An adventure today which started out in La Latina

Fed up with the poor quality of the vegetables at my local supermarket, I decided to seek out a typical Spanish style Mercado (market hall). Combined with the fact I had to go to La Latina to pick up a parcel I decided to try out the Mercado de la Cebada. Walking past the Puerta de Toledo and the Cathedral San Francisco el Grande to get to my local postal depot and do my shopping made me realise how lucky I am to be living in Madrid!
















I met with my friend at La Latina and we went to the Mercado. The Mercado is a massive market hall full of stalls of fruit and veg, butchers, fishmongers, cheese sellers - essentially everything! I brought a lot of nice fresh veggies from there, so I was happy. Its nice to know that it's not far from my house. We then went and relaxed with a beer on a plaza nearby looking out to another old Spanish style church on a medieval square. Sitting out there watching the world go by, having a good conversation and blowing bubbles in the sun was just delightful. It's times like this that I appreciate and love about living in Southern Europe. Time seems to go so slowly! We had Patatas Alioli and a glass of Rioja later. Yum.

I had planned to go back to my apartment, clean, relax etc. but my friend mentioned a deadly word to me - "Ooh a hot chocolate would be nice!" as we passed a cafe which said "Hay chocolate caliente". My mouth started salivating at the very thought, but she and I admitted - her hot chocolate is the best! However we would have to travel across Madrid to her apartment as she lived in the North, I in the South. I also had tonnes of shopping so we decided to walk to my house, dump my stuff and go. Our next problem was how to get to her house...

A normal person would have taken the metro, however I thought we could change lines at Atocha and take the bus from my house. It was rather impulsive as the bus was right there when we got to the main road so jumped on it. When we got to Atocha the metro entrance nearest to us was closed, the nearest one was up on the Paseo del Prado. It was very nice in a way though, as my friend had not really seen Atocha (or appreciated it really) from a walker's perspective. Walking up the paseo we decided to take the bus up the Castellana and get off at a stop near her house. Becoming distracted at Nuevos Minesterios due to an outdoor market which was there we alighted from the bus and went to explore... eventually we got to her house and had the best hot chocolate. My legs are tired, but I love to walk around the city. Taking the local bus can also be a treat as you get to see the city and get some perspective of where everything is located; using the metro all the time it is all just names and doesn't mean anything.

Bar Districts

One thing Madrid is famous for is its bars and nightlife. A night out for cañas y tapas is a typical Madrileña experience. But in Madrid there are so many areas to choose from and so many bars to pick! I thought it would be a fun idea to summerise the bar districts in Madrid and some places worth seeing.

Sol:

This is the very centre of Madrid, the mile 0 for Spain. But apart from being very central there are a lot of old winding side streets with tonnes of great bars for cañas y tapas. Its easy to get lost in the windy old streets behind sol, but there is plenty to choose from. A favourite street of mine is Calle de Cadiz which contains many good tapas places, which are fairly cheap and also tend to give a decent tapa with your caña/cerveza (Spanish beer, small and refreshing). A tapa is something you get in all the bars. Its basically a small snack which is given if you take wine or beer to prevent you from getting drunk. Bad bars just give crisps or olives, but the good ones give you canapès, empanadillas (little pasties with tuna and tomato inside), a little Iberian selection of cheese and ham etc.

If you want tacky and touristy but cheap - check out the "Cañas y Tapas" bar next to Plaza Mayor, it serves pretty much all your standard tapas, in different sized portions, so you can buy a lot of small dishes to try a variety or a big one to satisfy your appetite (or your group's appetite!). You have to sit/stand at the bar, but this is very Spanish style, the bar itself has a nice authentic feel to it.

La Latina

La Latina is in the old part of the city. Full of charm and character; just walk down from Plaza Mayor and you are pretty much there. Its an interesting mix of classy bars, traditional cervezarias and hippy places. La Latina is very trendy, but also very chill. Its not a place to do rowdy pubcrawls, but more like going out for a beer and chilling with friends. I like this area a lot, especially the fact its 15 minutes walk from my house!

Lavapiès

I could call this the downmarket version of La Latina, but that is not entirely true. Lavapiès has a more down to earth and ethnic feel than its trendy neighbour. Its full of very casual student type hippy bars, as well as the traditional bars as well. Its very vibrant as its full of all sorts of interesting characters and bohemians. It has a high immigrant population so its also a good place to get some ethnic food! The places in Lavapiès are cheap and nice. Good if you are a broke student.

Chueca/Tribunal/Alonso Martinez

I am going to lump all these 3 into the same catagory as they are all very close to each other and I don't know where one ends and the other begins. If you go north of the Gran Vía you will come to these neighbourhoods.

Chueca is the gay district, and is also really trendy to go to. Full of crazy clubs and bars its a great place to go and just party on down. Everyone is so liberal there its great! Asides from hardcore party clubs and swinging bars, there are also some nice chilled out elegant bars with comfy couches and chandeliers.

Right next to Chueca is Tribunal and Alonso Martinez. This too is full of a lot bars, and mainly the type catered to students. They are grungy, cheap and great fun. You can order a mini mojito (take care! Mini means a litre) and sit on a beer drum instead of on chairs with the urban decoration of graffiti adds to the ambiance. You can get lost in a drunken oblivion amongst the bars and pubs there, hang out with other grungy students/young people who are on the street drinking cheap beer out of plastic cups. If you want a messy pubcrawl where your brain feels raped afterwards - this is your area!

However saying that near Alonso Martinez there is a very nice chilled out bar called Aereia (I am not 100% sure on the spelling) where you can get great cocktails, ethnic food, slob out on a futon and listen to chilled out music. Nice place to go to unwind in the evening, and also functions as a restaurant during the day.

Bilbao

Go a bit further north from Tribunal you come to Bilbao. Not the city, but the district. This too is also a very nice area to explore tapas and some bars. Its a good place to start the night off with some beer and tapas and then venture into the nearby areas of Tribunal/Chueca.

Huertas

Just off the Paseo del Prado is calle de Huertas. This street leads up to the area near Sol/Plaza Mayor and is also a good place to go at night, particularly if you are looking for live music. The Café Populart is a good venue if you like Jazz because every night from 11pm onwards there is live music there from different artists and bands of jazz, blues etc. Its free entry, but it gets really packed some nights! Especially on weekends. If you like your cocktails I highly recommend La Trocha just a few meters down the street where they serve the best caipirinhas!