Thursday March 5 started with some sun in Córdoba. We left the apartment at about 10:30 a.m and took a bus from a stop two minutes from our apartment to the train station (a 15 minute ride) - 1.30 euro for a ticket. The train left on time at 11:29 a.m. and we arrived in Madrid at 1:20 p.m. It was a fast trip and the train was not full.
We took a cab to the apartment and met the "greeter" from the Airbnb host. She was very helpful in getting us oriented to the apartment and the neighbourhood. We are in a hip, gay neighbourhood called Chueca and are adjacent to another hip area called Malasaña, which was home to Madrid's breaking experimental movement known as La Movida Madrileña, which took place after the fall of Franco's dictatorship in the late 1970s. We are walking distance from the major Museums (only about 20 minutes from the Thyssen Museum), Gran Via, and Plaza Mayor.
The apartment is small, but very well lit and clean and in a great location.
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| Bedroom |
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| Living room and kitchen |
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| Our luggage not unpacked yet. |
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| Outside of the apartment building-very nice wide wooden stairs inside. We are on the 2nd floor. |
We headed out for a coffee in the adjoining Malasaña neighbourhood.
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| Another building near us. |
We passed the monument to the heroes of May 2, 1808 who fought for Spain's independence against Napleon.
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| The heroes |
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| On the street--- not sure who she is |
We stopped at Toma Coffee, a 3rd wave coffee shop we had read about and had a very good café con leche (mine with Oat milk).
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| Toma Coffee |
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| Warriors love coffee |
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| Looking into Toma |
We then walked over to the Mercado San Antón. There had been an older market at the location that dated back to the 19th century. After it was demolished, it was rebuilt in 2011 to create a modern building with areas to buy food as well as house restaurants. We bought some nice sheep's cheese from a cheese stall and some chicken at another stall.
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| Main floor directory |
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| Lots of smoked salmon |
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| One stall devoted to cod |
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Very nice meats
We started to walk back to a wine store we had passed on our way to the Mercado. On the way, we saw a store called Eleven, a men's jewellery store. There were a lot of interesting rings and bracelets. Alano had been looking for a leather and silver bracelet. We had seen a few in Córdoba, but they were too big for his wrist. He found a very nice piece here. It turned out that the woman working in the store was Lebanese and had lived in Montreal. She and her family were the jewellers and opened the business when they moved to Madrid.
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| Inside of Eleven (the grandfather had died in 11/2011). |
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| Alano with his new bracelet |
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Leaving Eleven-- very nice store with unique pieces
We stopped at a small wine store with other gourmet provisions. We got a nice bottle from the Ribera del Duero area of northern Spain, which makes lovely wine.
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| Lovely wine store |
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| Wine back at the apartment |
Then it was back to the apartment for dinner. Alano made chicken, zucchini, onions, tomato and salad with a glass of our new bottle of wine. Tomorrow we start rediscovering Madrid.
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