Christmas Eve In Madrid (3)

After a more peaceful night's sleep, we slowly got ready (almost nothing in Spain opens early, anyway!) and headed towards the Royal Palace.  However, as we were walking there, we got distracted along the way and ended up checking out a completely random church which we passed (turned out to be well worth it).  When we arrived at the palace, we discovered it was closed.

Given the fact that we had walked across town to get there, we decided to explore anyway.  This turned out to be an excellent plan, as the Plaza del Oriente (just opposite) and gardens on either side were very nice, with plenty of statues and a busker or two.

I believe it was at this point that we decided we could go and have a coffee at the place which overlooks the parks just down the road from the Palace.  This idea also failed, due to the place being shut, so we had to continue on an uninformed hunt for a coffee Ma and Pa.

That led us to this place: Toma Jamón.  I've mentioned before that the Spanish are obsessed with ham, but let me restate it.  Aside from the fact that (from what I can tell) the name of this place translates as something like 'Have Some Ham,' I really don't think you'd see ham-shaped beer pullers in any other country.

After the jamoning, we headed off to a free Christmas carol concert in front of the opera building.  It was a cute wee rock-ish band doing all of the ones we know and love.

In true Spanish style, we decided to head off and start eating and drinking again.  (It's only natural, right?  When in Rome...)  As my cool former flatmate had given me advice on a few places to eat at, we headed on to 100 Montaditos, home of tiny, tiny sandwiches.  And really big handles of beer.  Although, if I recall correctly, I think Dad was the only unrestrained one who got a massive beer.

Anyway, they don't call this place '100 mini-sandwich-rolls' (very bad translation, but it's a tricky one) for nothing.  They actually have 100 different fillings on offer.

Thinking we'd better stop eating and drinking for just a couple of hours, we headed back to the hostal for some chill-out time.

Surely enough, hunger called again, and Mum decided that it'd be better to find a place to eat earlier rather than later, as things might be closing for Christmas Eve.  As it turned out, she was right.  Apparently, even the party-loving Spaniards have a quiet Christmas Eve dinner at home with family!  After a wander around the Huertas district, we stumbled upon what turned out to be a pretty sweet place: Casa Pueblo.  Mm, empañadas.