I just spent the last week in a half in Spain, and it is the most beautiful architecturally astounding place I’ve ever seen. There is so much art to this Country in all 5 cities we visited and I’m thinking Spain to be the place architects would flock to for inspiration. After a long 9 hour straight flight, we landed our feet onto the soil of the beautiful city of Madrid. The narrow streets weave you in and out connecting you from one alley way type of street to the next as little establishments such as coffee bars and tapas bars surround you at every hidden corner. I really loved it that the tourists where extinct here this made me love the place immensely, I wanted to surround myself around the locals and indulge in their food. I avoided Starbucks the entire time on my vacation trip and took interest in their little coffee bars. The first thing I noticed while riding in the Shuttle bus on our way to our Apartment was the engravings on the buildings and Cathedrals or the statues engraved into a sort of monument and even the streets are paved into a picturesque beauty that you find in paintings that you never knew such a place could exist. The people are so kind, they smile and help you without you even asking, they take interest in you.
Click on the pictures for a bigger view.
The Royal Castle
Top of The Royal Castle
Some rain the 2nd day we were there.
I love narrow street shots, my favorite kind of photography. Loving the street brick type layout.
Saw these masks being sold at a Farmer’s Market in Madrid and thought it was interesting…..hmmmm
The thing to eat in Spain is Jamon Iberico, thinly slices of Ham…..this stuff was so tasty, I think we had it at every Tapas Bar we hit the duration of our stay in Spain.
The food here has taken my palate to a place it has never been and all I can say is the Spainards know how to cook and make food look pretty too. One of my favorite places we stopped to eat at was Juanalaloca, clearly a locals favorites as the place was just crowded from wall to wall with them. The food was incredible, the Tapas and for those of you that don’t know it just means small portions of food meant to be shared at your table with your guests. Everything I tried left me hungry for more as just trying a bite or two was like teasing me with wanting more but that’s the point of eating Tapas, you try everything and get a great variety in the process. Everything I tried was exceptional, melting in my mouth at every bite. There is one thing I learned about the eating process in Spain, there is a siesta time which means a short nap is taken in the early afternoon, often after the midday meal so every food establishment closes their doors and it’s hard to get a bite to eat during this time frame which usually runs from early afternoon into nearly 7pm for dinner time. Breakfast is also not a meal time favorite in Spain as you can’t find a place that offers very much, your average croissant and coffee is what you will find, though I did spot many people having beer at noon in small glasses as like a lunch time stop at an outdoor bar type of setting. There is no such thing as a TO GO cup, you drink your coffee there or your not having any. :) I think we found a place in Granada that had to go cups tiny little kids size starbucks cups and they use the phrase “Take Away.” Which I thought was cute.
My favorite sweet spot was Valor….chocolate with fresh from the oven Churros……Amazing…
Different Varieties of Chocolate for dipping the Churros in……sweet heavenly….
