Day 2, Arrival in Madrid

Our street in Reading the day we left for Madrid.

Our hotel in Madrid, the Husa Paseo del Arte

Calle Atocha (Atocha Street), this street leads from our hotel to Plaza Mayor.
This area is part of the old Madrid.

Plaza Mayor, with a X'mas market going on. 
Built in 1619, this plaza has seen much of Spanish history played out upon it -
bullfights, fires, pageantry, executions.

From the picture behind the top row of dolls, you may see the grandeur of the Plaza Mayor.

Casa Rua, its squid sandwich was recommended by Rick Steves' Spain guide book.
A crowd was gathering outside the restaurant's door, eating and drinking.

Inside Casa Rua. We managed to order 4 squid sandwiches.  

Squid sandwich, did not come with any sauce.
And there were no sauce bottles on tables or counter top.

We then walked to San Miguel Market. Inside San Miguel Market crowds were
three deep in front of every bar counter. Those who got seats were enjoying tapas with red wine.

San Miguel Market. These seafood tapas were 1 Euro a piece. 
We managed to point and order a few varieties. 
No, they did not taste like sushi. The salmon were smoked, not raw.

Exterior of Botin restaurant, the oldest restaurant in the world. 
Botin is located on a small street off Plaza Mayor.

Activities in Botin's ground floor kitchen.

Botin's garlic soup, with an egg in the middle. 
The soup was very good, not garlicky at all.

Botin's specialty, roast suckling pig.

Botin's Chicken Fricassee. 
We also ordered chicken fricassee, just in case the roast piglet
turned out to be too fatty to our liking. (It was, for Vincent.)

Ice cream.

The dinner at Botin was a special occasion to 
celebrate Susan's birthday.

After dinner we walked through Plaza Mayor to go back to our hotel.
We passed by a restaurant displaying tapas on its window.