Our walking tour in Madrid

Here is our sweet and energetic tour guide in Madrid. She started the tour with showing us good places to have hot chocolate with churros.

She explained why the names of streets also have pictures. In the past the majority of inhabitants of Madrid were illiterate. They would remember the names of streets by looking at pictures.

Some balconies in Madrid are decorated, look at this one embellished with….. Barbie dolls.

This restaurant is very special. Restaurant Sobrino de Botín, founded in 1725, is the oldest restaurant still running in the world. The artist Francisco de Goya worked here as a waiter while waiting to get accepted into the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. You can find the name of this restaurant in the Guinness Book of Records. Here is the proof:

Next to the oldest restaurant in the world there is a very old barber shop:

Jamonerías are everywhere (jamon = ham):

Many stores and small businesses are closed because of the difficult economic situation in Spain.

Mercado de San Miguel, a very popular and elegant market in Madrid:

Here is what you can buy there:

One of Madrid’s oldest and most beautiful markets, the Mercado de San Miguel has undergone a stunning major renovation and bills itself as a ‘culinary cultural centre’. Within the early-20th-century glass walls, the market has become an inviting space strewn with tables. You can order tapas and sometimes more substantial plates at most of the counter bars, and everything here (from caviar to chocolate) is as tempting as the market is alive. (Lonely Planet)