Surprise & Delight: 5 Things in Madrid
I’m always on the lookout for things that catch my eye when I’m traveling. What makes a location fun and different? What will surprise and delight me on a trip to place I’ve been before? There’s always something new to discover.
I recently returned from a trip to Madrid, where I’d traveled with my husband, aunt and MIL when I was pregnant with our daughter. This time, she came back with us as a fully-formed human, and we had an absolute blast as a family of three.
It was different this time, for sure. We hung out at parks and playgrounds instead of art museums. We listened as our daughter’s tiny voice loomed large in cavernous cathedrals. We sought shade from the blistering heat (over 100 degrees on most of those desert days) and tucked into tapas bars where the hosts were more than welcoming of our tiny girl and her big attitude.
Madrid treated us very well as a toddler fam, but I found at least 5 things on this trip that really filled my cup outside of the delight of seeing my kiddo run at full speed through the Plaza Mayor wearing a floofy red flamenco dress.
Here they are:
Madrid & Darracott Wine Shop
We are always on the hunt for lovely wine stores in the cities we visit, and we were lucky enough to find Luke Darracott’s store through AirBnb Experiences for Wine Tasting and Vermouth Tasting experiences.
Madrid & Darracott Vinos y Experiencias, Calle del Conde de Romanones, 2, Madrid
Luke is, as he puts it, “horribly English.” A self-deprecating Brit, Luke is fun to hang with and knows a hell of a lot about Spanish wine and his adopted city. My main question was about how to order Spanish wine and not sound stupid (hint: It’s by region).
We loved spending a few hours at Madrid & Darracott, and took home more than a few bottles to enjoy at home.
Oh, and Luke also has a lovely little YouTube channel. Check it out here and enjoy listening to his lovely Berkshire lilt.
A quick note: Uber might take you to their previous location, which has been vacated for some time. If this happens, do not give up. You will be handsomely rewarded. Take the first right, walk up the hill, and the new location is on the right.
A new idiom I’m going to adopt
On one of our rides back to the AirBnb in a taxi (the best way to get around Madrid if you’re traveling with a tot), I asked our driver a strange question. This is very on-brand for me.
I had noticed that, in Madrid, it is uncommon if you are traveling down the right side of the street to cross traffic to make a left turn if you’re not at a traffic light. In the U.S., this is entirely legal and common, no matter how inconvenient it is.
Apparently, yes, it is illegal in Spain to cross traffic to make a left turn.
HOWEVER, just a few minutes later, he did exactly that. And before he did, he said:
“No hay Moros en la costa.” There are no Moors on the coast.
I’ll spare you the history lesson, but suffice it to say that this is a fun way of saying, “There’s no cops around so Imma just do this real quick.” Totally stealing this.
Secret Kingdoms bookshop
We stayed in the "Barrio de las Letras” neighborhood where authors like Cervantes, Federico Garcia Llorca and other Spanish writers, playwrights and poets have lived for the last millennia. I highly recommend this neighborhood if you’re looking for history and a real Spanish neighborhood feel.
Secret Kingdoms, English-speaking bookstore - Calle de Moratin, 7, Madrid
So it should have been no surprise when we were exploring our street that there was a lovely English-speaking bookstore a few doors down from our building. Secret Kingdoms is one of the few bookstores in town that eschew the language of Cervantes for the language of Shakespeare. It’s full of classics and modern titles, many of which aren’t available yet in the U.S. if they’re released by U.K.-based publishers.
Secret Kingdoms also has a fun used books section in the back room, which hosts events like panel discussions, author signings and talk-backs with authors. I left with a bag full of books and a very happy grin.
El Horno Azul’s Pizza Vending Machine
Hola, new business venture! One night, my husband and I took the long walk back to our neighborhood, Barrio de las Letras, through the Chinatown area of Madrid. As we hiked the hill up to the center of town, we passed a little nook that glowed blue in the darkness. I backtracked.
Four words: Frozen. Pizza. Vending. Machine.
Eight different pizzas ready for you to take and bake.
I could not believe my eyes and my husband saw the wheels turning as soon as I realized what we we’d discovered. For about 3 EUR (about $4 USD), a 10-inch frozen pizza will dispense from the vending machine, ready for baking in your flat’s toaster at any time of day or night. Absolutely brilliant. Why aren’t there frozen pizza vending machines on every corner of every downtown in America?
If anyone knows someone at El Horno Azul, let them know I’m ready to buy 20 franchises.
Salmorejo
You’ve had gazpacho. But have you had salmorejo? I bet not. I hadn’t either. But now it’s a regular part of my summer diet back at home.
Image courtesy Food & Wine (recipe linked below).
Salmorejo is gazpacho’s thick-thighed sister. Instead of simply veggies, olive oil and sherry vinegar, salmorejo (also served chilled) ditches the cucumber and pepper in gazpacho and replaces it with some stale baguette, which gets whipped up in the blender with the tomatoes, garlic and olive oil.
The resulting velvety soup is then splashed with sherry vinegar and topped with crispy bacon and chopped hard-boiled eggs. Here’s Chef José Andres’s recipe from Food & Wine.
I am such a fan. I ordered it during our first lunch when we arrived in Madrid and continued ordering it at every restaurant that offered it. On those 100-degree days, it was exactly the fresh and filling dish I needed.
I want to know: What has surprised and delighted you in the cities you’ve visited? What should I look out for on my next trip? Tell me in the comments.
