travelswithalice

July 31, 2019

Madrid, week 1.

They say you can never go back, but go back we did.

The lovely small hotel that we loved, the ADLER has closed down. So has niMÚ the chic, quiet restaurant downstairs that made our favourite after dinner indulgence, fried chocolate.

MEERMIN didn’t have shoes worth buying.

PLATEA looked sad and neglected; and the girl at the Vermut bar was not at all nice.

However, other places we used to like are still here and they’re just as wonderful as they used to be.

We just have to get a fresh supply of T-shirts from TYPOGRAPHIA, which at the moment is partly defaced by roadworks.

Then it’s drinks and bocadillos at nearby FATIGAS DEL QUERER.

Everytime we go there we ask the friendly staff for a translation of the poetic name that features prominently above the modernist arches of this beautiful atmospheric taberna. We always get a different answer. From “labours of love” to the latest offering: “mistakes of love”. Hmmm, no, that doesn’t seem right.

Now that I have my own Fatigas shirt, I’m sticking to my translation: “tired of caring”.

At CAPAS SESEÑA.

This is the venerable 4th generation atelier that made my sensational capelet. It’s the same Capas Seseña that made the cape Pablo Picasso loved so much he instructed in his will to be buried wearing it.

The shop now has a younger, more avant-garde vibe, as new frontman Daniel Carillo himself illustrates. He poses in front of a portrait of revolutionary poet Garcia Lorca.

We’ve just about had our fill of tapas for now so it’s a refreshing change having fish tempura at BAZAAR in Chueca.

For dessert and coffee, we move to ALITER DULCIA, a pretty café that caught my eye earlier.

Sunday morning, we take the Metro to EL RASTRO. Only purchases made are a sandwich, a salad, and churros.

In the evening, we walk around the backstreets of MALASAÑA for somewhere interesting to have dinner. We settle on the month-long street food fair at MERCADO SAN ILDEFONSO.