Mad About Madrid

Trocha Pub - "Place of the Caipirinha"

Twelve years ago, I had my first Caipirinha. I was hanging out with some friends at the beach in a small town on the coast of southern Brasil. It wasn't a great experience, I can tell you!

Today I sit at a bar in Madrid called Trocha Pub. A small cozy space with lots of pillows, bright colors and mellow jazz playing over the stereo. Taking a sip of the Caipirinha that sits in front of me now makes me glad that I was first introduced to them. You see, Trocha Pub makes itself known as the "Place of the Caipirinha" and for good reason. In the bar, they have two wooden presses to help make your drink. These handy wood presses crush the limes in the glass releasing the tart juices. By the way, if you do stop in here some night, know that you can order almost any mixed drink you want, but why bother?

These guys know what they are doing when it comes to caipirinhas and can make a drink that will help transport anyone to a far away place. Half limes and half lemons, a healthy dose of sugar, a generous topper of Cachaça (Brasilian rum distilled from sugar cane) and a sprinkling of crushed ice. Taking a sip your mouth encounters both sweet and sour mingled with an exotic breeze that makes you stop and think for a moment before you dive back in for another sip. Who can think of a better way to start off a night than with a Caipirinha!

As a contributor to this blog I hope to take you with me around Madrid and Spain as I try to taste a bit of the world while learning something along the way. Stayed tuned, more to come!

Till soon, Ryan

First Mad About Madrid Contributor

About a month ago I posted an article on Mad About Madrid inviting people to contribute to this blog - I had some very good responses since then and have met up with some interesting and enthusiasitc people. Ryan Opaz is one of them and from now on he will be contributing articles to this blog.

I met Ryan a couple of weeks back on a sunny (aren't they all?) afternoon in the Plaza Santa Ana. Ryan is an American, married to Gabriela, and has been living in Madrid for a few months. The really interesting thing about Ryan is his passion for, and knowledge of, wine. He has worked in the industry for a number of years and has already starting establishing contacts in the wine industry in Spain - recently he has made trips to La Rioja and the Basque country.

For Mad About Madrid, Ryan will be contributing articles relating to food and drink in the capital and we will jointly be working on promoting food and drink tours around Madrid - headed up, obviously , by Ryan. We are really excited about the prospect of offering these tours and we hope to be able to launch them in the month of May.

Biking Tours of Madrid from Bike Spain

Whilst walking near the Palacio Real last week I came across a group of German tourists trying to making their way towards the Plaza de Oriente. This wasn’t the first organised group of cyclists I had seen in the City centre – it looks like there is an upward trend in tourists using bikes to get around the city either for a day or for a week. Bike Tours Spain is one of the organisations, along with the City Council of Madrid, that offers self-ride or guided tours of the city.

Having come across a leaflet for them in the Madrid Tourist Centre, I decided to fire off an eMail to Pablo Muñoz to find out more. Bike Tours Spain are located near the Puerta del Sol and  “organize guided excursions in and around Madrid and bicycling tours around Spain.” In addition, they also “rent cycles to ride the city at price of 15 euros, giving a map and all necessary accessories like a lock, helmet and panniers with the information of how to ride by the city and where to go.”

A popular tour is The Madrid City Tour, which includes the historic and monumental Madrid.

An interesting tour that will guide you through the "Madrid de los Austrias", the "Templo de Debod", an Egyptian temple with incredible views of the forests around Madrid, the Royal Palace, the gardens of Plaza de Oriente and the Opera of Madrid, the Almudena (Madrid's cathedral), and the remains of the Moorish walls which once protected Madrid. Then we will ride to the medieval quarter by some amazing narrow streets towards the "plaza de la Villa" or the town-hall, the famous "Plaza Mayor" (Main Square), where we could have a drink sitting in a terrace enjoying the sunshine. By the pedestrian street of Huertas we go down to the Prado Museum, the Botanic garden, and the Retiro Park, an incredible and very romantic park with some interesting buildings. By the "Puerta de Alcalá", and the Cibeles square we ride to the cenrte of the city "the Puerta del Sol", where we finish the tour. The city tour is offered twice a month, on Satrudays, at a cost of 9.10 Euros.

Bike Spain is also Madrid Tourism’s Council Official Partner for its city tours. For more information, visit the Bike Spain site or send Pablo an eMail.

Madrid Marathon Hits the Streets This Weekend

On Sunday 24th April the streets of Madrid will be filled with runners participating in the 28th Popular Marathon of Madrid - so bear this in mind if you're planning to make trips to popular sites - Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor and Palacio Real, for example. The event begins at 9.30 am and the starting line is on the Paseo de Recoletos. For more information, take a look at the (poor) official Madrid Marathon website.

Casa Antonio - Old-Style Madrid Bar

No Hay Coca Cola,
Ni Refrescos
(Trans: We Don´t Sell Coke,
Or Soft Drinks)

This the sign that catches your eye behind the bar in Casa Antonio - I just love it  - if you want soft stuff, go somewhere else!

The Casa Antonio bar is located south of Madrid´s Plaza Mayor, and just off c/ Toledo, in c/Latoneros, 10. It is an old-style Madrid bar, with its own zinc sink (where wine and beer glasses are swilled out) and tiled walls and a history that goes back to the 1880´s. The bar has wooden benches around the walls which, on the day I was there, some of the locals had positioned in the open doors to watch the world go by, and a good selection of wines - around 20 reds, rosé's and whites - that you can purchase by the glass. You can also buy tapas at the bar, too - the ham croquets are very good as are the chicken wings and Cabrales cheese.

A Hedonist´s Guide to Madrid

A Hedonist´s guide to ... is designed to appeal to a more urbane and stylish traveller. The kind of traveller who is interested in gormet food, elegant hotels and seriously chic bars - the traveller who feels the need to explore, shop and pamper themselves away from the madding crowd.

The first time I saw this book was in Madrid´s FNAC bookstore and its very distinctive black cover with a orange band running around it automatically attracted my attention. The quality pages and their images don´t disappoint when you open it, either. This book is designed to appeal to those looking for something special in Madrid - the best food, drink, place to stay or entertainment.

A Hedonist´s Guide to Madrid is quite neatly split into the following sections: sleep, eat, drink, snack, party, culture, shop and play, though the main sections are the first four. The book also has four small maps of the main ares of Madrid: Chueca/Malasaña, Centro, La Latina and Salamanca which all have numbers which relate to places that are reviewed. The "sleep" section, along with the "eat" section, have useful ratings of the establishments critiqued and both sections offer Beverley Fearis´s (the author) top 10 and top 5 ratings, along the lines of style, location, service, quality of food, etc.

Though the hotel section may be out of quite a few people´s reach, the eat, drink and snack sections offer something for everyone - even though for some it may be a holiday "treat". Many of the well-known tourist destinations can be found in the guide - Casa Labra, Café Comercial and Café Gijón - but some other interesting places also appear like El Estragon Vegetariano, Isla del Tesoro and the Ducados Café .

Though the guide does include details of cultural places to visit - the Royal Palace and the Prado, for example - you would be advised to buy a more detailed tourist guide to search out Madrid´s many rincones (corners). However, I would definitely recommend taking this book on your trip to Madrid - Beverley Fearis has really done a fine job in researching Madrid´s 'other cultural' centres.

See Also
My Madrid: Beverley Fearis

Surfing the Internet near Puerta del Sol

Just came across a very useful Internet Café near the Puerta del Sol, which could prove handy to those staying or milling around the area. It is called 3w.com (no website!!) and is located in Tetuán street, number 3. The cost per hour is 1.4 Euros and you can buy hot or cold drinks while you surf - Yahoo! and MSN Messenger is available