Madrid With Kids
After departing Newark twice (we flew northeast three hours before the pilots announced that due to a hydraulic issue in one of the engines, we’d be turning back), we arrived in Madrid fully disoriented. We stayed in a AirBnb for 3 nights, a short run from El Retiro Park.
Our first night, we found dinner a short walk for adults but a long one for kids away. We were searching for good Spanish fare: gambas con ajo, pulpo, lomo. The walls of Taberna El Sur were covered in Almodóvar posters. I loved the poster for Carne Trémula with either two legs or two bodies, and two hands- if you look up photos of the restaurant you’ll see it. The kids loved the pride flag they noticed at the top of the bar and the pillows behind their bench seat against the wall.
When having a meal out with kids, we mostly raw dog it. For example- at the aforementioned Taberna, we brought nothing for the kids to do. They were intermittently tired, grumpy, whiny, and trying to sleep on the pillows. But they were also involved in looking at the menu, making some decisions about what we would get to share, and talking with us about our surroundings. We chatted, ate our meal in the varied energy fields the kids emitted, and then made our approach home.
We stayed only three nights in Madrid, which was silly. Five would have been best, four would have sufficed. Our problem was that we shopped (FOR ME) for two days and therefore sacrificed true high culture for commercial clothing bliss. I haven’t shopped outside of thrift stores in years, and frankly was never really a shopper, but if something can turn you it is walking through Madrid and seeing thousands of beautiful and beautifully dressed people and then going to their mecca: Salamanca. Delamon and I simultaneously said that if we were each single we would move to Madrid like yesterday. But, since we’re actually happily married, we decided to spend more attention and money on clothes today.
The BEST thing we did in Madrid was go to the Circus Raluy Legacy. It happened to be two blocks from our Airbnb and right next to an Iberian ham shop. The whole circus presentation was thematically cohesive, artistically curated, astonishing, both historic and futuristic, and fun. The Raluy family is in its 5th generation of circus acrobats, and two of the great-great-great-great granddaughters currently run the business and also rollerskate around a tiny disk together with one sister often flung about by the other (typical). The circus is 100% not to be missed.
Our Airbnb was great: compact, had A/C, two rooms and a sofa bed in the living room, and a short run from El Retiro park. It was less expensive, but slightly farther from the places we wanted to be. With kids, that means burning their energy walking them long distances (not an option for us yet, given their ages) or taking taxis/ubers.
Madrid would be EASY for a four person family. For the five of us, it posed just a few challenges. We learned to make reservations for four people because typically online won’t let you reserve for five. We learned to take turns running to our destination while the other took the taxi or uber with the kids (the police are specific about seatbelts and vans are EXPENSIVE). Luckily, Salamanca is just north of El Retiro park which is the most gorgeous park to run through. Book sellers through the main stroll, a bookstore in the southwest corner, a peacock palace on the western side, cafes hidden on knolls, a man-made lake in which to row, and many other runners at any time of day.
After leaving Madrid, our kids do not know El Prado, or Lázaro Galdiano, or the Naval Museum, or El Campo, or el Palacio Real de Madrid. But they did kindly help pick out some new clothes for me despite probable boredom (recommended reading on living a good life amidst boredom or banality of adulthood: This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life, an essay by David Foster Wallace).
Other highlights of Madrid
Food:
Bodega de Los Secretos, eating in a gorgeous old wine cellar.
Late night tapas at Mercado San Miguel
El Mercado de la Paz for more Iberian ham, wine, and fruit for lunches.
La Taberna de Peñalever for out-of-this-world paella.
Sights:
Plaza Mayor, exploring the alleys with kids
Plaza de Colon, a starting point for walking through Salamanca
