Madrid trip: Day 1 in the city!!

After navigating the Metro in Madrid my first stop was the Sol station. Puerta del Sol is the main central hub of the city center. Think Times Square in NYC. Busy, crowded and with your normal street performers and folks selling their wares on blankets, etc. The area is a square with streets extended off sections of the square. These streets are mainly pedestrian only and are filled with shopping, bars, cafes and restaurants for locals and tourists alike. During the day it is not too bad but I found it gets crazy busy at night. Again, think Times Square. But since this is a major hub for transportation and the Metro offers several interchanges to different lines you will find yourself at Sol several times during your visit. I walked around taking some pictures of the more interesting things while getting my bearings. There are the normal touristy souvenir shops as well as local shops that have been around for more than 100 years. And the necessary Burger King. Because you know, I guess it’s needed everywhere!

Puerta del Sol

One of the "street performers"

The Christmas tree

Formerly the main post office, now a police station

The famous Bear status in Madrid Puerta del Sol

After about 30-40 minutes of getting my bearings and walking around I headed back into the Metro. Because I had reservations for an English speaking tour at Real Fabrica de Tapices  (Royal Tapestry Museum)!  I had emailed them to book a tour in English (highly recommended) and it was scheduled for 1:30 pm. I also knew from my research that the location was a little difficult to locate from the Metro so I wanted to give myself plenty of time.

The Royal Tapestry Museum is actually a working factory/ museum where they make and restore tapestries that you can see at the royal palace as well as other high profile areas in Spain. I was thrilled to be able to visit this museum, as I love fabrics and tapestries! Unfortunately there are no pictures allowed in the museum (for obvious reasons).

Good thing that I gave myself extra time. It was a little difficult to locate the street that I needed once I came out of the Metro. As I wandered around and searched I knew that I was close, because for this attraction I had printed out a Google map of the streets leading to the museum. Still, difficult to find. So I stopped into a small neighborhood grocery shop. The neighborhood where the museum is located is outside of the main “downtown” area and a more residential location. So I stop into this cute Asian grocery shop to ask directions. I don’t speak Spanish but what the hell, I can handle this!!  The nice older Asian man behind the counter didn’t speak English and had little interest in understanding me but the customer he was waiting on asked me if I spoke French. No, unfortunately I speak French about as well as I speak Spanish, which ranges from badly to very poor. No matter, when I showed this lovely lady where I wanted to go, she promptly said, “Ahh, I know. I take you there”. What? She was going to walk me to my destination? And she did! She understood some English and tried to make small talk with me as we walked the short 3 blocks to the museum. She thought I might be from London (sadly no, Chicago) and wanted to know if Chicago did get as much snow as she thought (she held her hand up waist high). Yes, I said it happens. Heh! Literally my destination was about 3 blocks from where I was, and lovely French/ Spanish lady led me right to the front door. I said very sincerely “mucho gracias, Senora” and off I went inside!

Inside the museum my tour guide, Lola greeted me and walked me through the museum. There were tapestries on the wall that range in dates back to the 1700’s (damn!) and they were so beautiful. I wish that I could have taken photos! We walked through the factory area and watched folks working very hard to make the tapestries. There are about 3 people working on one section and Lola explained that not only is their expertise important but that the height of each of the workers needs to be similar so that they compliment each other. I was able to get a close up view of the wool and silks that are used to make the tapestries. The colors and designs for these are just unbelievable! The workers use mirrors to see the underside of what they are working on and it can take up to 3 years to make one large tapestry.  Lola mentioned that at one time the factory also had an attached school to instruct folks as to the art of tapestry making. However, due to the severe economic crisis in Spain they had to close it. Which is kind of sad.

This museum only charges 4Euro and the tour took about 45 minutes. There is no real “gift shop” but they did have a counter with a few items to purchase. I bought a large book about the museum/factory for a gift for my daughter. It was in both English and Spanish and a good deal for 35Euro. Lola was just a fabulous guide and her English was very good. I was so glad that I was able to attend this tour and I highly recommend it to anyone!

Ticket to Royal Tapestry Museum

Copy of souvenir book from Royal Tapestry Museum

After the tour I headed back to the Metro to head back to the Sol area of the city. I wanted to walk around and do some shopping. I knew that with the lack of sleep and the jet lag that this day was going to be rather short and when the time came I would crash hard and fast. So I visited a few shops near the Puerta del Sol and walked around with the rest of the tourists and locals. I visited the Real Madrid football/ soccer store to pick up a few things for the soccer fans in my life and got my necessary postcards from a souvenir shop.

Random street performer

Impressive street performer. Yes, this is a real dude and not a statue!

At this point, it was getting to be close to 5pm local time and I was fading fast. I decided to head back towards the hotel. After getting off the Metro at the Retiro stations near the hotel I thought I might stop for a bite to eat. There was an outside area attached to a restaurant and I thought that might be a good place to teat. There was a menu posted that showed the options and I found a few things that might work. I wasn’t being fussy at all; I was very tired and hungry. (Just needing to avoid the whole shrimp thing due to my allergy!) I just realized that I hadn’t eaten all day except for that small ham croissant at 10:30 am. I was cranky. So after being seated outside and ordering a diet coke I tried to relax a bit and rest my aching back. The waiter was a little cranky himself and when he brought the menu I noticed that it only contained appetizers and most of those were of the seafood/ shrimp variety.  Hey, I needed food and I needed it soon!! The whole shrimp allergy does put a damper on things! So when I asked the waiter about the menu posted at the entrance he said that they don’t start serving dinner until after 8 pm. Seriously! I know, the Spanish eat dinner late. But I’m hungry!! I thanked him for the soda and asked for the check. (And that damn soda cost me 5Euro!)  Then I had made the decision to just order room service at the hotel. Did I mention that I was hungry?

I figured that at this point I was so tired and hungry that I just needed to eat and rest and that having the “real Spanish meal experience” wasn’t nearly as important as just taking care of me. So that’s what I did. And you know what? The room service was delicious!!! Simple pasta and bread is never a bad thing!

I am not ashamed to say that I took a quick hot shower and went to bed before 7pm. Yes, you heard that right. 7 PM. No judgment! I had been up for about 38 hours and I was done!!

Stay tuned for the first full day in Madrid!