Una noche sin prisa

Several month ago while in Madrid, I met up with a friend; we decided to have some copas and dinner to catch up with our research and work. We started at the Taberna Ángel Sierra, a venerable establishment on the Plaza de Chueca, on the Calle de Gravina. The taberna has an old Madrid feel and lacks the clean, ultra-modern decoration that seems to characterize a lots of places in Madrid and Barcelona. Dusty bottles line the walls, and there is a small dinning room behind the bar. Not el Bulli, but appetizing. One has to crawl under the bar to get there.

After a while we moved down the street to the Bodega de la Ardosa on the Calle Colón. Once more, we entered into a flashback to the old Madrid. Founded in 1892, this venerable spot has seen much history and many personalities. The vermut was stellar, and the feel of the place was comfy and human, scaled to a days without cell phones and frenetic media blitz. Imagine a bar where the voices of people did not need to compete with the digital music track or the loud commentary of sports journalists on a TV monitor.

Photo of Bazaar (courtesy of TripAdvisor)

We had dinner at Bazaar. Excellent locations with a superbly comfortable environment.  The food was superb and at a reasonable price! We spend a good while there without prisa.

Café Ruiz

And the last stop was Café Ruiz (on Calle Ruiz, 12)! As traditional as you can get, in a towny part of Madrid. According to one web, "Café de los de antes, de los de tertulia, historias, y mesas camilla en los que se conspiraba, se arreglaba el mundo y se medía el grado de niebla del universo entero". We had some beers, chips, and talked about textualities and projects for the future. So relaxing to sit and chat after a long day reading dusty books. We enjoyed it! And they had this antique cash register made by Krups! No digital age had penetrated the walls of this wonderful bar.

Enough marcha!