Date Day in Madrid

I think one of my favorite days spent in Madrid was our second full day there. It was Monday and Carolina was still feeling the effects of jet lag and wanted to spend the day at Isaac's mom's house with the family there. Isaac and I wanted to head into town and I was anxious to hit the stores so we decided to let her veg at home while we had a "date day". It ended up being the longest period of time we spend by ourselves while there and I think that may be why it meant so much to me then and still does now.

We got into Madrid about 11am at the large bus station, subway stop of Moncloa which is in the NW part of the city. From there we strolled down to a large cluster of shops I had been desperate to get my credit card into. We started with Mango and then moved on to Zara all the while searching for an H&M.

My first H&M

Now all of these stores have locations in the states, but only Zara is in Austin so I had been desperate to do some shopping. Although once there I found myself feeling oddly intimidated and over whelmed with all the choices. I ended up not buying as much as I had planned and now I am kicking myself. I will do it differently on our honeymoon!

Next we took the subway to Puerta del Sol and I got to see my first Spanish Plaza.  I loved it. The plaza was decorated for Christmas with a Christmas Tree and lots of lights. I was also introduced to the Christmas lottery. Tickets are sold up to Christmas Eve and then Christmas day orphans sing the number on the TV and radio. We didn't buy a ticket but I saw huge lines all over the city of people waiting in line to buy their tickets.

Waling up to Puerta del Sol (I think we're next to an El Cortes Ingles)

A Christmas Tree in Sol

A fountain in Sol

City Hall

People watching in Puerta del Sol

Having a great "date day"

A bear eating fruit; a symbol of Madrid.

Gran Via; seen in many a Spanish movie!

Next we began walking down some of the near by streets and seeing more shops; more Zara's and Mango's and finally an H&M. I also saw an FNAC which is a music, movie, book store and the first of many El Cortes Ingles. I love El Cortes Ingles; you find them every where in Madrid sometimes a couple different ones on the same street. It's a department store similar to a Macy's or Bloomingdales but they sell EVERYTHING!! There's smaller ones that sell books and larger ones that sell clothes and shoes and Madrid souvenirs. Isaac and I went into one of the larger ones that Monday and just kept going up and up and up. A kids level, a mens clothing level, a sporting goods level and at the top a cafe! It reminded me of like an old school Macy's and totally charmed me! They also had the old school Christmas window displays that I never remembered to take a picture of and I'm kicking my self for that!

Inside one of the Zara's we went to

A little bookstore we stopped into

Soon it was time for a coffee break so we hit a Cafe&Te, they had what we so desperately needed at that moment; caffeine!! I had a bombom, my favorite coffee treat. It's a small espresso cup with condensed milk at the bottom and espress on top. Then you get a spoon and scoop from the bottom getting the sweet milk and coffee together; so good!

My bombom!

After our coffee break we continues some shopping before we started the next big thing on our to do list; tapas! Tapas are like apetizers, small portions of hot or cold dishes. You can make a whole meal out of hitting several different tapas bars which usually have a specialty tapas and having a little at each place.  To get there we went got out of the main streets and plazas and into the small narrow back streets. It was all very European and I was shocked to see my fiance who still gets turned around getting to local places was able to get up and down these small side streets that he hadn't walked in over 8 years with ease.

We started out at Casa Abuelas which Isaac had been telling me about for years and had their specialty Gambas al ajillo which is shrimp in a garlic sauce. Served with fresh bread and Chato, a sweet red wine it was the perfect introduction to Spanish tapas. Or maybe not...nothing else I had was quite as good! The restaurant was very small and instead of sitting you stood at very small raised tables. I felt quite clumsy with my jacket, purse and scarf and got several "looks" from older patrons, but once I tasted the food, I didn't care!

Bread and Chato

The shrimp in a hot garlic sauce

The menu at Casa De La Abulo

From there we went to another restaurants whose specialty was potatoes with a spicy sauce. 

 

By then I was already feeling full, but we hit one last place where our eyes got bigger then our stomach. We ordered a place of meat and cheeses, fried squid or calamares a la romana, a plate of meat and cheeses and of course it all came with comlimentry bread. I was about to cry I was so full and Isaac whose motto is "No food left behnd" had to finally to concede that even he had no room left!

Calamares a la romana

To walk off our huge lunch (yup, started at 4, but it was only lunch) we headed to Plaza Mayor where a Christmas market was set up. It wasn't huge and most of what was being sold was small plastic toys and pieces to the nativity scenes so we didn't buy anything, but I liked walking around people watching. 

Christmas Market at Plaza Mayor

When we were finished up at Plaza Mayor we headed over to the home of Isaac's aunt and godmother Lourdes for coffee, dessert and a fun evening of chatting!

The nativity scene or "belen" that Lourdes had set up. They're can be quite large and I'm debating attempting one at Christmas this year.

Lourdes, Isaac and me!

We finally staggered home around 10pm happy and exhausted but found supper waiting for us so we sat down and told everyone about our day while we ate yet again!

I think of this day often and how much fun it was and Isaac has promised that this is how our honeymoon will be; the two of us exploring and eating our way through a European city! So look out London, Paris and Rome, we'll be there soon!