Granada and Madrid, Thursday, March 20, 2025
The title is a paraphrase of a well-known poem by Garcia Lorca, “Arbolé, Arbolé,” in which a young girls is told to go, successively, to Cordoba, Sevilla, and Granada. We’re doing the reverse.
So Adios, Andalucia! I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one of the best parts of our days in the South of Spain: Sherry! Not everyone loves sherry; my wife is one of them. But the quality of wine you can get just about everywhere is superb: Finos, Manzanillas, Amontillados, and, especially, Palo Cortados are just superb.
An AVE train whisked us from Granada to Madrid in just under four hours, and a cab had us at our hotel in no time. Our hotel for the final three trips was full (or rather had only astronomically expensive rooms available), so we had booked into a rather fancy hotel for the one night. The Hotel Gran Melia Fenix was very comfortable but somewhat ostentatious. The mattress and pillow was, on the other hand, otherworldly!
We spent the late afternoon walking about in the “old town” between the Puerta del Sol and the Royal Palace. The busy Puerta del Sol, a large trapezoidal plaza, is the figurative and literal center of Spain: the Kilometer 0 stone sits at the base of the old post office, and all measurements to other places uses the stone. The old post office, from the 1760’s, is on the left; it is notorious as the headquarters of Franco’s police. Barely visible to the left of the large lamppost is an equestrian statue of Charles III. Charles III is remembered in Madrid for his many enlightened reforms: building the Prado as well as the hospital in which the Reina Sofia art museum would eventually be housed; opening the Buon Retiro Park to the public; and, especially, constructing broad avenues and plazas with fountains.
The square is given a bit of harmony by the regularity of the buildings fronting on it:
We’re told that it is perhaps best known for the huge Tio Pepe (a popular Fino sherry) sign on one side of the plaza.
A series of twisting streets–and lots of ham shops–brought us to the lovely Plaza Mayor.
That’s Phillip III on horseback; he had the square built in 1619 on the model of town squares throughout Castile. It has been witness to a great deal of Spanish history, serving, among many other functions, as the site of the auto da fe‘s of the Inquisition; heretics and others were subjected to forms of public penance, often culminating in death by burning.
Next stop was the small Plaza de la Villa, site of the old Town Hall. At the left side of the square is the Torre de los Lujanes, virtually the only building from medieval Madrid to survive. It has been repeatedly restored.
The western side of the square is dominated by the Casa de la Villa, the old town hall built in 1644 by Gomez de Mora. It, too, has seen extensive modification over the centuries.
We were approaching the cathedral and Royal Palace, but the rain and cold got the better of us and we scurried home.
Dinner was one of the most memorable of the trip. La Buena Vida was opened 22 years ago by Chef Carlos Torres. It is small and very intimate, with a front of the house staff of two, who are regularly reinforced by chef Torres himself.
He explained the menu, recommended our wine, stopped several times to chat, and, at the end of the evening, came out into the rain with us to help us into our cab! The food was wonderful. Sue and I shared a fish soup and then a gargantuan braised veal shank served with a copper pot of creamed potatoes and extra sauce. The wine was terrific: a red from Tenerife that was light, elegant, mineral, and complex.
A really great evening!