TAPAS, TAVERNS & HISTORY TOUR

                                     

 

Remember the Ultimate Spanish Cuisine Tour we did a couple of weeks ago, when we ate & drank our way around Old Madrid?  Well, the same company; Madrid Food Tours, runs a 'Tapas, Taverns & History' tour as well, & soon after we touched back down in Madrid, that's where we were headed.  It was just as well that we had set out walking from our Hotel 'early', as we had not expected that there would be MILLIONS of people out walking the streets, socialising, eating, drinking, shopping & enjoying the multiple forms of entertainment along the way...including this opera singer!  There was also about to be a protest march, although no one seemed to know what it was about...the police were out in force.

 

 

None of this interfered with our tour though!  First stop was for an aperitif in a quaint little bar, which had once been where employees of the Royal Palace were housed. Smack in the centre was a grand chandelier & the walls were decorated with musical instruments. It oozed charm...

...and the vermouth wasn't too bad either!  This was accompanied with a few tasty tapas; royal olives, which are sooooooooooooooooooooooooo unlike any other olive I've tasted. They're smallish, black & have been marinated in garlic, oil & herbs.  There is probably some other ingredient, but they are sublime! It took every ounce of self control not to eat the whole plateful!  Just as well I didn't because we next sampled iberico boletta again, but this time with an unexpected companion, toasted almonds. Not a pairing one would usually imagine, but together they were a dream. The Spanish version of bruschetta followed & the simple, fresh ripe ingredients made this a very tasty morsel.  Jeff & I hadn't eaten since breakfast in anticipation of this evening's tour...which had been a good move!

We were crammed into the next bar where we sampled a crisp, fresh delicious white wine & plates of white anchovies in garlic, parsley, oil & vinegar, a blue cheese mixed with a little cider from up north of Madrid, & the most divine meatballs, which is a dish inherited from the Moors! Every mouthful made it worth the claustrophobia!

Along the way, our enthusiastic & knowledgeable guide, Luke, gave us wonderful historical titbits. Two of the most interesting for me were about the horse statues.  This one is outside the Palace & is the oldest statue of a horse balanced on it's hind legs.  The sculptor had a minor panic attack about how he was going to make it balance, so he wrote to his friend...mathematician & astronomer, Galileo & asked his advice.  Galileo wrote back giving the precise angle the legs & tail should be secured at the base, suggested the back be solid & the front hollow &....there you have it!

The second horse statue story, was about the one on Plaza Mayor.  Some time after it was constructed people coming into the plaza noticed a foul & putrid smell. They tried working out what it was to no avail. Then one day....I cant remember why as I had had a couple of alcoholic bevvies at this point.....the horse statue was knocked over & they discovered the cause.  With the horse's mouth being open & the upper part of the horse being hollow, numbers of birds had made their way into the statue & not able to get out...had died & decomposed there! Remarkably this story didn't put us off our food.

Into another crowded bar we went & this one specialised in...

...MUSHROOMS! Oh my goodness!  This is seriously worthy of heaven! God himself would drool over these.  Such simple ingredients, but WHAT a mouthful.  The two toothpicks were so that we could cleverly flick the mushrooms into our mouths...along with a tasty red!

One of the things I have enjoyed about both tours, has been the walking between places of interest as well as the food haunts.  We have been down streets we'd possibly never notice during our own rambling, & it has been a delight to see where the locals hang out.  This was our last stop ; Casa Toni!

Aside from a very tasty drop of Rioja tempranillo, we sampled sweet breads, aubergine, peppers, baby squid, patatas & I cant remember what else! It was all delicious & came to us hot off the cooker when it was ready.  To finish off we had a deliciously raisiny muscatel & a cookie from some nuns who like to bake!!!  You will be relieved to know that I didn't sway all the way back to the Hotel...plenty of water had been provided, which we really appreciated!

It was another absolutely brilliant tour & if any of you readers are following this blog with the intention of heading this way sometime...then I recommend doing one if not both of these tours. Yum, yum, super yum! Enough said!!!