This past week we took a spontaneous trip to Madrid. The goal was to deliver an instrument to the maker for repairs and to find an image in a cathedral for Mauricio's upcoming book – both of which were partially accomplished. Plus, I broke my small digital camera and lost my sunglasses. Nonetheless, we had a great mini-vacation revisiting places and seeing new ones and visiting lots of great folks. Lot of hours on trains and buses, but Isabel either enjoyed it or caught up on sleep. She's been a great traveling companion.We started the trip with a 4-hour train from Barcelona to Madrid, and met up with David. We stayed at his place, which is in the Lavapies section of Madrid where the Rastro, or flea market, is held on Sundays. The next morning we started off with chocolate con churros at the Chocolateria Gines. Then we walked around, visiting the first pension (Mariu) we stayed at 7 years before, having a coffee at the same cafe nearby, buying books at the book stalls by the Prado, and revisiting the Prado as well. I love the Prado as there are so many significant pieces but the size is manageable. And here's where my camera dramatically went flying out of my purse into the middle of an 18th century hall, gaining the bemused look of other visitors. In the Plaza Mayor we ran into a food fair, and tasted wines and cheeses. A heavenly cheese that we bought was made from goat's milk soaked in wine. We didn’t end up looking for the famous Kilometro Zero marker (indicating the exact middle of Spain).
On Friday we were back on the train for a two-hour trip to Salamanca to visit Rudaina's mom Ana and family. I forgot how beautiful the countryside was around here, and was pleased to point out cows to Isabel -- who always looks for them in Catalunya where there aren't any! Once again we revisited places we had been to 7 years ago. This time we were able to see the Plaza Mayor in its entirety. Last time there was a book fair and couldn't take in the expanse and the beauty of the pink stone. Ana showed us the plaques of heads around the plaza that commemorated past conquistadores, writers, etc. She also pointed out some blue flat ones that were being held for future use. I commented that Spain was saving it for future conquistadors! We heard some traditional music, and saw two musicians in traditional dress. Ana said that a wedding party would follow, but even though we waited, they never appeared.
Later we walked past the restaurant, El Bardo, where I wanted to have dinner, remembering the wonderful homemade yogurt with nuts and honey we had several years back. However, we discovered that there was some sort of fire only days before and the restaurant was closed. Fortunately, Ana knew of another one that opened up, so we went there (after tapas first, of course). Instead of tourists, this was a local hangout, and there were three bachelor/bachelorette parties going on at the same time, which was quite amusing. There was the sedate professional group on our level, and a noisier and rowdier bunch with megaphone on the lower level. The food was incredible. Isabel ate up most of the tender jamon Serrano. Although they didn’t have the dessert I wanted, they brought me my second choice of chocolate mousse, adding the nuts on top. It was out of this world.The next morning we were off on bus to Ciudad Rodrigo, a walled medieval town. Although we went to visit the cathedral, I couldn’t help take pictures of all the storks in their nests and flying around town. Once at the cathedral we discovered that they had strict policies about taking pictures – i.e., couldn’t do it. It didn’t matter anyway, because we could not find the image of the woman playing pandero that Mauricio had heard about. But he connected with the foundation running the visits, and they said they would look into it.
We returned the same day to Salamanca, and met up with Rudaina’s brother Angel and wife Maribel, whom we had met in New York also. We walked around town and went to another fabulous, rustic restaurant whose name I forget. We were back in Madrid by Sunday, and ended up going to a birthday party for another Anna’s boyfriend whom we never had met, but we wanted to see Anna. Met a whole bunch of expats living in Madrid, including another Colombian married to a Italian-Mexican! That evening we met up with Sandro and had fantastic thin-crust pizza outside on the noisy streets of Madrid near the Teatre Latina.
Photos above are from Plaza Mayor in Salamanca.
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