I am switching to english, to practice it + everyone who wants to read my blog can read it + I'm forced to limit my self in the writing.
Second day we planned to get up early, but we were both tired, and I agreed to sleep a bit more after Anas inquiry. So we got up and ate the same breakfast as the day before, and I had my mandatory coffee. After some discussions between Ana, her parents on the phone and her grandmother, we went out. It was a beautiful and sunny day in Madrid and I was excited about exploring more of this huge city.
Anas dad offered to drive us to the older citypart called Lavapies. He asked med if I wanted to pass by Vicente Calderón, Atleticos football stadium, also because it was more or less on the way. I said "yes why not"; and so we did.
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| Estadio Vicente Calderón |
After a little drive where I saw e.g. the beginning of a new running/biking road, you could tell that you were outside the center of Madrid. The houses were smaller, more old and worn but at the same time it looked nice and was maintained well. We were dropped of in front of a big food market we went into. Here they had a lot of typical spanish food, fish etc.
When we moved on to discover Lavapies, the streets and the houses was old, a lot of nice small shops, an old barbershop and small squares.
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| Notice: Ham and a bike |
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| Santa Ana |
The street names was called after either persons (saints), or name of the type of workers who were in the street. It could be e.g. people selling olives, clementines, different types of clothing etc.
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| He almost drove into me, haha |
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| Meat! |
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| Street of Cabestros - Oxes in bullfighting |
Ana showed me a famous and historical flamenco place, where the best flamenco dancers through time have been practicing. However, there were a big diversity in the level of the dancers; I could see on different posters, and I got told as well.
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| Entrance |
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| Manolete in top left was apparently famous |
We passed by a very famous guy apparently - I said Ana could ask him for a picture, but no.
Just under the flamenco place there was a big food market, where just stepped inside to buy some olives as a snack before lunch. I bought some clementines a bit earlier in a veggie/fruit shop, so we had enough.
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| Delicious - a lot of different "picklings" |
After been walking through cozy Lavapies, we found a good spot just outside of the enormous "Parque del Retiro", just beside of a bookmarket. A little break to enjoy the sun and some tasty spanish olives. The special about these olives was that they have been in a layer of something, (e.g. garlic, vinegar etc.), which gave them another taste than just plain olives.
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| Nice view from a random street in Lavapies |
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| Old barber shop |
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| Madrids Music Conservatory |
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| From the place we sat, devouring some of the olives - bookmarket to the left and there was a lot of people on scooters at the street coming from El Retiro |
We moved on to find some lunch, because the olives and clementines wasn't enough. Ana talked about showing me one of these famous and typical "Museo del Jamón" (Ham Museum). So after a nice walk along a main street and smaller streets, passing Del Prado e.g. we finally got there.
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| Del Prado from the outside |
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| Minestery of Health, Politics and Social Equality |
There are more of them in the city and as the name says there is a lot of different hams hanging in there, and the primary dishes is ham, chorizo and the like. We bought a menu of 1,5 liter of tinto de verano (summerwine) and two plates of sliced meat - ham and chorizo + a free tapas, for only 9 euros! (see some of the offers below). We saw on a tv screen in there, some updates due to the nights match, and there was another programme telling that Santillana del Mar (the place where we went sunday) was nominated as one of the most beautiful places in Spain. Well, the ham and chorizo was indescribable delicious and a perfect lunch, and refreshing with some summer wine with lemon. Here is some pictures from the cool place:
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| Colour hams! |
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| Tinto de Verano + Chorizo + Serrano |
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| Crazy! |
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| Our menu, the top one |
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| Feeling good |
After finishing the tasty meal, we went against El Retiro. On the way we passed some nice sculptures, the fontains, the city hall and the like. Also we went by the beautiful triumph arch "Puerta de Alcalá" at Plaza de la Independencia.
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| In front of Puerta de Alcalá |
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| Nice sculpture - Can't find out the name |
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| Atleticos fontaine |
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| Monumento a los Héroes del Dos de Mayo |
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| Madrids fontaine - spanish flags today because of the match |
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| City hall of Madrid |
Afterwards we went to El Retiro, a very big and beautiful park. There was a lake where people were boating around, and just next to, and just next to was the monument to King Alfonso XII. In front of the monument there was a nice square, where a man was playing trumpet. After a while a girl was singing, and it sounded amazing but it didn't look like she knew the man. We found out that she was just asking for a certain song and then she began to sing - afterwards the man told her that he would give her a microphone next time.
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| View over lake and Monumento Alfonso XII |
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| At the entrance |
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| Monumento Alfonso XII |
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| Man playing trompet |
We asked some people how to get to the crystal palace in the Retiro, and after we had been walking a while, we found it. It was pretty, but empty. Well there were some fossils hanging in there, so nothing special and they didn't write much about it.
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| Lake in front of Crystal (Palacio de Cristal) |
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| Palacio de Cristal |
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| Snow in Retiro?! |
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| Looking inside the Crystal palace at some fossils |
A nice park, and even though we were walking in there for a while we didn't managed to see all of it at all, but it was ok. It was coffee time and then football time!
We found a nice café, where we had a really good Americano Espresso, and shared a cookie. There was a nice phrase written on their coffee machine, saying "Coffee is for those who sleep little and dream a lot".
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| Americano Espresso |
The time was short before hitting a bus to be outside of Bernabeu about at least half an hour before.
The first one was filled up, and the next one was ok, but also crowded. It was a big match, specially because of Zidane. We were a bit in a rush, also because we should meet with Anas sister and dad whom were waiting for us.
I bought a Real Madrid scarf with "Hala Madrid" written, before the match, to show my support and to have something remarkable with me from the city.
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| Santiago Bernabeu |
We said "goodbye" to Mabel and Anas dad - they were going to the VIP in the front of the pitch, and we had to go almost to the top. But I think our seats was allright. Compared to my only match at Nou Camp at the very top of the stadium, you were actually able to see the players from here. The stadium was nice, and almost full house, despite that it wasn't the biggest match - but it was an important match, for Zinedine. What wasn't mindblowing was the supporters of Real Madrid - I mean, the fans who were there was doing a great job but they were surprisingly few compared to a lot of other teams. It could be because of the expensive ticket prices.
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| RMFC's fan section in white - opposite to us |
When the players were mentioned before kick-off, everyone was cheered of, except for Ronaldo, which confused me. Ana said he wasn't popular - guess it is a love-hate relationship.
The play from Real was astonishing, and we were very lucky to see such a great match. Ronaldo was the only one who was disappointing; too selfish and he wasted a lot of chances during the game.
Benzema opened the game and closed it, and in between Bale scored three goals. So 5-0 to RM and a great great match, where Deportivo seemed a bit chanceless.
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| Tapas + Futbol |
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| Hala Madrid! |
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| El Mejor Club de la Historia (Best club in history) |
I was taught a song, one of the few Ana knew after seeing the CL final in 2014 where Real defeated Atlético in Lisboa: "Cómo no te voy a querer, cómo no te voy a querer, si fuiste/eres campeón de europa por décima vez!" (How can you not want themx2, the champions of Europe for the tenth time) - find it here
here!
After a wonderful match we met with Mabel and said goodbye to their dad. Then we moved on to find a place to sit and celebrate the victory. First we had to meet with one of Anas friends, Sara. She'd asked Ana how I said hello, with kisses like them or with the hand; as the good friend Ana were, she didn't answer her, but wanted me to make an awkward situation. Fortunately for poor Sara it didn't happen because she right away took her hand against me to say hello.
After a little walk we passed a quite new park made with different sport fields and a long track.
Kubo King was the next and the last stop, where we had a beer and shared some nachos. I was ordering it and was met by a man who didn't seem very welcoming to me, perhaps because of my bad Spanish.
But a very cool place, where they turned on disco lights after a certain time.
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| Kubo King (Sara, Ana, Mabel, Me) |
We hitted home after that beer and a nice time where I talked a lot with Anas kind sister while Ana was spending some time with her good friend Sara who soon had an exam. We just had to get up early the day after to go north; and I was really excited!
