Day 4 of my Great Madrid Solo Trip (Saturday 11/30) brings
me to my last day! The prior evening (last night, Friday) I encountered some
intestinal distress. Not sure why, but I knew going into Saturday that it would
have to be a lighter day. So after a quick breakfast in the hotel I headed out.
Several of the shops that I had on my list were open more limited hours today
so I wanted to be there around 10ish when they opened.
My first stop is a lovely little chocolate shop called Cacao
Sampaka, which is near the Alonzo Martinez Metro stop. It is marked in my book
as a great place for designer chocolates with interesting flavors such as rose
petals as well as cinnamon. Got a little turned around getting off the Metro
and stopped into a perfume shop to ask the clerk for directions. She in turn
(limited English) asked her friend on the sidewalk that was pushing a baby
stroller. Between the two of them I headed back the way I came to “take a left
at the main stop light and then it should be on my left hand side”. Well I
managed to walk past it and as I stop to get my bearings the stroller lady
comes up and starts speaking to me in Spanish. She followed me to make sure I
went the right way and told me that I missed the street. I can’t tell you how
many folks have gone out of their way to direct me and in some instances walk
me to my destination! (Now if she had just said that it was across the street
from the Burger King, I would have had no problems but then again I am American!
Cacao Sampaka is a lovely little shop with an attached café
area you can grab a coffee and pastry as well as shop for chocolates. The nice
girl at the counter spoke English and I managed to tick off a few more folks on
my Christmas shopping list.
Then I was off again! Back to the Metro to find a small
ceramics shop that was also mentioned in my book. Antigua Casa Talavera
specializes in the yellow and green ceramics from Talavera (a small town south
of Madrid). I loved the idea of bringing back a ceramics item from Spain and
headed off to find this shop. Again, a little turned around outside of the
Metro but once I found the street I wasn’t sure which direction the numbers
went. The one I wanted was No2, so if I went the wrong way I could be way off
base. So again I asked for help. A young policewoman was standing nearby and
when I showed her where I was going (again, limited English) she walked me up
the street as we watched the numbers get smaller! Seriously, I don’t think the
Chicago cops would do this!! So nice!
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| Outside of Antigua Casa Talavera |
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| The selfies are getting better |
Entering the shop is like stepping into a tiny antique shop
but with ceramics and tiles. Apparently they have been there forever and the
shopkeeper Jose (probably the owner) has to unlock the door to let you in, due
to the fragility of the items in the store. I looked around and spent time
chatting with the owner, who had great English skills but was also telling me
about the different types of shapes and sizes as well as prices and who made
each piece. These folks sure know how to do customer service, let me tell you!
I settled on a small teapot and sugar bowl set and paid
about 64Euro for the set. Jose went to work wrapping this up for me since I
told him I had to carry it on the plane. He wrapped each piece in paper, then
in bubble wrap, then wrapped the entire set in paper, then bubble wrap again,
and then he wrapped the whole package in brown paper and tied it with string.
Seriously although it looked like a kilo of drugs (not that I know what that
looks like!) you could have played football with this and it wouldn’t break!
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| Seriously, how great is this packaging?? |
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| I'm in love with my teapot and sugar bowl! |
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| So pretty! |
After my ceramics shopping I headed back to the Metro to go
back to the Sol area. I knew from the food tour that I wanted olive oil and Turron
for gifts for the folks back home. And we had visited both shops during the
tour so I knew just where to go. At that point I was starting to look like a
pack mule with all my packages and my tummy was starting to act up again. So I
headed back to the hotel to rest a bit.
After a short rest, I headed back to Harina for a bite to
eat for lunch. My plan was to take my lunch and eat in the Retiro Park, which
was across from the hotel. It had wanted to walk through the park and since it
was my last day I didn’t want to miss it. So armed with a simple ham/cheese
croissant and a cup of hot tea off I went!
Retiro Park is a large, beautiful park (thing Central Park
in NYC). It has many areas that are well maintained for kids to play, there are
kiosks to purchase food and fountains and statues to look at. There is also a
lake in the center and you can rent rowboats and row out into the lake. I
settled on a bench and had my lunch and then walked around the park for a bit.
The Crystal Palace is on the far end of the park and it is really lovely and a
great spot for pictures.
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| Lake at Retiro Park |
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| Pretty fountain |
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| Inside of the Crystal Palace |
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| In front of the Crystal Palace |
By this time it was late afternoon and starting to get cold
and dark. I had made reservations for Flamenco show back in the central part of
Madrid. The reservations were for 7:30pm but honestly I wasn’t feeling that
great. I think the tummy trouble was catching up with me and I ended up
cancelling the reservations. I feel bad about that, because I really wanted to
see a show but I looked at it this way: it was pretty much the only thing on my
list that I didn’t get to do so all in all that makes this vacation a win! Next
time, Madrid. Next time!
Tomorrow: heading home!
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