After visiting all of the Spanish colonies in South America, we decided to head to the mothership itself. It wasn’t part of the plan, but it was actually cheaper to fly to Madrid and then fly to South Africa, which was where we were actually headed. Yes, the plane ticket was cheaper, but after five days of pure indulgence on tapas, wine, and sangria, it probably came out to be the same price as a direct flight. On the bright side, it’s always fun to throw in a surprise city, especially Madrid since I had not yet been to Spain and it was on my list, of course.

Tapas are obviously the way to go when dining in Madrid. Each day and night we made sure to include multiple tapas stops for lunch and dinner in different neighborhoods of the city. The restaurants in the main tourist areas were obviously more expensive, but once you get into the surrounding neighborhoods you can find tapas and wine for pretty decent prices. Glasses of wine for 2-3 euro and excellent food for 3-5 euro per tapa. Cheese plates, thinly sliced Iberian and Serrano ham, olives, chorizo, gazpacho (best ever), ratatouille with quail egg, crispy bread, croquettes, salami, gooey provoleta, paella, churros with a rich chocolate dipping sauce, Spanish tortilla (made out of egg), rosé, rioja, cervezas, oh my! We also dined at the Oldest Restaurant in the World, deemed by the Guinness Book of World Records, which opened in 1725. Cod fish ceviche with roasted red peppers and grilled mushrooms sautéed with garlic was the meal of choice for me. I also had to visit Bodega de la Ardosa because Anthony Bourdain went there when he was in Madrid. A cute little bar with standing room tables where you pop in for a snack or two and be on your way. Great decor and atmosphere, and quintessentially European.

And then there was the Holy Grail of tapas, the San Miguel Market. A huge indoor market with stalls of tapas coming at you from every direction. You pretty much grab a glass of wine and hop around trying the different specialties. First stop was the mozzarella bar where I had a whipped mound of burrata topped with balsamic and tomato confit. Wow. Next was the BBQ chicken empanada, a stop at the wine bar of course, then I made my way to the olive counter and indulged in olives stuffed with feta and red peppers, and salmon with queso. The cheese counter was right next door so I obviously stopped there, then grabbed some croquettes- a stuffed & fried traditional Spanish snack, more wine, a thin baguette topped with cod fish and honey mustard, and ended my spree at the dessert stand with a few homemade goodies. It was perfect. Everything is bite sized and cheap, and there were many other places in the market I didn’t even get to, but there’s always next time!