Bear & Strawberry: Magical Madrid

How do you top a lush Sri Lankan Odyssey that included pampered relaxation at a beachside villa and savoring (twice) the most succulent crab Sarah and I ever ate? (Don’t miss Ministry of Crab in Colombo) How about a sparkling week of crisp autumn sunshine (I had forgotten the slant of the light all day when you’re farther from the equator!) and smokey jamon ibérico and crispy bocadillo de calamares as we discovered just a tiny fraction of one of Europe’s most attractive cities: Madrid?

Not to mention a couple of short beers–yes, a beer in a typical juice glass, perfect for meal number two of the daily five at just before noon–plus a bottle or three of our latest treasure from the Spanish vineyards, a light, yet creamy Verdejo, sipped leisurely while people watching at one of the lovely plazas in the Centro neighborhood, and maybe just a tidy sip of grappa. Ah, how quickly we fell under the spell of Madrid and una vida perfecta! (And we haven’t even mentioned tapas yet.)

So, can you taste a common flavor in our approach to life, whether at home in India or discovering new destinations across Asia and Europe? In Sankrit, it’s ka; in Tamil, its cappita; while in Spanish it’s comer; but around the world it means enjoying good food, usually with friends. And here’s the best part: when in Spain, we eat five meals a day!

Of course, Sarah had a fabulous time seeing old friends from all over the world as she attended the two day AMIS conference and enhanced her pedagogy. The Association for Music in International Schools unites several hundred teachers from institutions in both hemispheres, and we enjoyed Dubai for last year’s conference and look forward to next year’s gathering in . . . Hong Kong.

It turns out this was the first time Sarah had ever been to Europe–other than scurrying through airports in Frankfurt and Paris–and I hadn’t been there since a handful of decades ago when I was in college, so we were both excited to discover a city with such rich history, a culture of emphasis on the arts, and, of course, cuisine and the good life.

On our arrival, we were delighted at the ease of the immigration process, as the officer smiled and promptly stamped our passports, no visa needed, no questions asked. Our friends from nearby countries told us their travel around Europe was as easy as domestic travel in the US.

The cab ride to our hotel, the Intercontinental, in the heart of commercial Madrid on the broad Paseo de Castellano, took less than 15 minutes and we checked in before 9am. Since our room wasn’t ready, we headed down to old Madrid and the Plaza Mayor to find our number one dining target: Chocolateria San Gines, open 24/7, with the reputation for Madrid’s best chocolate con churros. The line out the door wasn’t all that long–it was the Dia de Todos los Santos, or All Saints Day, holiday–and for our first desayuno, we ordered their specialty, a healthy pyramid of crispy, deep fried, filagreed, “donuts” along with Madrilenos’ favorite drinking chocolate. Think of maybe 60% dark chocolate, melted and stirred and creamed to a perfect, velvety, sipping and dipping consistency, and, like us, you’ll achieve a level of nirvana you’ll want to repeat—and of course we did!

To overcome our minor jet lag, we walked only a short while around the Plaza Mayor, enjoying the crisp, dry air, ogling the jamon and the sombreros and the gold coins as vendors washed the stone cobbles and set up stalls, then we headed back to the hotel, where we discovered the wisdom of siesta. Soon, though, we began to connect with other teachers and friends as they arrived. We decided to follow the Madrilenos‘ pattern and grabbed a late lunch, the comida, of some silky minestrone and another tradition: the tortilla de patatas, or Spanish omelette–very different from my conception of an omelette, round and puffy and fluffy and more like a quiche–at the hotel. Oh, and our first bottle of Verdejo. We were converts! (The second one kept me company as I sat in the hotel bar and watched Real Madrid as they played about 2km away!) La vida es buena!

Speaking of the rhythms of Madrid, we never quite shifted to the timing of the fifth meal of the day, la cena, or full dinner, typically served starting around 8:30 or 9:00pm. But we did find one of the landmarks of the Plaza Mayor, Los Galayos, where the kitchen served a traditional full menu earlier, and we gathered some friends for a 7pm celebration. Can you spell seafood paella and suckling pig and more Verdejo? The paella was unlike the soupy, westernized versions I’d encountered in the states, as it was spread out and cooked, then served, on a flat, round pan, so the rice and seafood were lightly caramelized and crunchy, oh my! And the saffron and spices, perfection! Of course, suckling pig was another first, with the skin a golden crisp and the meat, so light and sweet, almost snow white in color, and melt in your mouth delicious.

On our second day, Sarah soaked up the musicianly comradeship of the conference, sharing experiences and learning with her peers, while I was off to explore the city on my own. Over that day and the next two, I walked a total of 25 kilometers, loving the crisp autumn sunshine and the cobbled lanes and shops and galleries and cafes and vinotecas of the Centro and Sol and Las Letras barrios. In addition to eating five meals a day interspersed with siestas, Madrilenas benefit from living in the greenest, most treed city in Europe, sprinkled with plazas every few blocks, where the good life truly is showcased.

Yes, tourists find these plazas and succumb to selfie fever, especially in the crowded Puerto del Sol, surrounded by many retailers familiar to everyone–the Colonel leers over Madrid as he does over Eliot’s Beach at home in Besant Nagar–yet there are others where it’s clear the majority of folks are local, smiling and hola-ing each other and the wait staff, in no hurry to bolt their grub and track down the next backdrop for a selfie.

But first, I had to find and sample another Madrileños favorite, bocadillo de calamares, a sandwich of breaded and fried calamari rings on a baguette, along with a slice of tortilla de patatas. I peeked in a few of the narrow shops off the Plaza Mayor and, for whatever reason, made my way down the aisle and found a table in La Ideal, with its tin bar and blue tiled walls. And here it was that I also realized how negligent I’d been in spending so little time brushing up on my Spanish. I could understand a fair level of German, a tiny bit of Italian, and of course a few words of Tamil, but I found myself embarrassed at being an American traveler who couldn’t understand others’ simple and patient conversation. Yes, some folks in stores and the hotel had a good level of English, but cab drivers and even staff in most stalls, shops, and cafes, reasonably and proudly spoke only their own language. Shame on me. But the staff at La Ideal was courteous and guided me through the process, offering me their smiles and a caña, or small beer, the ideal juice-sized glass perfect for a late morning almuerzo.

So, for three days, I strolled (Sarah was able to join me for the third day) and plaza-sat and loved watching tourists and buskers and Madrileños as they went about their varied lives. It was at Cerveceria la Plaza, just outside the gleaming new Mercado San Miguel, where I sampled my first jamon Iberico on a tiny baguette, accompanied by the most delicate fritas. The cafe had no cappuccino, but the cafe con leche was nearly as rich, so I tested a couple soaking up more sunshine and smiling at my fellow loungers, chatting or newspapering or simply basking.

We did manage to schedule an evening of tapas with a group at Cerveceria Jose Luis, where we drank more Verdejo and shared a dozen or so tapas, and where we confirmed our love of the delicate salsa of Madrid, light, delicate, pink, and the perfect foil for a sliver of jamon.

Of course, Madrid is known for its “Golden Triangle” of art museums: The Prado, the Thyssen-Bournemisza, and the Reina Sofia, where Picasso’s Guernica resides, all within easy walking distance of each other and the welcoming Parque de el Retiro. We bought an annual pass for all three museums but ended up focusing more on walking the old neighborhoods and sipping cafe con leche or Verdejo, so we will just have to put Madrid at the top of our list for our few weeks in Europe once school is out in early June. Hmmmm, maybe with Barcelona and Florence and Tuscany and Lago di Como as well?

Aha, but what the heck does all this have to do with bears and strawberries? It turns out Madrid was known in earlier times as Ursaria, (Land of Bears in Latin) and in the thirteenth century there was a dispute about whether the clergy or landowners had certain rights. In 1222, the clergymen pressured the civil council to allow animals to forage without disturbance in the fields and forests in the municipal jurisdiction. King Alfonso VIII therefore decided that the animals (the bear) would belong to the clergymen while the forests and fields (the strawberry) were bestowed to the civil council and both would share responsibility in maintaining progress. All seemed to work well so Madrid’s coat of arms shows the bear and the strawberry tree to this day. So, until next time . . .