Monday, November 26, 2012

Day 5- Shopping Like a Local

Today we woke up fairly early which was much tougher to do once you have already adjusted your sleeping schedule for later days, for a Sunday morning must-do in Madrid. El Rastro, located in La Latina it's one of Europe's largest flea markets. El Rastro, which in Spanish means "the stain" owes it's name to the blood that once trickled down the streets from the slaughter houses (according to Lonely Planet). It has been an open-air market for half a millennium. Usually my flea market shopping consists of vintage purses and a possible vase or interesting piece of furniture. Since we were concerned about carrying to much with us I settled for a bracelet and a tiny jewelry (or pill) box. Basically so I can say "I picked that up at a flea market in Madrid". The streets on a Sunday morning here are bare, we were out at 9am and the only people we saw were a few stumbling home from the night before. The city is surprisingly clean, there is graffiti all over but even that looks like some kind of art project to add to the eclectic feel of the city. There are few homeless people but even they seem to have a more refined look to them. We decided to stay in today, we stopped at the market to make up our own meat and cheese plate with vino of course. Then a trip to the bakery for a loaf of unbelievably fresh bread. I mean when was the last time you went to the bakery to buy bread? We spent the afternoon planning our next step in the trip, we settled on San Sebastian. Now we just need to figure out what to do in our last two full days in Madrid.

No comments:

Post a Comment