I started this thread in March to learn what others had loved about Madrid in preparation for trip to Madrid in October/November of this year. Now that I am home I thought I should offer a few thoughts about Madrid.
First of all, we LOVED Madrid. Although Madrid is a large, noisy city, it is possible to walk to many of the key places of interest. We liked the energy, the vibe, the accessibility of the city, the food and wine, and most of all, the tremendous variety, high quality, and large quantity of art.
Art
We visited the three biggies:
Museo de Arte Thyssen Bornemisza.
http://www.museothyssen.org/en/,
Museo Nacional Del Prado
https://www.museodelprado.es/en/,
and the Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia
http://www.museoreinasofia.es/en.
There were special exhibits in some of these museums, including a fabulous retrospective of the works of Edvard Munch. We also enjoyed several exhibits at the Caixa Forum and the breathtaking Kandinsky exhibit at the Centro Cibeles. The Fundacion Juan March had a good retrospective of the work of Max Bill, and the Fundacion MAPFRE had a very good retrospective of the work of Pierre Bonnard. In addition, we spent a couple of days gallery hopping in the contemporary art galleries that are prevalent in central Madrid.
Food
We started our time in Madrid by joining a Madrid Food Tour (madridfoodtour.com) to learn about tapas culture in Madrid. It was a good experience. We spent an entire evening-4.5-5 hours eating a wide variety of food and drinking a variety of red wine, white wine, and vermut. Although it was much more than we would normally consume in an evening, it was great fun. The group had 2 from Denmark, 2 from Sweden, 1 from Great Britain, 1 from Canada, 1 from NYC, and one from Morocco. The group leader was a young Brit.
We tried Vinotecca Barbechera in the Plaza Santa Ana several times. It is good for either a glass of wine, which is served with potato chips, or other food, that works as a meal. It is open non-stop so it is great when you want food at a not-necessarily-meal-time. (Shannon Essa's suggestion.) We had good menu del dia lunches at Momo and Bacira. Another lovely mid-day meal at Vinoteca Moratin.
One Sunday we had lunch at Taverna Arzabal, which is an energetic, fun place, with great food. Many locals enjoying the day with friends and families.
Our favorite meal was at lakasa. It has a number of interesting menu items that can be ordered full or half portion. It also has a great cheese board.
We returned to one place three times for lunch: Piccolo Diavolo. It is an Italian restaurant, which has great pizzas, pretty good pastas, and excellent salads. (Another Shannon Essa suggestion.) Nice to become "regulars" and get good-bye hugs and kisses.
We also returned to some of the bars we visited during the tour, plus a couple of others that I had found through reading before we left: Casa Revuelta for Bacalao (fried cod) and beer and Casa Toni for fried eggplant, calamari, and lots of other great stuff are the ones that come immediately to mind.
I know I have left some good ones out....... One that I would not go back to is TriCiclo. Highly hyped and reviewed. Pleased to snag a reservation, but the service was terrible and the food had it's ups and downs.
If you are heading to Madrid and have any other questions that I can answer, I would be happy to help. But, do go to Madrid!
