’s just over the road, off the busy Callao square, so that’s where we head to.

Callao is dominated by a huge screen which is constantly showing promos for the new Almodovar film ‘Los Amantes Pasajeros’. We’re shown three very camp air stewards lip-synching to ‘I’m So Excited’ (which we later learn is the English title of the film – and by the way, it is definitely not family friendly by the sound of it!) Apparently there will be a flashmob at Callao tomorrow afternoon to promote the film. We’ll be at the airport by then, which perhaps is just as well as crowds are likely to be huge. But is it just me, or does the idea of telling everyone there’s going to be a flashmob feel a bit odd?!

Anyway, we soon find the bus stop and the 124 arrives almost immediately. We notice there is a child’s seat on the bus with straps, which is something we’ve never seen on a bus before. I wonder how many people bother to do up the straps?

In five minutes we are outside the Cathedral. It’s an interesting building – very unlike the cathedrals we are used to. The exterior is Baroque in style (yes, you can quote Cogsworth here if you wish…!) and looks very much like the palace next door.

But there is something odd about the impressive moulded bronze doors. There are figures depicting the dedication of the cathedral, and at first glance it is a very old scene. But then we notice one of the bishops is wearing glasses, and the crowd have modern clothes. And the Pope dedicating the cathedral is very recognisable as John Paul II. What’s going on?

[Gill H]

Well, there is some interesting history to the Cathedral, or to give it its full title (deep breath) Santa Iglesia Catedral de Santa Maria la Real de la Almudena. Try getting that on a postcard.

Anyway, plans for a cathedral in Madrid were being discussed as early as the 16th century, but construction didn’t begin until 1879. The building work was interrupted many times, not least by the Spanish Civil War, and the project wasn’t finished until – wait for it – 1993. Now that puts the Fantasyland expansion in perspective!

All of this means that the building is a fascinating mix of old and new. It feels very light and airy, with colourful stained glass in a very modern style, and bright colours decorating the ceiling. We spot an intricate silver statue depicting various Biblical scenes. It’s in rather a shadowy spot, but there’s a little box on the wall where you can insert 1 Euro to make the lights come on around the statue. Very clever! And frankly it’s worth it as the statue is really beautiful. As we make our way round we notice there are several other opportunities to part with a Euro for the same purpose, but nothing else grabs our attention in the same way.

We spend an hour or so happily exploring, and then decide to pop next door to the palace shop for some souvenirs. As we reach the door I realise I have left behind the bag with our camera in, so Peter sprints back to the Cathedral to get it. Aww, bless – in the rain too.

At the shop we choose a set of coasters with scenes of the palace on for my parents. Then we head back to the cathedral shop for a postcard, as we’re one short, and make our way through the Plaza del Oriente, a lovely formal garden with statues and fountains just outside the palace. This would be a lovely place to linger if we weren’t getting drenched. But we head onwards and find a rather nice souvenir shop, where we buy a tile of the Gran Via street sign for our kitchen, a letter opener for Peter’s dad and a flamenco dancer statue for his sister.

After a lot of wandering we manage to find our way to Mercado de San Miguel. This is an indoor market which is ideal for a tapas crawl. It’s full of stalls selling various tasty bites.

We start with tiny portions of bacalao (salt cod) on bread. Then we have some pulpo (marinated octopus), and then share a portion of scallop in a cheesy sauce served in a scallop shell. Then there are beef empanadillos – small pasties with a rich beef and wine filling. To drink we have – no, not San Miguel, but instead a glass of sherry. This is a Spanish tradition – the name ‘sherry’ comes from Jerez. But this isn’t your granny’s Emva Cream, oh no. We end up sharing a glass of Pedro Ximenez sherry, which is so rich and luxurious it’s like liquid caramel. At 4 Euros a glass it’s not cheap, but fortunately one between us is plenty.

After a thoroughly enjoyable and leisurely lunch, we attempt to get into the café across the road. It’s called ‘Chocolat y Churros’ so we’re guessing it sells hot chocolate and churros – see, our Spanish gets better every day! But alas, the café is very full and we decide to move on.

[Gill H]

After a quick wander round the very pretty Plaza de la Villa, we walk back up to the market and down the Calle deCuchilleros, which translates as Cutlers Street, and certainly gives you plenty of opportunities to use your cutlery! It is full of beautiful old-fashioned restaurants and taverns, one of which is our destination for later tonight – Botin, reputed to be the oldest restaurant in the world. And the Guiness Book of Records agrees, as there’s a certificate in the window.

Our hotel has made the reservations for us, so now we’ve figured out where it is, we go back up the hill and find ourselves at Plaza Mayor, the main square. This is up a flight of steps – well, in my case it’s more of a hobble than a flight, as my knee is really hurting by now.

At the top we stop in a café for a quick coffee and a rest, and then take a quick look round Plaza Mayor. It’s very impressive, particularly the impressive painted walls of the bakers’ guild, and under better conditions we would spend much more time exploring. But for now we decide to head back to the hotel, so we walk through one of the other gates and to our surprise we find ourselves back on the Calle Major, just a few minutes’ walk from Puerta del Sol. We could have gone round and missed out all those steps! Oh well, we know for next time.

Within minutes we are back on Gran Via and calling in again at our friendly local pharmacy. No need for miming this time, as ‘Nurofen’ in Spanish is, er, ‘Nurofen’. I don’t even have to attempt a Spanish-sounding pronunciation. And in a few minutes we’re back in our hotel room to have a well-earned rest and write our postcards.

We have been told we can use the hotel’s business centre to do online check-in for tomorrow’s flight. On inspection ‘business centre’seems a rather grand name for a small room with some chairs and a computer, but it will do us. However, we’ve forgotten that we are outside the 24-hour window for our flight, so we’ll have to come back later. Oh well. Back down to the ground floor we go. Incidentally, the lift is an adventure in itself at this hotel. Not only do you get a bewildering variety of cheesy muzak, but outside you get a Bullseye-style dartboard segment display showing the lift’s location (which prompts us to greet the lift with cries of ‘Iiiiiiin one!’ every time) and inside, there’s a nifty little ‘open the doors’ graphic when you get to your floor. Ah, simple pleasures.

The reception staff tell us we can buy stamps for our postcards at any ‘tabacao’ – little newsagent stands and shops all over the place. Our nearest one is right next to a bus stop, so after buying the stamps we jump on a number 2 bus down to Plaza de Cibeles. This is another place we saw on the DVD documentary we hired. The centrepiece is a fountain with a statue of the goddess Cibeles (or Ceres) goddess of nature, in a chariot. It’s on a roundabout which is driven around by the whole of Madrid – trying to get a picture without a large bus obscuring the statue proves pretty difficult!

The buildings surrounding Plaza de Cibeles are pretty impressive too, particularly the building which is now City Hall but was formerly the headquarters of the Post Office. It’s known as the Palacio del Comunicaciones (Palace of Communications) and frankly it looks more like a cathedral than the real cathedral does!

We also spot something very interesting – an airport bus! Could this be a way to avoid having to do the train/metro journey on the way back? We must make enquiries…

So, after spending far too long trying to get decent footage of all this beautiful architecture in the rain, we decide to dry off with a brew. We find a nearby cafe which advertises churros, so we order hot chocolate and two churros.

Now, I’ve had churros in the US and in Mexican restaurants in Britain, so I know what I’m expecting – fresh horseshoe-shaped little crispy doughnuts dusted with cinnamon and sugar, with thick rich chocolate sauce for dipping. Instead we get two huge, overcooked, greasy things which taste like flabby burnt Yorkshire pudding, and don’t have any sugar or cinnamon.

We take one bite and decide we can’t eat them. However, we don’t want to appear clueless tourists - for all we know, this is how churros are served in Spain. So we drink our hot chocolate (which, although not thick enough for dipping, is very nice) and leave the churros untouched. The waiter seems a little surprised, and we explain rather hesitantly that they aren’t what we were expecting. However, his English is evidently the same level as our Spanish, so he doesn’t really get the idea! Not wanting to make a fuss out of what was probably our mistake, we pay and leave, and grab a number 2 bus back to Gran Via.

[Gill H]

We go for a coffee in the bar, where we meet the two English ladies we saw this morning at breakfast. On our recommendation they have booked a flamenco show and dinner, but a different one which the hotel says is very good. Alas, we never see them again to find out how it went, but I’m sure they had a good time.

Now that our check-in window is open, we do OLCI in the hotel’s ‘business centre’ and print off our boarding passes. Then back to our room to get changed for tonight’s meal.

We walk back through Callao, down to Puerta del Sol (down a different street this time, which leads us to a little dancewear shop – of which more anon!), and down Calle Mayor. We’re starting to figure out how Madrid works now – just before we leave. Oh well, an incentive to come back. Even in the rain we stop to take in some of the window displays. Alongside the tourist shops, fashion shops and so on, there’s a ‘holy shop’ selling not just Bibles and books, but even intricately decorated robes. Not something you expect to see in your standard high street!

We reach the restaurant very early, and hang around chatting with some tourists outside, including the third couple from California we’ve met that day. Is there a big campaign to get tourists to visit Spain in March? They are disappointed with the weather, but seem to have enjoyed their visit.

Botin opens just before 8pm and we receive a hearty welcome. The table next to us has a couple from LA and their friend from Boston. They are Jewish and so are opting for lamb rather than the house speciality of suckling pig! The other side of us are Eastern European and more reserved, but the party of German visitors in the corner are very impressed with my rusty A level German. I do love being among so many nationalities – it’s one of my favourite things about living in London too.

The restaurant is beautiful in a very old-fashioned, homely way. The staff are friendly and can’t do enough for us. We have already decided on the house menu, which is about 45 Euros including wine, water and coffee. And it’s not long before a dish of plump black olives appears on the table. These are huge and really sweet – no bitterness at all. I’ve never had nicer olives anywhere.

Along comes a bottle of Rioja (of course – particularly as it was often drunk here by Hemingway in what he called his favourite restaurant!) There’s also some water and an enormous bread roll to accompany the soup.

[Gill H]

The English menu calls this ‘garlic soup with egg’ which doesn’t sound very exciting, but it turns out to be a version of the soup we had on Wednesday – flavoured with saffron and containing bread and a poached egg. This version is pretty good, but I have to admit the one we had at the little local café actually had more flavour.

The main event arrives – roast suckling pig. This is a big hunk of meat, which is beautifully tender and not at all fatty. The crackling is tasty but surprisingly light and crispy. It comes with roast potatoes, which are yummy too.

Dessert is ice cream and a rich chocolate sauce, but that’s not the end of the evening.

[Gill H]

With our coffee comes a slice of cake with candles and a ‘happy birthday’ plaque, for Peter. It turns out to be a very light cheesecake, and between us we just about manage to finish it.

We wander home via Plaza Mayor. Now that we know our way around, it doesn’t take us long to get back to the hotel, and we’re in bed by 10pm. Here's a few night shots we took on the way.

And that’s it for another day – adios amigos, join us for Day Quatro and the end of our trip.

>>Day 4

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[JudyC]

I'm enjoying reading your trip report. Hope your knee was feeling better.

[DIBBadmin]

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