Our Neighborhood

Our Street

Fomento Street and Paco/Puck

The unused church is the yellowish building on Puck’s left and behind him, and if you look carefully you’ll see a red and yellow flag on the right-hand side of the road. That is where the police station is. Our apartment complex is on the left-hand side of the road across from the police station. The road is narrow with small sidewalks protected by metal bars, and traffic is one way. You can see the many balconies looking onto the street where people often have their clothing hanging out to dry and plants. People sometimes come out to watch the street below as well, and there are usually 2-4 cops standing outside the station talking. We saw them dusting a car for prints out by the side of the road one day on our way home.

There is a little restaurant near the other far end of the road where the local older men gather and play cards all day. You can hear them arguing and chatting whenever you pass in the street. Tuesday night Puck and I decided to eat dinner there, and the people were very nice. It is run by some Bolivians who make empanadas (meat dumplings? basically, meat, spices, and veggies, etc. baked in a crust) like the ones I loved in Argentina. They were getting ready to close, but they welcomed us in and fed us.

There is a cafe next to the police station that is open weekdays, and the fellow who works there is always very friendly to us when we go in. Also, in the background you can see a tall tower–the Tower of Madrid–which is on the other side of the Plaza de Espana (Spain Plaza). One of our favorite restaurants is a Chinese restaurant that is actually under the plaza. They have the best noodles!

The Rastro

Every Sunday this market is full of vendors and people.

This is a weekly open-air market (9 AM until 3 PM Sunday) in Madrid. It is a good place to find items for good prices, and you can often haggle if that is your cup of tea. There is always a mass of people though, and you have to watch for pickpockets. I have my new purse in the photo which I bought at the market. It’s big and roomy which allows me to carry a book to ready on the metro, an umbrella, our small camera, my notebook and misc. other items. It’s been very handy.

Domingo’s Cafe

These next two photos are from the terrace outside one of our favorite cafes–Domingo’s which is located by the Santo Domingo Plaza.

You can see part of the plaza behind and to the left of Puck, but it also goes down the hill and has a small playground for children.

The street behind me stretches to Callao, and you should always rememer to look up. The rooftops often have decorative surprises.

It is pretty common for us to pass this plaza on our way to one of the main shopping areas near us (and a tourist area) called Sol Plaza (Sun Plaza). It has some of the big chain stores, and if we can’t find what we need in the small “bazares” or “alimentaciones” (which are often called “chinos” here because they are typically run by Chinese immigrants), we can find it at these large stores. The waiters at Domingo’s are very nice, and there is one in particular who occasionally spoils us with a free dessert or two. I think it might be because we usually leave a tip. Tipping isn’t as common here as in the states, and the tips are usually much smaller than back home. Leaving 1 euro is generally a big tip for a meal. As another note, the restaurants and cafes often have different prices for their terrace, tables and bar–with the bar being the cheapest and the terrace seating the most expensive.