Mates in Madrid

I'm now on my way on a high speed train to Cordoba, having had to encounter the chaos at Madrid's Estacion Atocha at 7am which certainly wasn't in my original plan because of my ignorance of Spanish bank holidays. At least it will give me extra time in Cordoba - I've booked the usual walking tour for tomorrow morning, and later today I've scheduled a patio tour, recommended by a couple we met - apparently spectacular floral displays are in prospect.

Neil arrived at the Hostal about an hour after me but was unable to check in as he pitched up at exactly the same time as about 20 south east Asian students who completely filled the tiny lobby. We dumped his bag in my room and set off to Placa Santa Ana just around the corner in search of beer and tapas (never very far away in that neighbourhood).

We explored for a while, taking in the splendour of Placa Mayor and I did a bit of light shopping for the right kind of socks (of all the hundreds of pairs I have at home I only bought 3 pairs of trainer socks and then discovered a big hole in one of those) and to replace the sneakers which had proved unfit for purpose and which Neil had kindly agreed to take home for me to save me lugging them around. I bought some slip-on Skechers costing rather more than I would usually pay but they feel like slippers and will go in the washing machine, a useful feature since their pristine whiteness won't last for long. 

I flounced out of Sephora when it was obvious that the one cashier dealing with a queue of about 20 people wasn't going to get any help from the 20 or so assistants standing around on the shop floor pointing people in the direction of all the beauty products they never knew they needed. Like this one...

I normally like Sephora a lot, but for some obscure reason the cash desk is upstairs right at the back of the shop - they obviously don't want to encourage a swift exit in case you haven't seen the million and one brands they stock.

 Back to the hostal for Neil to check in, a nap and a shower ready for our wine tasting about 10 minutes' walk away. It was in a lovely wine shop founded by an Englishman and a Spaniard, and hosted by Spanish-Glaswegian sommelier Kevin - he looked like Martin Compston off Line of Duty, and as you might expect was very unpretentious. The eight of us (a nice chatty group) had generous tastings of a white and two reds along with lots of information about Spanish wines, most of which I will instantly forget but I did keep the wine map which may help in future as I now know that I'm probably most partial to wines from the north west of the country (cooler, producing wines lighter in tannins and lower alcohol content).

There was no pressure to buy as the shop doesn't export to the UK and of course unless you're on a driving holiday there's not much point in risking the weight. We wandered around to find some dinner - by this time everywhere was busy, so we opted for somewhere with space that looked quite chichi and decided that as there were two of us we could go for some paella, though I'm still not sure that was really what we had (I think we both preferred the snacks they served as appetisers). What I do know is that comparing "how did you sleep" notes the following day we had both had raging thirsts from a rice dish that was rather more salty than was probably good for us. The wine was nice though - we'd managed to choose something similar to the white we'd tasted earlier.

A digestivo in Placa de Angel rounded off the day - much as I'm happy travelling solo, it's great to have company for dinner, and especially Neil's, who's now a tried and trusted travel companion.

Started the day with a lovely breakfast just a few doors down and then headed off to Puerta del Sol to meet the walking tour guide - Zack, another dual national with a very vivacious (verging on irritating) personality - called us chicos. He slanted the tour towards the history of the Habsburgs which gave it a focus but did leave some elements unanswered. It's always a great orientation exercise though, and we finished up near the palace where we'd booked to go the following day.

We wanted to go and visit Casa Sorolla (one of my new favourite artists) and got the Metro from Opera - we arrived in what was clearly a commercial district and it was a bit short on a lunchtime offer. Eventually we found a self-service healthy option called Petit Appetit and both had amazing salads and soft drinks - felt very virtuous after the excesses of the previous night. Neil came a cropper in the gents when he discovered the door had no handle on the inside - he called me to come and let him out though a man with a screwdriver got there first.

Casa Sorolla - old Joachim basically designed it himself and would appear to have done most of the gardening too - is a little oasis in the midst of lots of high rises. It contains a lot of his work as well as all the stuff he collected - and he clearly had lots of friends who liked to sculpt him (even in death) so he's omnipresent in the house, as are his wife Clothilde and their daughters who feature in a lot of the work. The garden has Moorish influences and is beautiful - there were people there taking painting classes and I can't think of a more inspiring setting.

We hopped back on the Metro (we had 10 journey bus/metro passes which we didn't use up but they were so cheap it didn't matter) to Estacion des Artes and walked across to Parc Retiro for a bit of fresh air - the weather was glorious but the trees provided welcome shade. We took a look at the Palau de Cristal which is lovely but woefully under-used as a public space, and then walked back to the hotel. (I stopped for some fabulous gelato but Neily resisted temptation until the next day.)

A nap and a shower followed, and we had drinks in Santa Ana before going to Reina Sofia as Wednesday nights are free 7 - 9pm. We caught up with Cubists and Surrealists and I revisited Guernica (no pics allowed of the great work).

Dinner was at one of Zack's recommendations - La Fragua de Vulcano - it was traditionally tiled and a bit scruffy (what is it with the chipped plates? Have the Spanish not heard of food hygiene?) but the food was hearty and good value, along with a very good Albarino. We had cocktails in Santa Ana to round off the night (Neil - "the strongest Negroni I've ever had", me with a passion fruit daquiri)

Next day we had hoped to breakfast on a fancy roof terrace before visiting the Prado but we were there an hour too early so we had to make do with somewhere very noisy nearby with photographs on the menu. 

The Prado was amazing - I honestly didn't realise how big it was and ended up missing quite a bit. But I discovered that I liked Goya far more than I thought based on the Goya Museo in Zaragoza, loved the Velazquez and was particularly taken by the treaures of the Dauphin on the very top floor - I think some of the most exquisite and ingenious objects I've ever seen.

We walked to the Caixa Forum building so I could show Neil one of my favourite things in Madrid, the living wall on the side. 

We'd found a free exhibition en route to lunch, a fabulous collection of Juan Manoz - loved the humour, complexity and wit of the pieces in a wonderful space.

We'd intended lunch at the Mercado San Miguel but managed to get there just as they were evacuating the building - not a drill. Police tape went up so we cut our losses and managed to get a table at a nearby place and had beer and tapas before going to the Palace de Real Madrid. Lots of big tour groups and traipsing through rooms, but it's very well maintained and there are some amazing details, not least of which are the ceilings and walls. Shame no-one actually lives there!

We had gelato on the way home and I went to pack ready for an early start with the 0725 train to Cordoba from Atocha Madrid. We ventured into colourful La Latina (so many flower stalls!) for drinks and dinner 

but struggled a bit to find somewhere with an inspiring menu - eventually Neil settled for beef tenderloin and I had tuna tartare - again. We walked to the traditional old bar in Santa Ana (isn't Cointreau pronounced the same whatever the language??) for nightcaps, and then bid each other a fond farewell after a lovely few days. 

I'm finishing this off in my very lovely accommodation in cutesy and quite touristy Cordoba. Legs walked to stumps today, so pretty tired and the blog will get picked up maybe tomorrow. Hasta la vista chicas.