We had failed to find the tourist information office on Friday night, so decided to try to find the one in Plaza Mayor. As there are not two streets in Madrid that are parallel and the liklihood of getting lost for a week highly likely, we used the primitive map in our apartment to identify a staight street running from the bottom of our street (50m) past the front of the Palacio Real for 400m to Calle Mayor and then up Calle Mayor to Plaza Mayor. How easy was that?

Well, for a start we had to battle through crowds lining Calle Bailen in front of the palace. A military event was about to take place. Only a smal number of military forming a colour party and a band, maybe 6 officers but hundreds of invited guests. Temporary fencing sealed off the roadway in front of the palace, police patrolled, including mounted police and hundreds of spectators behind the fencing. Guess what? Non of the spectators could tell us what was about to happen. The T.i.O didn't know either. It's still a mystery two days later.

Just 200m up Calle Mayor we saw an arched gateway into the Plaza and joined half of the population of Madrid and then entire population of kids. Here we saw the first of dozens of street acts that are in almost every plaza in Madrid. People in costumes appear to be levitating. Actually, they have metal frames hiddin in their costumes or stage set and the only entertainment then involves working out where the frames and supports are.
During the middle ages the site was just a market place outside the city walls. In the 1560s, King Philip II asked Juan de Herrera, architect of the Escorial, to turn the market place into a real square.

It would take until 1617, during the reign of King Philips III, before the construction of the new Plaza Mayor started. Under the direction of Herrera's successor, Juan Gómez de la Mora, the plaza was completed in just two years.

The result was a large square, measuring 120 meters long and 90 meters wide (394ft x 295ft). It was surrounded by wooden buildings, at one point up to six stories high. Fires destroyed all the buildings around the Plaza Mayor three times in history: in 1631, 1672 and 1790. Each time they were rebuilt, the last reconstruction after a design by Juan de Villanueva is what we see today.

Since its creation, the Plaza Mayor has been the center of festivities, bull fights, royal coronations and executions. These would be attended by as many as fifty thousand spectators. It is still used today for public celebrations.

At the center of the square is a bronze statue of King Philips III, constructed in 1616 by the Italian sculptors Giovanni de Bologna and his apprentice Pietro Tacca. In 1848 it was moved from the Casa de Campo to the Plaza Mayor. Around the same time, the plaza was redesigned with gardens, but those were removed in 1936.

The most prominent building on the Plaza Mayor is the Casa de la Panaderia, the seat of the powerful baker's guild. It was completed as early as 1590, before the square was even laid out. Its current design with symmetric towers dates from after the last fire in 1790. The colourful allegoric murals were only added recently, in 1992.


I photographed this building before I realised the significance. We must revisit

Strange sights as people threaded their way through the crowds dressed in evening wear. Some event in one of the buildings required evening wear mid-morning.

With maps and "Essential Madrid" brochures we were ready to return to our apartment and begin planning. Well, not immediatly as we stumbled on the old Market building, now the San Miguel Market, a tapas emporium that attracts only tourists happy to pay twice as much as they would in a Tapas Bar. Actually it also attracted a hens party.. The bride in an apron with chefs hat and girlfrineds wearing cup cake hats. Go figure!

Back along Calle Bailen and civilians were being presented to officers, the band was playing, crowns were mingling and we were still non the wiser.

Back to our apartment. Speaking of which. We lucked out with a great apartment. On the 2nd top floor of a centuries old apartment building, we suspect it is owned by a German who rents it out during summer. We have a kitchen, living and bedrooms as well as bathroom and laundry, all packed into around 80sq.m. Very well furnished.

First priority was to book a "Tapas Crawl". Three e-mails in quick succession booked us in for Wednesday night. The only worry Ches had was that it was so late in the week that any special Tapas Bar that it identified, would only leave us with Thursday night to revisit.

The "skedooly" is below.

Mid afternoon we decided on one of the walks in our guidebook. That's the "Eyewitness Guide" on my iPad. My iPad is an original which means it is heavy and cumbersome. With it in my camera bag, we used our new map to follow the path laid out on the iPad.

Now I remember, the "Eyewitness Guides" are great in most respects but the walking guides aren't. We had trouble following them in Italy all those years ago and here we go again. Combine them with a map of a city that doesn't list every street name and we were bound to get lost and miss some places.

We didn't missThe Royal Monastery of the Incarnation or Real
Monasterio de la Encarnación because it is just around the corner and we pass it almost every day coming and going. E6.00 admission but not to be missed ... maybe later in the week. See below.

We walked around the front or rear of the Senate building. Strange, however it looks like the front is facing the narrow back streets while the rear faces the main boulevard (which we discovered on the return walk). I think they added a new circular senate chamber on to the back of the building which is visible from the boulevard.

We eventually found our way to Plaza de Espania and across into the adjoining park which was again fringed by tourist stands. Thankfully the Cervantes monument has been allowed to sit at the centre clear of touris **** but not of tourists and locals out for the weekend and climbing all over Don Quixote. We resisted the temptation but had to photograph it, tourists and all.

BLOODY PLANE TREES
I'd shout it even louder if this blog site would allow it.
With a steady breeze blowing, the polen or airborne fine spiky “hairs” (called trichomes)
from the back of the leaves (thanks U Sydney website) sent me into coughing
fits. I could feel an irritation at the back of my throat that set me off. No one else seemed to be suffering, certainly not Ches.
You could see the stuff blowing out of the Plane trees and they were everywhere. Eventually when we made it to the Templo de Debod, it was high enough in its park and far enough away from the trees that there was some respite.

You know the drill now. Scroll through the descriptive **** below till you get to the blog again.

We queued for around 15 minutes and then entered the temple. It was built originally 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) south of Aswan in southern Egypt very close to the first cataract of the Nile and to the great religious center
dedicated to the goddess Isis,
in Philae. In the early 2nd century BC, Adikhalamani (Tabriqo),
the Kus***e king of Meroë, started its construction by building a
small single room chapel dedicated to the god Amun. It was built and decorated on a similar
design to the later Meroitic chapel on which the Temple of Dakka is based. Later, during the reigns of Ptolemy VI,Ptolemy VIII and Ptolemy XII of
the Ptolemaic dynasty, it was extended on all four
sides to form a small temple, 12 by 15 metres (39 ft × 49 ft),
which was dedicated to Isis of Philae. The Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius completed
its decorations.From
the quay there is a long processional way leading to the stone-built enclosure
wall, through three stone pylon gateways and finally to the temple itself. The pronaos, which had four columns with
composite capitals collapsed in 1868, and is now lost. Behind it lay the original sanctuary of
Amun, the offering table room and a later sanctuary with several side-rooms and
stairs to the roof.

In
1960, due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam and the consequent threat posed by its
reservoir to numerous monuments and archeological sites, UNESCO made
an international call to save this rich historical legacy. As a sign of gratitude for the help
provided by Spain in saving the temples of Abu Simbel, the Egyptian state donated the
temple of Debod to Spain in 1968.

The
temple was rebuilt in one of Madrid's parks, the Parque del Oeste, near the Royal Palace of
Madrid, and opened to the public in 1972. The reassembled gateways appear to have
been placed in a different order than when originally erected. Compared to a
photo of the original site, the gateway topped by a serpent flanked sun appears
not to have been the closest gateway to the temple proper. It constitutes one of the few works of ancient
Egyptian architecture which
can be seen outside Egypt and the only one of its kind in Spain.

We walked back home on the opposite side of the street to any Plane trees and prepared for our first Tapas.

I can't believe how many myths there are about Madrid, especially about eating. How many people told us we wouldn't be able to eat till after 10.00 pm, etc.etc. Now maybe "Restaurants" in the traditional sense may not serve meals till that late or later, tapas bars never seem to close.

We really lucked out in that "el minniBAR", which is rating#49 of 7,326 Restaurants in Madrid atTripadvisor is a bare 400 metres from our apartment.. The rating is not just from tourists but locals as well and on two occasions now, we have been outnumbered by locals 10 to 1. It's not a traditional tapas bar in that it isn't all old timber and dark bars. It's quirky with lampshades of dolls dresses, feather boas, a large painting imitating Michelangelo's Cistine Chapel with the figures replaced by chubby cartoon women. It's off the wall and small. There is more space on the sidewalk than inside and there are two prices for every dish; on served at the bar the other seated. We arrived at around 8.15 pm and it was packed to the rafters with locals. Most left at around 9.30.

We had expected that tapas would be bite size serves, and I guess that will be the case at some traditional Tapas bars, but many serve Raciones. Not all Spanish food is
tapas. They way food is served and the kind of
dish determines it´s name. Whether it be Plato(dish) Racion (portion) Tapa (snack) Pintxo (food on a stick) or Montadito (food on bread).

elminniBar serves a free tapas with your drink. We then ordered from the Racion menu. We ordered the Tapa Breton, a winner of the best tapas in Madrid 2013, and it was delicious! It's grilled cheese, served with a tomato jam, coriander, balsamic and oil with bread on the side. We also ordered the calamari but they had non left. We asked the waiter for his suggestion and he served us cod and spinach cigarellos with a red pepper coulis.

Madird has been mad about G&T for some years now. They fill a glass with ice and then an indiscriminant amount of Gin (choice of 7 brands). Twist the lime/lemon to release a few drops of oil and then add some juniper berries and pink peppercorns (or their choiced of aromatics). Finally, the knife is placed in the glass and the tonic water run down the blade into the glass. Visual and performance art.

We had to have one. Great!

There were four guys at the table next to us and they shared a Racion while they had a couple of beers. That seemed to be the standard although an older gent sat at the end of the bar and had around three courses. We had the two Racions, 2 G&T's, a glass of red wine and a shared cheescake with a couple of liqueurs on the house for around $AUD45.00. Gotta return to try other dishes.





The Royal Monastery of the Incarnation Is a convent of
the order of Recolet Augustinesl. The institution mainly interned women from
noble families, and was founded by the Queen Margaret of
Austria, wife of Philip III,
and thus was well endowed with wealth. Although it belongs to an enclosed religious
order, the building is open to the public under the administration
of the Patrimonio Nacional.

The impulse
for the founding of the monastery by Queen Margaret, and sometimes the nuns are
called las Margaritas, was
to celebrate her husband's expulsion of the Moriscos, resident Moors. The queen had the
prioress of the monastery of discalced nuns of San Agustín in Valladolid, Mother Mariana de San José,
accompanied by Francisca de San Ambrosio (sister of the marquesa de Pozas),
Catalina de la Encarnación, and Isabel de la Cruz. First lodged in the Convent of Santa
Isabel while they
awaited the completion, they received donations from the king and queen,
including jewels, to finance the monastery. The monastery was built adjacent to
the then extant Real Alcázar,
and had a passageway to allow the royals direct access. The monastery was
inaugurated in the 2nd of July 1616, a few years after the queen had died.

The architect and friar Alberto de la Madre de Dios designed and built the monastery
between 1611-1616. The facade has a sobriety recalling the style of Juan de Herrera. The monastery, now partly a
museum, has a wealth of works of art and relics including tubes with the blood
ofSt. Januarius and of St. Pantaleon.

During the reign of Charles IV of Spain,
his prime minister, Manuel Godoy, would attend daily mass here,
walking from his nearby Palace
of Floridablanca. When Joseph Bonaparte entered Madrid as king, a hanged cat
was found on the monastery gate with the writing: Si no lías pronto el hato,/ te verás como este gato. ("If you don't leave this town
soon/ you'll end up like this cat"). In the 19th century, the composer Lorenzo
Román Nielfa was
professor of music here. The monastery was open to the public in 1965.

The interior of the church was
redecorated in the 18th century, including frescoes in the ceiling of the main
chapel by Francisco Bayeu. In the center of the retablor
of the main altar is an Annunciation by Vincenzo Carducci. On the sides of the altar
are the sculptures of Augustine
of Hippo and his mother Saint Monica by Gregorio Fernández.
The tabernacle was completed by Ventura Rodríguez.
The small statues of the Doctors of the Church and the bas-relief of the Savior
are by Isidro
Carnicero.

The
monastery features paintings and sculptures by Luca Giordano, Juan van der Hamen, Pedro de Mena, José de Mora (Mater
Dolorosa), and Gregorio Fernández (Dead Christ and Christ
at the column).


First stop: One of the two historical taverns in medieval Madrid.
Vermouth on tap: Fortified white wine flavored with various roots, herbs and spices and sweetened with caramel. It became popular over a century ago and has since become the traditional drink of the city.
The Spanish omelette: "Tortilla española" is our most common gastronomic specialty. The original is made only with eggs, potatoes and onion.

Second stop: A bar specialized in cold cuts.
Cold cuts are the oldest tapas. We will taste the best which are the ones coming from a pig breed unique to Spain and Portugal: the Iberian breed. When this breed is free range in an oak tree forest rich in acorns the result is the best pork meat in the world. We will taste different acorn-fed iberian pig cold cuts styles: ham, lomo and chorizo.
We will also taste other traditional tapas :
Torrezno: Marinated pork belly deep-fried in olive oil
Manchego cheese: The Manchego is produced in the La Mancha region of Spain, which is also home to Don Quixote. It is made from unpasteurised sheep's milk. It is the most popular cheese in Spain.
Empanadillas the atún: Tuna empanada.

Wines we will have in this restaurant:
Muscat Alexandria: To pair with the cold cuts we will open a bottle of my favourite Moscatel: Victoria 2 by Jorge Ordoñez. Chosen best white wine in Spain by the Gourmets Wine Guide it is the only spanish wine that has been at the banquet of the Nobel Awards, the 10th of December of 2012, at the Blue Hall of Stockholm's City Hall.
A 15-year-old Oloroso: One of the traditional wines of the south-west that pairs the manchego cheese to perfection.

Third stop: my favorite spot in the city, a 18th century mansion sorrounded by even older buildings!
We will taste spinach croquetas with a wine made from the Verdejo grape which is the most popular in the country.
Then we will taste a famous Spanish delicacy, la presa ibérica. This is the most juicy and savory cut of the Iberian pig, perfect for grilling. We will have it with red wines from my cellar such as: Gran Reserva 904 (Robert Parker 96 points), Finca Espolla 2009 (Gourmets 97 points), San Roman 2010 (Gourmets 97 points), etc.



We will top it all off with the king of the Spanish pairings, vanilla ice-cream with La Cañada Pedro Ximenez (raisin-wine). La Cañada has been chosen by the Gourmets guide the best sweet wine in the country, 99 points.