April 26, 2016
Yesterday, while talking with the San Franciscans we met on the tour, we were reminded that when we obtained our Marrakech plane tickets from Iberia, we hadn’t been assigned seats. Since check-in wasn’t until 24 hours prior to the flight, that meant we had to stick around until 11:45 a.m. to go on line to get our boarding passes and select seats. I tried to beat the system by contacting the 800 number to talk them into giving us seats the night before, and it almost worked until the agent had a computer glitch. Darn it! Well, that just meant we got to sleep in and take it easy.
It felt good not to rush. The Iberia website is a little difficult to navigate, so it took about 20 minutes to check-in and get two seats on the aisle. Since the flight to Marrakech is less than 2 hours, we chose not to accept Iberia’s offer to pay 150 euros each to upgrade to business class. Heck, I didn’t even pay 150 euros for both tickets, to begin with.
Our favorite doorman was on duty; he gave us the thumbs up when we told him we were off to see the Royal Palace. A taxi was flagged and 15 minutes later, we were standing in front of Europe’s third most fabulous palace. (Versailles outside of Paris and Schonbrunn in Vienna are Nos. 1 and 2 – both are fantastic.)
The current Royal Palace was built by King Phillip V beginning in 1683 (the building on the site before burned down in 1598) and was finished 65+ years later. Over the years and under the direction of a succession of rulers, the palace grew and grew to its massive size of 2,800 rooms. No, we didn’t get to see all 2,800 of them. Only a selection of rooms is open to the public.
The royal family doesn’t actually live in the palace. It is used for many formal state occasions and ceremonies, including Royal weddings. We were a bit worried that we would have to stand in a queue to get tickets, but we were able to get right in, we even got our audioguides right before the woman at the desk decided she needed a quick break (the unfortunate six people behind us were not as lucky). If you ever go to the palace, we suggest you get the audio guide as it is really good. We would not, however, suggest the guided tour, which costs the same as the audioguide. From the looks of the people in several of the tour groups we saw, they were bored to their cores.
Words are inadequate to describe the interior of the palace, there were rich tapestries, fantastic artwork, opulently decorated rooms, walls covered in porcelain, walls padded with luxurious fabrics, ceilings covered in frescoes and everything else you can imagine. There were the requisite portraits of royals, including several of Charles III, a man who was an enlightened ruler (although his reforms failed), but unfortunately, he was not a very attractive man. I’m sure the painters did their best.
Each room was more exquisite than the last. We were glad we had come when we did as there weren’t crowds of tourists. I can only imagine how packed it must get during the summer. We spent close to three hours in the palace but could have spent more. Photographs were not allowed in the palace rooms. We were, however, able to take photos of the exterior and in the passageways. A picture is worth 1000 words.
We chose not to go into the Almudena Cathedral, situated across from the palace’s parade grounds. Although beautiful on the outside, we were a bit churched out. According to Rick Steves, the church completed in 1993 after 100 years of work. We’ll have to put it on the list for the next trip.
After a quick lunch of bocadillos (a selection of small sandwiches) at a nearby restaurant, we walked up Calle Mayor towards Puerto Del Sol, the center of Madrid.
Across the street from #84 Calle Mayor, stands a small memorial to the 1906 assassination attempt of King Alfonso XIII and his bride on their wedding day. A bomb attached to a bouquet was thrown from an upper window from #84 missed the royal couple but killed many others.
Further along the street, we saw the square housing the ceremonial town hall – the same square around which Madrid grew when it was named the capital of Spain.
Next came the Mercado de San Miguel, a contemporary market in an old glass building. The place is filled with vendors of fruit, preserved meats and cheeses and every kind of tapas and dessert you can imagine. We were a bit upset with ourselves that we hadn’t waited to have lunch as the offerings looked amazing. There was even one vendor who sold nothing but burrata tapas – sliced burrata, whipped burrata, burrata with olives, burrata with herbs, … OMG, so much burrata in one place (if you haven’t gathered, burrata is my favorite cheese). They were so pretty they almost looked like desserts. We couldn’t leave without getting something, so we stopped at the frozen yogurt place and shared a cup (trying to be good).
Our next stop was Plaza Mayor, a huge square lined on all four sides with buildings now housing apartments selling for upwards of 2 million euros each. Shall we all pitch in and buy a broom closet in one? The square was full of tourists and vendors trying to sell the tourists souvenirs. We sat on a bench for a while taking it all in.
Onwards we walked until we reached Puerta Del Sol which is at the crossroads of all Madrid’s transportation. There are stores, offices and government buildings, and lots and lots of people. For such a large area (think Times Square), we were claustrophobic. So much so we decided to jump in the first taxi that would stop and hightailed it back to the comfort of our room.
After a nap, some writing time, and a cool beverage, we decided to venture out again. This time, we were in search of the restaurant recommended to us by the bartender at our favorite tapas bar in Seville. We checked on Yelp and Sala de Despiece got rave reviews. It warned that it was quite small, got really busy, and took tapas to a new level. We were game. It turns out the restaurant was only 1/2 mile behind our hotel, so it was meant to be. We hadn’t walked in that direction and as we explored the neighborhood, we were sorry we hadn’t found it earlier. It was really cute with great architecture, a few churches that begged to be looked into, and lots of good people watching.
We arrived about 20 minutes after Sala de Despiece opened; there were only five other people in the restaurant, and with that number, it was already getting crowded. It was crazy later on when we left with about 40 people packed into the tiny space and 20-25 people waiting outside.
The reviews on Yelp had also warned English wasn’t spoken and there wasn’t an English menu. We had written down a few things that sounded appealing from the reviews, so we could match them to the menu. Our advance planning wasn’t necessary. When our server found out we didn’t speak Spanish very well, she immediately said it was not a problem and went in search of the only copy they had of an English menu. Since the menu changes daily depending on what is in season and fresh, the fact they had translated the menu into English was surprising. Even with the translations, however, we still didn’t know what some of the items were.
What transpired over the next hour was one of the most amazing and inventive meals Steven and I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying. My descriptions and pictures will likely not make a dent in explaining how much each bite was an explosion of flavor.
We started with their signature dish which was identified on the menu as “Chops” with truffles and tomato. The small platter arrived with three wide pieces of carpaccio, each with a small pile of truffle tapenade at one end and chopped tomato at the other. Alongside each piece was a smattering of salt. Our server demonstrated on one piece how to “wrap it up.” With a knife she flicked the salt onto the carpaccio like a sprinkle of snowflakes, then with one swipe of the knife she spread the truffles down the length of the carpaccio and with another swipe, she spread the tomato the length of the carpaccio. She then turned in the sides of the meat and then rolled it up just like a delectable meat jelly roll. While I watched other diners just pop the roll into their mouths, I chose to take small bites to savor the flavors. And savor we did. Steven and I took turns rolling up the other two carpaccio bundles, although we were not as masterful as our server had been.
If this dish foreshadowed what was to come, we were in love. Spoiler alert, we are absolutely in love with this place.
We were a little confused about our second dish. The menu described it as a tomato with olive oil and roasted basil, but the preparation was “Sirloin.” What arrived was a peeled tomato infused with basil olive oil that had been flash frozen, doused with some more EVOO, and topped with crispy basil. I was a little taken aback that as I cut into the tomato, it still seemed to be frozen. The process of cutting into it, however, seemed to thaw the tomato and release the infused oil. You wouldn’t think that what looked like a plain tomato would be so delicious. The crispy basil added further flavor to each bite. Subtle but intense at the same time. It doesn’t make sense, but this dish was divine.
Our third tapas was tuna tartare. We were provided a dish of chopped tuna and a separate little disk of a sauce. The waitress advised that when we were ready, we were to dump the small container into the bigger dish and mix the two to spread on the crispy flatbread. We’ve had our share of tuna tartare at sushi restaurants, but this concoction was so much more flavorful than any we’d had before. I’m not sure what was in the little container other than pure magic. We followed that dish with grilled white asparagus with a foam dipping sauce. I love white asparagus, but this was as good as it gets. The grilling of the asparagus had caramelized the outside of each spear. Whatever was in the foam was a perfect accent to the caramelized goodness of the asparagus. Steven liked it too!
We were done with the tapas we had ordered as we watched our server prepare something for the group sitting next to us. We had been eyeballing each other’s choices and when they exclaimed over this particular dish, we knew we had to add it to our order.
The dish was described on the menu as egg with foie and truffles and the preparation was “Rossini.” It doesn’t sound like much but imagine this… Presented on a rectangular cold board is a paper thin piece of pancetta. In the middle sits a small round disk of foie gras (the Spanish love foie), covered in a layer of chopped truffles and on top perches an egg yolk. The chef took a small brûlée torch and slowly crisped the pancetta from end to end and over top of the egg yolk. He then took a knife and cut through the egg yolk, truffle, and foie center to make two pieces. He tumbled the mixture down the pancetta so that he could wrap the ends of it around the yolk/truffle/foie making two little packages; you might call them bite-sized presents. OMG! I can’t even describe the melding of the flavors. Unbelievable! Even if you don’t like foie, you’d like this – think rich, smooth, creamy, crispy, and salty in one mouthful. Pure awesomeness.
At this point, even though there were several people in line to occupy our bar stools and space at the table, we decided to go all out. We asked our server to recommend dessert. She combined two desserts into one for us. We had a Brie custard blended with dulce de leche and chocolate surrounded by a basket of wild berries, topped with an apple juice reduction and crispies.
A delightful end to a spectacular dinner. Even better, one of the best meals we’ve ever had, plus two large bottles of still water and a tall beer only cost 55 euros. Does it get any better than that?!
