Extraordinary Adventure 2018 Day 11: Will Bike for Food
After two days of relaxation, today we picked back up where we left off with a full schedule. We woke up a little before 8 AM and went down stairs for breakfast at 9 AM. This was our first breakfast at the Gran Melia Fenix and it was pretty good. Jenn went light and just had some eggs, sausage and orange juice. I followed suit with some eggs, deli meats, salami, cheese, and a small churro. We got done with breakfast, grabbed an Uber and were on our way.
Our first tour of the day was a 3-hour bike tour around the city of Madrid. One of the things we like to do on our first full day in a city is to get the lay of the land, and we've found half-day highlight tours are a great way to do that. After we had so much fun on a bike tour in Berlin, we thought why not do one in Madrid. After being dropped off at the bike tour shop a minute or two before the tour started we met with the three others we were riding with (couple from Chicago, and a gentleman from Canada) we grabbed our bikes and helmets and were on our way with our guide.
For the next three (almost four hours) we rode around the streets of Madrid taking in some of the major sights, stopping to take photos and learn more about specific pieces of architecture or historic landmarks, and then continued biking. One of the great things about this tour was that it was perfectly mapped out. You were never on or off your bike for too long, and we were fortunate to have a good group who were engaged and excited to be there. We started off at the Royal Palace of Madrid and the Alumudena Cathedral. It was a beautiful way to start the ride and we got some amazing pictures in the early morning.
From there we rode to what is the only "living wall" in Europe (maybe in the world). It's this random wall in the middle of town that's actually living with plants. It was absolutely beautiful. I'm imagining its really hard to maintain but if it's not we should really have more of these beautiful green walls in more big cities. I'm looking at you New York.
We continued to ride through the city, stopping at a farmers market, the most well-known candy store in the city, and the national modern art museum. After that, we made a decent ride out of the city to more the outskirts of Madrid to more residential areas into a giant park that hugged a small canal. We even stopped at two different spots to jump on a swing and go down some slides. It's great to be a kid again. We passed the old Atlético Madrid stadium which is getting torn down and stopped at a small cafe and had some tapas and beers before continuing on.
The last half hour was more ride then tour. We did stop at the Campo del Moro a beautiful park below the Royal Palace where we got some beautiful photos and got to enjoy what turned out to be a perfect day in Madrid. From there we climbed a couple steep hills and were back at the bike shop to conclude our tour. It was such a nice way to see the city, and gave us a far greater appreciation for the city then had we done it on our own.
Once we turned in our bikes and helmets we walked right back towards the Royal Palace. We took some more photos and then made our way to the shopping district very near the palace. We made a quick pit stop at a small hot dog shop called El Perro Salvaje. Jenn wasn't hungry so I got two different hot dogs to try out. The first one was a chili cheese dog with onions and the second was caramelized onions with a barbecue sauce. They were actually quite tasty.
As we made our way to the shopping district we stopped in and got Jenn a hot chocolate. We had a nice table overlooking a big square so we sat there for a while, while she enjoyed her drink. We kept walking, did some light shopping, enjoyed going through the Madrid Apple store and then made the thirty-minute walk back to our hotel to get a little bit of rest in before our evening food tour.
I don't often mention this in my recaps but Jenn and I are notoriously late to everything on trips. We're on vacation and we tend to take that to heart. Today though we were dead-on time for both our bike tour and our evening tapas, taverns and history tour. So kudos to us. We met up with two other couples (one from Denver and the other from South Caroline/Argentina) and after a lengthy history of the area from our tour guide Eduardo we were on our way. Our first stop was at Mercado de Jamón Ibérico where we enjoyed some cured meats and delicious cava. We also got to sample some of their olive oil that was so delicious we bought a bottle to take home with us.
After spending at least an hour drinking cava and talking about wine/history we were off to our second stop Taberneros. This was actually the first wine bar in Madrid and was opened in the late 90's. It had such a cool vibe in you can only imagine how busy and fun it gets later in the evening. We were in there a little before 8 PM and it was a ghost town. There we got to enjoy a nice Spanish white wine a and roasted piquillo pepper stuffed with beef and porcini mushrooms.
Our third stop was at Mesón del Champiñón. This is one of those restaurants that you do food tours for. Its just not a place you would ever stop in on your own, and if you did you would have no idea what to order or how anything works. Here we had their world-famous grilled mushrooms
and flash-fried Padrón Peppers. I was partial to the padron peppers but Jenn loved the mushrooms. We also enjoyed a really nice refreshing verano (similar to sangria) while we ate.
Our final stop on the food tour was the biggest. It was at Posada del Leon de Oro and we started off with a nice white wine from Madrid and paired that with the ham croquettes and a nice cold salmorejo. Then we were poured some red wine to enjoy the Spanish chorizo simmered in Basque cider and a dish with french fries, onions, and over easy eggs. The meal ended with a brownie with raspberry sauce on top.
If I was going to encapsulate the tour it was 33% food, 33% wine/alcohol, and 34% enjoying our tour guide and the fellow guests. The amount of intellectually stimulating conversation about wine, sustainability, travel, food, education, New York, politics, poverty, and the like made the evening one that I know both Jenn and I will remember for a long time. We learned a lot, we laughed quite a bit and got to enjoy some incredible food with good people for 4+ hours.
We left a little hungover but also overjoyed that we had such a nice experience. We made the 30+ minute walk back to our hotel and made it as the day ended and the next began. We closed the door on this fantastic day in Madrid watching the men's final of the US Open and looking forward to the next two days here in the beautiful city of Madrid.
