#4 Have a tapas adventure in Spain - Done October 2014
My first 40b4forty was completed thanks to Rick Steves' travel guide gifted to us for part of our wedding gift from my Aunt Linda. This book was our Spain bible. Chris and I had many conversations that consisted of, "Did you bring Steve?" "Can you hold Steve for a moment?" "Awwh look at the other couple with their Steve out!" Rick Steves had the perfect blend of know how, history and humor that made navigating our way through a foreign country exciting! I have already posted on his facebook page to thank him. On our first night in Madrid we went on a tapas adventure outlined by Rick Steves. In all seriousness, Spain is a tapas adventure in itself...but this one was a specific street of adorable tapas restaurants aligned for one delicious honeymoon evening adventure.
Choclateria San Gines
Taberna Maceira
Cerveceria Los Gatos
La Dolores
Taberna de la Danilea
Our tapas tour started with dessert in the afternoon! Kat Zdan loved this Choclateria and their churros con chocolate and said it was a must for us to visit. Of course with my impatience, I wanted to go on day 1! I later suggested it to Nate for his trip to Spain with buddy Andrew and they visited too! The churros were our lazy afternoon treats before heading back to the hotel to rest before our evening tapas adventure. The tour gave us a chance to work on our small talk Spanish...even if we were handed an English menu when we walked in the door. It amazed us how just ordering a small beer (cana) got you a free tapas. Olives, chips, a yummy lentil stew, every place had their own tapas to go with your cana. We were both adventurous ordering things we didn't know how to say and eating things that we didn't know what they were! We started early (silly Americans) and as we sat at the bar and on the patios we watched the city come to life the later in the evening it got. We ended the evening with a lovely Spanish waitress giving us tips and simple phrases to help us on our honeymoon. It was a dream.