Paris Without the Attitude

Pedestrian only Streets

The Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers

Tapas Bar opened in 1892

Tortilla

Monument to monument of Daoiz and Velarde Heroes of May 2

Fireman at Chueca in background

After our long day of walking in Toledo, today was a down day of rest. Cathy had a 90 minute massage at the hotel and loved it. She said the masseur was cute. Hmm.

I went for a walk, and somehow screwed up the Spanish SIM, and had to buy another one. It was a hassle to get it activated. But we are connected again. This is critical if you want to walk in Madrid. We are staying in Chueca (the Silverlake of Madrid). It is so full of short streets that twist around that it would be impossible for a visitor to find anyplace without Google Maps! You see many people walking around looking at their phone. We have been here 8 days and can now somewhat navigate on our own.

 

After Cathy’s massage we headed out for a walk. We came across a great building that could have been in Barcelona. It had that look. It is the home of The Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers. It is a gorgeous building. We continued just wandering the streets, occasionally stopping into an interesting store that caught our interest. The area of Madrid we are in is filled with squares where the people come out and sit, chat, have a drink or read. Since there are no private homes with yards the sitting in the plaza is a key part of daily life. It is so different from our LA lifestyle of cars and yards.

 

We returned to the hotel and rested, then headed out for an early (very un-Spanish) dinner of Tapas at one of the oldest Tapas Bars in Madrid: Bodega de la Ardosa. It is a tiny restaurant. We had a wonderful Spanish Tortilla (Omelette). I decided on reflection that Tapas is not my style of dining. Maybe I need a Tapas Guide.

After our Tapas we continued walking on to Plaza del Dos de Mayo, at the heart of the Malasaña neighborhood. Its name refers to the uprisings of May 2nd 1808, when the town of Madrid rebelled against Napoleon's invading troops. The central monument of Daoiz and Velarde is a tribute to two of the heroes of this historic event. When we visited the Prado we saw the two famous Goya paintings: The Second of May 1808 and The Third of May 1808. They commemorate the revolt that started here. On our Spanish Civil War tour saw the spot where the heroes were executed. These two paintings are almost like newspaper pictures of today bringing to life those events.

We then walked on to Chueca to have a drink. They wouldn’t sit us for just drinks, so even though we had just had Tapas, we thought why not we will order food, it that’s what it takes to get a table. From the plaza we walked back to our hotel. It was a nice day to chill after our hectic but worthwhile Toledo trip. I can’t believe how much Cathy has walked on this vacation. We decided that Madrid is like Paris without the attitude.