Madrid Flea Market, Royal Palace and “must have” food

I’d read that the best way to get to know Madrid was to just start walking.  Today’s the day of the El Rastro flea market, so I left my apartment at 9:15 (after doing laundry!  So happy that my clean clothes are on the drying rack and may be wearable again soon) and went in the general direction of the many-block-long flea market.  What a surprise to find that Madrid isn’t level and I was going first up and then down a long hill in the city. I found the flea market pretty low on the hill and then followed it up and up for many, many, many blocks.  People were buying and selling books, clothes, fur coats, jewelry, linens, mirrors, art and a lot of used stuff.  I don’t know that it looked any different than any other flea market, other than it was vast and at the street level of beautiful buildings with ornate iron balconies painted in warm colors.  For a city in the “offseason” it seemed plenty crowded to me.

The Plaza Mayor

After a few hours of walking around, I decided to get a ticket to see the Royal Palace today.  I headed back   In that direction, charting a course that would take me by the Chocolateria De San Gines.  This hot chocolate and churros restaurant, established in 1894, is (according to guidebooks) a stop for locals in the wee hours after they’ve been out all night. I will not be able to verify if that’s true. What I can tell you is that 5 euros gets you a cup of rich, thick hot chocolate and a bag of churros and they were amazing.

The Palacio Real is vast and I approached it from the side where ornamental gardens make a very pretty approach.   The 2800-room palace was built in the 1700s and sits where a prior Muslim-era fortress had been before it burned. It’s at a high point in the city and from the surrounding plazas, you can look out over trees and mountains and parts of the city stretching pretty far in the distance.

Photos aren’t allowed inside and after this grand staircase ceiling view, the staff at the palace was very vigilant stopping people using cameras.  Rooms are given unique decor — one fully decorated in porcelain, another in silks, lavish ceilings, banquet halls, the throne, the crown, tapestries…. It was spectacular and really endlessly ornate to the point of exhausting.  

The views from the palace included these snow capped mountains that are (I think) the Guadarrama mountains.

That morning/midday adventure had me ready for lunch at the Madrid-appropriate time of 2:30 pm.  I’d read that real Spaniards only have paella at lunch (too heavy for dinner, especially when dinner starts so late), so I was happy to head back to a spot at the Plaza San Anna for croquetas with cheese and vegetable paella (which, when I ordered it, the waitress asked if I wanted paella — meaning with seafood — or if I didn’t want paella but vegetables instead).  I picked vegetables and was rewarded with a paella pan with that amazing combination of crusty rice at the bottom and edges and broth-soaked rice and veggies in the middle.

 

My feet were awfully achy from all the pavement and marble floors, so I headed back to my apartment close to 4 and instantly fell asleep for a 90 minute nap.  Ahhhh.  

Tomorrow — the Prado!