Football in Madrid, Spain

Last weekend we packed our bags and headed to Madrid for the IE Greenlaces Cup football tournament. Our HEC teams (men and women) were scheduled to play in the tournament and watching this spectacle was a lot of fun. But before getting to the serious competition, there was of course a lot of sightseeing, partying, and EATING.

On our walk through the city, what did we discover? Peter's dream...a place called Museo de Jamon...which turned out not to be a Ham Museum at all...

Instead, this was a ham cafeteria, where young and old piled in to start the day off right (at 11:00 am) with a beer and a ham sandwich, filled with meat cut fresh from your choice of legs hanging from the ceiling.

Our next stop was at the Mercado de San Miguel, which was a huge indoor market. This market was different from those in France, however, because not only were fresh fish, meat and vegetables sold, but tapas was set out at every stall, and at every corner there was yet another bar, serving thirsty patrons. We sampled a few things (toast topped with various types of mushrooms, marinated octopus, and stuffed peppers) and then headed for lunch on Cava Baja, a cute street in the La Latina neighborhood.

La Latina was a charming neighborhood with small streets, dotted with restaurants, churches and markets. Of course, we had lunch here, following the recommendation of the New York Times' 36-Hours Madrid article. We dined at Casa Lucas, and the food was amazing. Sharing the tapas, we filled up on pork with carmelized onions on bread, boudin noir (blood sausage) and rice, and chicken with corn mousse and potatoes.
The rest of our free time was spent checking out the town hall, palace, churches and the beautiful views of Madrid.

Plaza de Mayor

A beautiful building we liked due to the large "G" (for Gale) on the front.

We even had time for a boat ride in Retiro Park.

After all the sightseeing, it was time for the football to begin. HEC brought two tough-looking teams (women and men) and although both teams lost their games, everyone had a good time.

And of course, there was plenty of partying to keep us all distracted from the losses.