Girls Weekend: Madrid

Back in May at a school coffee, I heard a group of women discussing a possible girls trip. I think the words I used were, "I'll go! Where are you going?" Didn't matter much to me where they were headed. When they finally decided on Madrid, I was thrilled. Madrid really wasn't even on my radar and I had wanted to go to Spain sometime during our time here, but hadn't gotten to it yet.

Famed statue in Plaza Puerta del Sol, called Bear and El Madrono Tree.
This is the symbol on Madrid's coat of arms.

We left Zurich on a Friday afternoon in September. It was slightly chilly as we left Zurich and downright hot when we landed in Madrid. After seeing more than our fair share of Madrid's airport and finding our car service, we were headed into the city to our rented apartments just off the Plaza Puerta del Sol, the square at the very center of Madrid.

The beautiful Mercado San Miguel

We dropped off our luggage and headed out in search of drinks and a nibble to tide us over until dinner. We ended up at the most fabulous place, Mercado San Miguel. It's a food market that opened in 1916, and then closed for many years. In the early 2000s the building was restored and the market reopened. Inside is a food lover's paradise. We all may have been a bit too hungry, but we decided to split up and each buy one thing to bring back to the table to share. Amazingly beautiful food stalls lured us in with empanadas, stuffed olives, beautiful cheeses, olive oil potato chips, and of course, sangria. After we'd had our fill of refreshments, we walked around Plaza Mayor and shopped a bit.

The girls trip begins with our first sangria!

On Friday night we headed to Cava Baja, a very famous street in Madrid that is lined with tapas bars and tavernas. The idea is to tapas bar hop from place to place, ordering a little bit at each place. I'm going to blame the sangria on this, but I am a bad blogger because I couldn't tell you exactly where we ate on Cava Baja. We went to two or three places and ended up at one bar with a delicious Rioja and the best chocolate cake with pistachio ice cream. Don't judge - turns out that is a fabulous combination!

Empanada, stuffed gherkins, stuffed olives

On Saturday morning we got up and out at a decent hour, considering we didn't get to bed until 1am on Friday night. We hit a lot of shopping on Saturday. We started in Chueca, which is now home to Madrid's gay community. I can't remember the name of the street, but I've never seen so many shoe stores in one place in my whole life. We easily went into twenty of them. A few of the ladies purchased beautiful boots made in Spain. We found another mercado to have lunch in, aaaaaand more sangria. 

Plaza Mayor

On Saturday afternoon, we got our art on! We headed to the Reina Sofia Museum. It's a beautiful museum housing much modern art in what was an 18th century hospital. The must-see work and highlight of my day was Pablo Picasso's Guernica. Having studied it a bit in high school Spanish class, I was interested to see it in person. The Spanish Republican government commissioned Picasso to create it for the 1937 World's Fair in Paris. They wanted it to be an indictment on the Nationalist forces' bombing of Guernica, a village in northern Spain. However, Picasso's powerful work is more than that. It's viewed as an indictment of the atrocities of all war. I have to say that I was overwhelmed at seeing it in person. Its size is massive at 11 feet by 26 feet. It is a painting that elicits much emotion. It was truly a highlight of my experience in Europe.

Flamenco dancer and singers

On Saturday night we decided to try a Flamenco show. Nothing but the best for us ladies - we went to Corral de la Morería, the most famous flamenco show in Madrid. The place opened in 1956 and the walls are lined with celebrities who've visited, from Rock Hudson to Ronald Reagan; from Marlene Dietrich to Sarah Jessica Parker. I was a little hesitant because I wasn't sure if it would be cheesy or touristy. It turned out to be an amazing display of music with the men singing and playing guitars, and pure athleticism and artistry on the part of the dancers. I thoroughly enjoyed the show. When the show was over, one of the dancers called a lady from the audience up on stage because it was her birthday. She and her boyfriend were seated just behind us and her boyfriend accompanied her up on stage. The whole place sang Happy Birthday to her (thank goodness for high school Spanish!), and then (!!!) her boyfriend knelt down on one knee and proposed! It was the sweetest, most perfect thing I've ever witnessed that I immediately burst into tears. The ladies I was with thought this was all very hilarious! After the woman said yes to her boyfriend, the whole place erupted into cheers - it was very, very sweet.

Those ladies could dance!

After the show, we headed back for another night on Cava Baja. We had a few tapas and some Rioja and found an outdoor table for some great conversation and people watching. We may be middle-aged ladies with kids, but we held our own and didn't return back to our apartment until 3 a.m.!

Just the ladies hanging out in Madrid. With El Diablo.

On Sunday we walked the city. We purchased some souvenirs for the kids we'd left behind in Zurich. We visited the Museo del Jamon for breakfast ("It's like a museum of ... jam." said our taxi driver, mispronouncing ham in English). We walked through the beautiful, historic Palace hotel, where Hemingway and Dali stayed. We walked past the congress building, up to the Parque del Retiro, Madrid's answer to Hyde Park. It was a beautiful, hot sunny afternoon as we walked through gardens and around monuments. 

Stephanie, Villy, Lara and Nancy at the Crystal Palace in Parque del Retiro.

Later on Sunday we split into two groups. Some still had some shopping to do and some of us wanted to visit the Thyssen art collections. The museum opened in 1992, showcasing the private collection of Baron Von Thyssen and his wife, Carmen Cervera (a former Miss Spain). The small amount of time we had to spend there did not do the museum justice, but we did see noted works by van Gogh and Degas, among others.

Villy, me, Lara, Stephanie, Nancy, and Anne

Not long after that, we had our last late lunch in Madrid and headed off to the airport. I had so much fun with these ladies. We laughed a lot, shopped a lot, walk a lot, ate and drank a lot. Some of them I didn't know very well before the trip. Traveling with people accelerates friendships and I'm so glad I have these five ladies to call my friends.

Salud!

Tiffany

   

Up next: Ireland