Day 13: Slow Motion
Early part of our day was spent recovering from the partying we did the night before (which spilled over till morning 
). It must have been the mix of drinks plus the fact that we didn’t have any snacks and water while drinking that gave us a crazy hang over. So the last day in Madrid moved in slow motion for us due to this.
We had lunch at the same time as everyone in Madrid did at Colbie Restaurant. I barely ate because I was still feeling a bit queasy. But I got better as soon as we walked down the shopping district of Fuencarral.
Fuencarral has a mix of well-known brands plus others that I have not seen back home. Unlike the mix of stores in Sol and Gran Via, this stretch offers more of the small format stores which gives the place a quaint neighborhood feel. Some of the stores that I liked were Fun and Basics (selling bags and accessories), Blanco (apparel, bags & accessories), Custo Barcelona (apparel in fun prints) and another one I could not remember but it was remarkable because it had a very unique go green online campaign. It also has some well-known stores like Mango, Zara, Sisley, etc. As a personal rule, I only buy from stores that are not available back home (except for something for Gabs at Zara) since these items were sort of souvenirs that reminded me too about the unique offerings of a place.
After Fuencarral, we took the Metro and headed to Museo Reina Sofia in Atocha. The museum displayed works by modern artists and included the most brilliant Spanish artists like Picasso, Dali and Miro. Here we saw Picasso’s most celebrated work, The Guernica. It also showed pre-work drawings that Picasso did leading to his masterpiece. We specifically liked surrealism as best depicted in Dali’s works. The museum defined surrealism as anything that goes against rational thought. We enjoyed our time at the Reina Sofia because a lot of the art are familiar to us and there is just something about the crazy genius of the modern artists that appeals to us.
Then we headed to Sol to look for the churros place that our friend, Mons, recommended. We found Chocolateria de San Gines in one of the streets near Puerta del Sol. It must be really popular since the place was packed when we got there. Customers spilled over in its alfresco area enjoying just one thing, churros con chocolate (they seem to only sell just that). The churros were the best I have tasted so no wonder the crowd trooped despite it being located in a small esquinita.
We did a bit more shopping along Sol where we tried, but to no avail, to find a nice Madrid photo frame. We ended up buying a magnet that I can just attach to a generic frame. Oh well.
Next stop for us was flamenco. Since it was our last night in Madrid, we had to watch flamenco. I read from the Luxe Guide about a highly-recommended place called Casa Patas. We saw this place while wandering around during our first night in Madrid but were not sure if they really had flamenco because the place looked like a traditional Spanish resto. So we tried looking for it again. It took some time and we started toying with the idea of traveling all the way to Las Tablas which is a bit far from where we were staying. Finally we found it just in time to have dinner then watch the show.
At Casa Patas, we had the best meal so far. I had the specialty of the house, ox tripe and Gabs had sirloin. The meats had a melt-in-your-mouth quality, definitely very sinful. Then we were ushered to the back of the resto for the flamenco show.
The show featured two dancers and a group of musicians composed of a boom box boy, a male singer, a female singer (who was also a flamenco dancer) plus two guitarists. I was particularly drawn to the very expressive hand movements of the dancers and the quick movements of their feet. We were also curious about the rapport between the musicians and the dancers because they make you think that they are making up their moves and music as they go along the way, exuding an air of spontaneity. Gabby also particularly liked the male singer and his powerful voice. Flamenco is such a powerful performance, both dance and music that you can’t help but feel alive during a show. It is so inspiring to watch such a passionate performance that I am tinkering with the thought of enrolling in a class back home!
After the show, we headed back to our hotel and prepared for another day of traveling the next day. So we say adios to Madrid and hola Andalucia!
