Bocadillas, Bocadillas, Bocadillas!
Trip Start
Jan 26, 2008
1
25
36
Trip End
Feb 29, 2008
Madrid,
Spain
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
The first order of business was a paella pan. We found a small kitchenware shop where we picked up a 36' paella pan for just over five euros. Belle was most pleased with this bargain. We next stopped in at a bar for coffee while we waited for a comic book store to open that I wanted to check out. The little bar was full of locals and had three very gregarious barmen serving the customers. The coffee was good and the atmosphere excellent so we deiced to head back here latter for lunch
Don Quixote
. After coffee we checked out the comic book store where verything was, predictably, in Spanish. After browsing for a while we headed out again in the direction of Puerta del Sol looking for the souvenir shop Belle had earmarked on Saturday as the source of cheap but good quality souvenirs. Eventually locating the correct store we stocked up on fans, castanets and postcards. We wandered around the shops some more until we decided it was lunchtime and headed back to the bar by Plaza Mayor where we had stopped for coffee earlier. Once there we enjoyed a lunch of Bocadillas, Belle getting hers filled with sardines in vinegar and I had mine with Jamon and Queso (cheese).After lunch headed back to the hostel for a short rest and then packed up the heavy books that we keep buying and which keep weighing us down. We headed to the post office and with the aid of our phrasebook, and Belle's knowledge of Taglog we managed to send them off to Australia, in the hope that this will make life easier tomorrow when we head for Paris. Having shed this excess baggage we next went in search of Don Quixote - found him, no windmills. Don Quixote was at the Cervantes memorial in Plaza de Espana. Having got my picture taken with Don Quixote we headed back to the east side of the city, braving the metro for the first time since 'The Incident'. Our ride on the metro was pickpocket-free and we were able to check out the Parque del Ben Retiro. Here we found the Puerta de Alcalá, which is a large granite structure that used to be the main entrance gate to Madrid from the city of Alcalá de Henares. In the Parque del Ben Retiro we also managed to find the Monumento a Alfonso XII which we had seen on many postcards and so were happy to be able to take some of our own photos of this famous monument. We once more braved the Metro and got safely back to Puerta del Sol and went in search of some dinner. We came across another busy bar and dropped in for a platter of the fruits of the sea - several types of fish, calamari rings, prawns, crab claws, all for 10 Euro. I also tried a Bocadillas with chorizo. Refuelled, we made our way back to Plaza Mayor for some final pics before heading back to the hostel to do our washing. Once the washing was in the dryer we went out for some Porras con Chocolate. We had attempted to try these on Saturday but had been told that Porras is not available before 6pm. The Porras is lke a Churros but fatter and not as crispy and was probably nicer than the Churros we had tried on Saturday. After our sweet snack we had to fold the washing and pack our suitcase in preparation for tomorrow flight. See you in Paris!
