As a treat for our last morning in Madrid, we decided to visit Chocolateria San Gines for churros con chocolate. The churros are crisp and the chocolate is thick. I used to go here with friends after a long night of dancing and drinking, and it really hits the spot. This morning, the place was more empty than I’ve ever seen it. Normally you have to wait for a table, because it’s so packed. So, churros, chocolate, and coffee. It was a nice start to the morning. I liked dunking the churro in the coffee, then the chocolate. Yum! We, then, went around the corner to La Mallorquina to pick up some empanadas for the train ride. I wanted to get the empanadas de atun (tuna), but they were not available, so we got something similar filled with bonito and paprika.
We then walked through the city one last time on our way to Estacion de Atocha to catch our train. Though our seats didn’t have a window (bummer) we stole glances through everyone else’s and it was a pretty ride. We were able to see a bit of the Spanish landscape, and catch up on some photo business to pass the time.
We found our lodging pretty quickly, after getting to Barcelona, and hung out for a bit to catch up on some much missed time in air conditioning. We, then, headed out to find some dinner. The place we are staying (BCN Fashion House) has some guide books so I found us a few options nearby. We accidentally had our allotted ‘nice meal’ for the week, but it was worth it. Iberico tenderloin (Iberican ham tenderloin), croquetas de pulpo (octopus croquets), pan con tomato (toasted bread rubbed with tomato and garlic), and Catalunian wine. It was all very tasty.
After dinner, we roamed the streets admiring the buildings and the very interesting groups of people. It seems like there are many more tourists from outside of Spain here, in Barcelona, than were in Madrid. Who knows? Also, we were wondering about the size difference between the two cities and we assumed that Barcelona had more inhabitants. Though it seems more crowded, the guidebook says that Madrid has more people. Hmm…