Madrid

We arrived in Spain about 8:30 am local time, caught a taxi to our hotel downtown, and stashed our bags so we could explore the area until our room was ready.

Alas, what did we discover as soon we began our reconnaissance? Does anyone remember what day today is? Anyone?? May 1st, right? And in Europe that means…

…Labour Day! So almost everything is closed! So all our plans for the Prado, the Reina Sofía, galleries, etc., all closed. Well, not to be discouraged, we did our best to make lemonade on this rather brisk, cold day.

First, we discovered that the holiday meant people were marching in the streets, protesting all manner of things:

The main causes seemed to be anti-austerity, but there were also folks carrying flags that we couldn’t identify (though I wanted to get one; they’re my colors!):

When we realized our primary destination for the day, the Prado Museum, was closed (one of only three days all year that it is), we were pretty discouraged, but we immediately found a gorgeous botanical garden right next door, so made do temporarily with that.

Check out this camellia:

As we wandered back to the hotel to check into our room for a little rest, we were struck by all the lovely old streets, and how nicely decorated they are:

Then we stumbled onto a spot Mary & Fred had recommended, called the Mercado del San Miguel, and it did not disappoint:

How about some colorful cocktails (we did not give in to temptation, yet):

The only problem was how crowded it was:

Having gotten our catnaps (quite long ones, actually), we headed back out for some serious food. Man, are there a lot of great options in this town! Again, M&F had recommended the neighborhood of Calle Cava Alta and Calle Baja, and as we headed that way, we stumbled onto the Palacio Royal. All locked up for the holiday, but still picturesque…

It wasn’t hard to know we’d found the right spot when we hit Calle Cava Alta, as the crowds were out in force. We had a beer at a street side cafe, then wandered in search of a real tapas (or pintxos) bar. We found just that in Takolina:

Delicious! Jamon, smoked salmon, baby eel, homemade sausages wrapped in tiny tortillas and topped with a quail egg, an exotic rellano (I don’t know what it was filled with); man oh man was it all good. Sigh…

Now it’s after midnight, Mallory is fast asleep beside me, and I need to head that way too. Tomorrow will allow a bit more sightseeing in the morning before catching the bus to Logroño at noon. I’ll leave you all with a nice sunset shot I got on our walk back to the hotel: