Leaving the beautiful Prague at 1pm and getting the last beer and Prague food induced coma, we were off to Madrid/Pamplona to see our Spanish side of the family and fill our stomachs with red wine and tapas/ pintxos. We have never been so excited for red wine and non-meat related food...ever.
Our flight was from Prague to Lisbon, Portugal and then from Lisbon to Madrid.
The flight wasn't too bad, but it was the flight from Lisbon to Madrid that was epic.
Only having 55 minutes and landing 30 minutes late we were crammed for time (as like any other airport story..#willexplainlater).
Luckily the Lisbon, Portugal airport was not that big and we had to switch gates and not terminals, but from getting off the plane and then going to the right gate, we had to run.
It was like in those movies where airports are involved and the people are running to their gate or running to their true love and pouring their heart out to time before they get on the plane.
It was like that, minus the true love part. We were power walking to our gate when we got off, and as the person who has traveled and ran through airports, I said "Screw it! I'm running" and bolted to the gate. I didn't care if I looked like an idiot, I would have gotten their first and then saved a spot for everyone else. My family laughed at me, but like the "No Plastic Spatula" idea, I was smart in running and got there first. So whatever.
At around 10pm we finally landed in Madrid, caught a taxi cab to our hotel, unpacked our stuff and then headed off to eat.
No during the time we were waiting in the Prague airport, my mother was messaging my aunt, Rosita, (Hi Rosita!!!) from Spain and asked for recommendations for places to eat in Madrid. She recommended a popular place called
"Mercado de San Miguel"
We trusted her taste in this restaurant and went, and we were grateful.
This is the "Mercado de San Miguel" and pictured below is my mom's head.
Starving and eager for Spanish food we walked into the busy market.
Now, if you are not familiar with Spain/Spanish food/Spanish culture here is a little fact.
In Spain, breakfast is at around 10am, lunch is around 2pm and dinner is around 9pm.
So at 10:30pm walking into Mercado de San Miguel, it was packed.
But somehow we managed and squeezed through to get an open booth and ordered "Tintos"
Spanish fact #2: To order wine in Spain is like this:
Red Wine: Tinto
White Wine: Blanco
and then there's Claret which is like a Rosé wine but a little lighter, I think.
But anyway, you don't say the word "vino" after each order, they get it, it's like a secret code in bars or something, I don't know, but it's pretty cool.
And then came the tapas. Now after 2 1/2 days of living off of red meat and hearty dumplings we wanted something else, so we went with seafood.
Now I love seafood like a fat kid loves cake (but I also like cake like a fat kid loves cake, but that's another story), but when I'm in Spain, I love it just as much in the states,
Shrimp croquetas
Angulas with oil and Garlic (with is like eels)
Octopus
Ugh, my mouth is drooling, despite the fact that I just ate a bagel with Lax and Cream Cheese (see I'm eating seafood as I'm talking about seafood, talk about coincidences)
So naturally we ordered seafood...
What is this?
I have no idea. No but like seriously, I have like no idea. It looked good.
It's like a clam stuffed with some like garlic-y cream and something else.
It was good, so that's all that matters.
I know what this is.
This is octopus or as it is called in Spain
"Pulpo"
It's delicious and I only eat octopus in Spain, like it's the only place I eat octopus in so it's that special.
It's warm and gooey and crunchy (because of the tentacles) and warm plus with cooked potatoes
Ugh, it's to die for.
I recommend it, even if the tentacles freak you out and even if it looks weird, just try it.
Just take my word for it. And even with a glass of red wine it's the perfect welcome into Spain.
After savoring the octopus we walked around the market more and found more things that we loved/missed.
These are cones of chorizo and other food that I don't remember at the moment.
This...this is what I missed.
Although having eaten this a month earlier and having a 3 week break in between.
If you don't recall, it's jamón, but like the best jamón ever.
And above is the wonderful jamón and croquetas which is like jamón and queso, or peppers or anything else delicious covered in bread and then a glass of tinto.
It's delicious, trust me.
After walking around some more, my sister and I found the jackpot.
Churros con chocolate.
Just like the jamón, I had a three week break from this but it didn't matter. You can only get churros con chocolate in Spain, (maybe in the US, but it won't be the same)
Off in the corner is the chocolate machine in which the chocolate in churros con chocolate is made. It's stirred and stirred until the chocolate is reached to perfection. It's a special type of hot chocolate which makes it so special
Thick, sugary churros with deep rich hot chocolate, is a perfect way to end the night (and many nights to come)
And thus ends...night #1 in Madrid, another long post with many pictures to come. So grab some red wine in between breaks and drink well, but not too well that this blogpost starts to all look like one word...
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