On our second morning we decided to go to the Reini Sofia - so we caught a cab from the hotel to the location for 6 Euro.

We got there about 10:15am and there was a huge queue already. After waiting in line for about 10 minutes 1/2 of the queue walked off - we did not know why so we joined the normal queue. It took about 80 minutes to get a ticket. Quite stupid really as we could have just bought a ticket while waiting inline on the phone and then got in earlier.

 So we got our ticket at about 12:10pm and we could not go into the Picasso part of the museum until 2:45 (fixed entry time). So we accepted this - I checked online and online we could have bought it right them and had entry at 2pm to Picasso. Oh well we will learn from begin stupid and not pre-booking.

The museum seemed to be quite happy with people taking photos except in the Picasso exibition.

  

    

  

    

Our second night in Madrid and we had booked into Botin - this restaurant is registered in the Guinness book of Records as the oldest restaurant in the world. It is not necessarily the oldest, but it is the oldest continually running without closing at the same location.

We had booked in for 10pm which sounds very late but it worked out fine for us as it gave us time to rest before going out.

Pam enjoying her self....

Obviously Chris with another glass of wine.

The house specialty - the suckling pig cooked in the original oven - The pigs are from the Segovia region.

Poor wee piggy - these can not be very old.

The original oven that the pigs are cooked in is from 1700s

It was a very nice dish and was priced at about 24 Euro. 

We head out for dinner after a rest and find the main Grand Via too busy with people everywhere so we decide to drop back a couple of blocks and find a little bar with only 3 people in it.

We have a red wine and a beer and only stay for a 20 minutes as it is a bit quiet and we wanted to find something a little more lively.

We walk down the street a bit further and find a little place called Cafe De La Luz

  

We ordered a couple of simple dishes - Smoked Sardines with Gazpacho and Beef Carparcio with Arugula and shaved Parmesan.

  

After dinner we had another drink and relaxed at a little table near the door.

We decided to head back to our hotel and finish the night with a drink in the roof terrace. The streets still packed with people.

  

The hotel was quite fancy with a nice lounge along with art works and sculptures around the walls.

  

The root terrace allowed for nice views around the Gran Via.

We arrived at our hotel called Hotel Atlantico which is situated at Gran Via 38

It is a nice hotel - we are given an upgrade from our standard room to a superior room which was nice. The Superior room has a great bathroom with a wicked shower.

We go out to check out the area as it is still early and we need to get ourselves into the time zone. Even though it is after 10am there are still a lot of shops not open and locked up.

We head to the Puesta Del Sol which is only 5-10 minutes away and when we get there it reminds us a little of Time Square in New York with people dressed up in costumes looking for photo opportunities.

   

It was heavily policed as is most of the areas we have seen in Madrid which is good - although some of them have rather large rifles with the finder on the trigger.

We then head towards the Plaza Mayor which was home to Bull Fights and Executions over the years, but now is mainly filled with people selling crap, especially men from Africa trying to sell Bags, Shoes, and Sun Glasses all the while the 4 corners of their sheet connected to their hands via rope in case they need to make a hasty exit.

There was lots of restaurants there as well but we did not go to any as we thought they would be just overpriced.

We went out a couple of blocks and had a beer at a place called Tea & ????  - we sat outside in a small table and ordered a beer each - quite expensive I thought at 5 Euro for a Paul Lander from Germany 500ml. But find out the outside tables have a 20% margin on top of that so 6 Euro.

Oh well it was nice to sit and watch the world go by for a while.

I took this photo at night even though we were there during the day.

Nice Pintxos on display

Quite nice and unusual pintxos that they finish up in the kitchen for you.

This was an Artichoke with Fois gras and was coated in gold	When it came back from the kitchen it had been touched up a bit.
Different angle of the same dish	Pam had this little fish (like whitebait) & egg dish - very nice

http://agorregi.com/

• Manchego Cheese
• Croquetas
• Mushrooms from Segovia
• Scrambled eggs with black pudding and potato
• Roasted red peppers with cod
• Suckling pig
• Dessert from the menu
• Coffee
• Lunch and dinner are served with a rioja crianza wine and mineral water

http://www.botin.es/en

EMMA COCINA
Modern Spanish dishes at an excellent price

Hidden behind the forever-logjammed Mercado de San Miguel, Emma Cocina is a place Madrid locals rave about, but few tourists visit. It’s not my favourite restaurant in the city, but the price to quality ratio is high and if you’re after some light, modern Spanish cuisine for a song, then it’s a good bet. To avoid confusion, there are two Emma places owned by the same woman (yep, Emma) and almost alongside each other – Según Emma (more of a bar, see the DRINK section of this page) and Emma Cocina (more of a restaurant). Choose depending on the vibe you’re after – the menus overlap, with some differences. The website doesn’t show prices, but last time my wife Yoly and I went, we ate and paid thus: a large plate of delicious baby potatoes with mojo picón (a spicy Canarian sauce), a large plate of eggplant Cordoba-style (deep fried, with honey and sesame seeds), two (very generous) tapas: fall-off-the-bone bull’s tail stew and ceviche, plus two beers and four glasses of a local Madrid red. Only €36.

Plaza de San Miguel, 4, 28005
emmacocina.com

This seems to be in the same region as the Mercado de San Miguel or San Miguel Marketplace, nowadays one of the main attractions in Madrid, where you will enjoy a new and fresh Spanish concept tasting the best tapas in Madrid being part of the Spanish culture and habits.

CASA REVUELTA
Small, loud and hectic bar serving the best bacalao (deep-fried cod) in the city

Crunchy, salty and moist – Casa Revuelta does the best bacalao I’ve eaten in Madrid. This brightly-lit no-frills bar  – 120 years old, 50 of those serving cod – is a Madrid institution, so it’ll likely be cheek-by-jowl. Everyone orders the same thing (the generously-sized cod tapa is €2.60), so push past the stomachs, shunt up to the bar and follow suit. There’s beer on tap but if you’re after wine, the only choice is a rather rough Valdepeñas (a variety from Castilla La Mancha). 

Calle de Latoneros, 3  28005

LA CASA DEL ABUELO
Old mirror and tile-lined taberna serving the best ‘gambas al ajillo’ in Madrid (as far as I know)

A stone’s throw from Puerta del Sol, this bar has been around – so the ageing photos of long-dead waiters attest – for over a century. The menu is short and centres around various ways of doing gambas (shrimps) and langostinos (king prawns). But most come for one thing –  gambas al ajillo. Castillian food can be a little tame at times, but with these shrimps flash-fried in garlic and chilli, all is forgiven. At €9.90 the dish is a little steep, but it’s one of the best food experiences in the city. Get one plate between two and it’s ok to ask for more (free) bread to sop up the garlickly juice. They do their own sweet house wine, but I always lean towards the spicy vermouth on tap, or a frothy caña.

Note: they’ve opened a new annex opposite – but make sure you go into the original bar (with the big window).

Calle de la Victoria, 28012
lacasadelabuelo.es