Spent all Monday recovering in Madrid before my last 3 days there, and Em was just starting orientation so that left me to wander by myself. After a quick scan through the metro map Tuesday, I set off to find the Estacion de Atocha, a transfer terminal hidden in Madrid's main station turned greenhouse. Just off Atocha, when you walk out, to the left you'll see the station, up a ramp through the back entrance it's right there in the midst of people running here and sitting there.
It was like a nice little piece of calm in the mayhem of traveling, with benches along the outside and pond overflowing with turtles and fish. Some cafes as well. The walkway through the plants was closed for maintenance so that was bare, but I left back to Sol to walk a bit more and grab some pastries from a bakery that had just reopened from vacation La Mallorquina(woo).
The Best
Wednesday it poured rain out of nowhere, when it had just been in the 80s the day before. Mother nature bitch slapping me in the face again, but I sucked it up and mobbed out anyhow in my flimsy flannel and sandals. Went off towards Plaza de Cibeles, walking off Principe de Vergara through puddles and disgusted stares - I was a drowning rat. Spotted the fountains and towering buildings, but the rain didn't help maintain any kind of excitement hah. Veered to the right to hunt down some boutiques only to have passed the area I wanted to go down by a couple blocks. Europe doesn't seem to feel that putting street signs on the side of buildings (or not at all) is confusing or anything. But I made the turn around and found my way to Calle de Hortaleza.
Hortaleza & Hernan Cortes
Down a small street was a handful of shops and bars, where I spotted Lotta Vintage, a vintage store owned by a Swedish woman carrying an assortment of 40s-70s wear, shoes, and purses. Clean, and easy to browse through, the shop was warm and had handfuls of memorabilia hanging on the walls. The summer dresses were on sale - so I was pretty amped on that, snagging a couple for €10 each, and the owner struck me a deal on some buffalo skin clutches for €15 together.
Lotta Vintage
Then back down the street was Malmö, semi-vintage shop, featuring moreso independent Spanish designers, and artists. Owned by Mariann, from Brazil, she carried a lot of background knowledge on the designers' works and where they came from. Each cubbie held a different designer, alongside their jewelry/clothing/ceramics/etc were their cards and contact info. I fell in love with the recycled fabric bags by Numon, carefully sewn and presented with a card on the details of what it used to be. Prices ranged between €30-54, but €16 for the smaller coin purses (had to resist very hard on those).
Malmö
Ilustrismas by Miclo (www.miclo.es)
Gold finger
Numon
Numon (www.numon.org)
It's not cheap, but for some more fun, unique and high quality clothing and accessories, I found supporting 1)local business and 2) local designers worth it. That's one of the things I look forward to seeing in cities when it comes to fashion and art, so I'd definitely go back whenever I may return to Madrid.
After that I went off and ran into Mercado de San Antón, another market like San Miguel but more.... clean for lack of a more descriptive word. It was indoor, and a couple stories tall with a restaurant on top. Had your fish and veggies etc, tapas, and tables and free wifi for all you wifi-less people like me, but it was clearly not as packed as San Miguel.
Mercado de San Antón
Seafood Paella at The Barros Bar €12(mmm a rich, and filling dish), & agua €2 (boo)
siesta
Thursday, it was 'Vogue España Fashion's Night Out', and so we napped before heading out back to Gran Via, where a majority of the shops stay open until about midnight with 'deals' and 'parties'. The streets were filled with girls runnin in their possys in dresses and heels, with guys serving drinks and taking pictures - spotlight and all. I realized it was basically like Black Friday, but with techno music, alcohol and pink carpets. Haha, so we indulged in some champagne at Cuplé, and I returned to Malmö, where a handful of the designers featured in the shop were there to talk about what they're doing, which was really cool. Then back to the main street poking our heads into other shops, but not too many 'party deals' in my opinion, just booze on everyone's minds...but it is Spain. Party On.
Ended the night at El Tigre, a little tapas bar serving mojitos in pretty much jars, filled about 3/4s with liquor with just a dash of mint. It was a cozy bar, busy with the amount of people out and decently priced for how drunk they get you. Too many tapas, not enough tummy space.
Leaving Spain was bittersweet, met a lot of really awesome people and indulged in so much good food and partying. Pulled an all nighter to catch the airport bus by 530AM for my flight at 8 - pretty sure whoever had to sit next to me could get drunk just looking at me. Pretty wretched. I've accepted that I'm pretty much an alien there; brown but asian, san diegan but speaks french, rainin outside, but wearing shorts. All you really can do at that point is keep your head high, stare back, turn your iPod up and push right back gettin on that metro! It's been a trip... much gracias to Emily, Israel, and the Mojito fairy. See you on the other side (when I'm rich and can speak fluent spanish).
KL
