Madrid!

Four days in Madrid is not nearly enough time. It was a fantastic city and we had a fantastic trip. Let's get some photos out of the way, however, so I can get down to the business of describing the best part of Spain: THE FOOD.

My favorite tourist destination of the entire trip was Templeo de Debod (below), an Egyptian temple given to Spain in the 1960s. I know only the most basic Spanish so I didn't glean much history from the tour, but I did see real hierglyphics, which were amazing (and only heightened my desire to get to Egypt someday). The temple sat on the Nile in Egypt, was deconstructed, shipped to Spain, sent by rail to Madrid, and then rebuilt in a beautiful park in the middle of the city. Coming upon an Egyptian temple in the middle of Madrid is a truly breathtaking site. The line to enter the temple was looooong and we just barely made it on time - we arrived 40 minutes before closing and had just enough time to walk through and soak it up.

We saw many other tourist sites: Palacio Real (Royal Palace), Almudena Cathedral, Plaza Mayor, a monestary, the Reina Sofia art museum, and the most breathtaking basilica I've ever visited. The sites were a blast and learning the history (when it was in English) was fascinating. The most interesting part, however, was the liveliness of the city. Siesta shuts down many shops and restaurants for the afternoon, but the evening is electric. Regarldess of whether it's a Monday or a Saturday, plazas are full of people, sitting, talking, strolling, eating. Bars and restaurants are packed. The streets are crowded. It's an energy that makes it difficult to go to home!

We missed out on the club scene, which is unfortunate as Spain's clubs are supposed to be incredible, but we did soak up some live Latin jazz music. Monday night Jerry Gonzalez performed at Populart Jazz Bar and the crowd was huge. People were standing shoulder to shoulder, but we were lucky enough to nab a booth in the back. Too short to see anything, we stood on the bench to catch the show. The line was out the door and down the block for two solid hours.

Our visit to Populart brings me to my favorite part of Madrid - eating!

We went to the show with Edu, a friend of a friend, who was a truly wonderful peson to hang out with. Genuinely nice, somewhat shy, and a decent English speaker, he was a great guy. Edu invited us over for lunch on Monday and roasted a chicken for us. Because we lack an oven, a decent stovetop, and refrigerator storage space larger than half a shelf, we haven't had a good home-cooked meal in a long time. Edu's chicken made up for that. Roasted with potatoes, onions, and a rosemary seasoning, it was the perfect meal for a rainy day.

We started each day with breakfast at a deli near our hostel which has given me a new definition for fresh food. Day 1: I ordered a glass of orange juice with my meal, at which time the bartender walked over to a juicer, popped in 3-4 oranges, and then poured me a glass of juice. No water, no sugar added. Straight orange juice, it tasted like biting into a large Valenica. Amazing. Day 2: The meal shall remain nameless as I cannot remember what it was called, but it consisted of: toast, tomato spread, and bacon, one on top of the other. Upon ordering this, the waiter promptly walked over to a dried pig's leg on a spit (hoof and all), picked up a large knife, sliced off some paper-thin pieces of bacon, placed them on top of my toast, and brought it to me. This was, without a doubt, the best bacon I have ever had. It wasn't cooked to a crisp, nor was it raw and slimy. The bacon was perfectly tender with the right amount of chewy-ness. It wasn't so covered in salt that you couldn't taste the meat, and it didn't have large strips of fat in it. Perfect. Bacon.

Our two favorite places for dinner/lunch were Diurno and Bazaar. Located in trendy Chueca, Madrid's boystown, the restaurants were beautiful inside. Honestly, if I could design a restaurant, it would look like Bazaar. Diurno was good for cheap sandwiches and phenomenal deserts, but Bazaar - Bazaar had the wine. Wine in Madrid is outrageously cheap. Our first night in the city, we ordered (what we thought) were two glasses of wine. After our order, however, the waiter looked at us oddly and told us that we just ordered two bottles. At about 9 euro each, the bottles were priced equivalent to glasses in the States. Needless to say, every dinner from that point on was accompanied by an entire bottle of red. Wine shops sell bottles for 1 euro a piece, and I'm still sad we weren't able to stock up on wine to bring back with us.

For all those in Minneapolis: we are really starting to miss home over there! Coming back to Dublin from Madrid just didn't feel right. I may have been coming back to my own bed, but it wasn't my bed. Europe is beautiful and we're having wonderful adventures, but it's safe to say that we're all pining for our own apartments, Uptown bars, and familiar streets!