3.28-3.29.19

After an overnight flight to Munich, with a short stop over where we consumed delicious German beer and an okay “pretzel” – it was more like a bagel – we landed in Madrid. Not completely sure what our hotel shuttle situation was we grabbed a taxi and were off to check into our hotel. Thanks to Nicks many trips to California, we were able to use his Hilton points for our first night. 

We checked in, showered and back to the airport we went to catch the Metro to Plaza de las Cortes where we would meet up with our tour group with Devour Tours. Nick found a tapas tour that after further investigation had rave reviews. I chose to do the tour that included a Flamenco show, as that is one thing I did not want to miss while in Madrid.

We met up with our group, which included an 81 year old, her daughter and son in law from FL. A brother and sister and their spouses, all from TX, but the one couple was currently living in London, and a Turkish man who currently resides in London as well. Our tour guide was Joy, who was originally from NY, but has lived in Madrid for 8.5 years. She mentioned that she originally planned to come for five months and use Madrid as her home base to travel, but ended up falling in love and has been here ever since.

We started our tour by visiting a small cafe, Los Gatos, where we enjoyed a traditional Vermouth drink and their open faced breads, we had two different ones which were both delicious. We then made our way to the second restaurant, Casa González, where we all sat at a table in the back, enjoying wine, cheese and meats. Joy educated us on what we were eating/drinking and what to expect from the Flamenco show that we would head to shortly.

Flamenco originated in the south of Spain, and while it may appear to be, the dances are not choreographed. The performance consists of guitar playing, singing and dancing. We arrived to the show to find our tables second row in a small theatre, with an even smaller stage. Both Nick and I were surprised how small it was, at times you even saw the singers lean back to get out of the way of the lady’s dress. Apparently, unbeknownst to us, we witnessed one of the most famous male dancers, Juan Andrés Mya. While we did not know he was famous, it all made sense at the end, as he paraded himself around the theatre welcoming applause. 

The show was good, but honestly I would have rather seen more of the women dancer.

After the show we made our way to a sister restaurant of one of Madrid’s most famous restaurants – the reason we didn’t go the original is there is no where to sit. We had a lovely dinner full of more tapas and vino. We had potatoes bravas, some of the best shrimp I’ve ever had, asparagus, mushrooms, peppers and beef. We finished the evening with a sweet almond and chocolate dessert with a sweet vino to accompany it. It was all so delicious, we chatted with our new friends, consumed too much food and vino. 

I was worried about the evening, I was prepared to be disappointed in the tour, but had hoped it would be wonderful based on the price tag that came with it. I’ll say it was a fantastic way to spend our first evening in Madrid. We learned some good tips for when we return in a few days. We now know how to properly order and eat tapas, all the best places to go and to not be afraid to force your way into the busiest of places. Joy tells us that in Madrid, they believe if there is room for one, there is room for seven!