Hasta Luego, Madrid !

 ¿Qué onda? ..... from the Wandering Berkmans!

Greetings from Mexico City!  We arrived last week (our 5th visit to CDMX?) to our apartment in a new section of town for us in this very, very large city--the Del Valle Norte section.  More residential, more local, less touristy and"shiny" as they say.  More on our neighborhood in the next post.  But important to note-- on November 19, we marked 3 years since we left Clinton and started out on this nomadic life! Does it feel like it's been a shorter or longer time? It depends on which of us you ask-- Don feels like it's been longer while I feel like we left Clinton just a year ago.  Not sure what this says about how we're each enjoying our time! 

We were sad to say goodbye to Madrid but as we mentioned last post, we'll be returning periodically for the next couple of years for 2 reasons-- we're both getting dental work that requires frequent check ins and we're in the process of looking into citizenship for the both of us.  Both endeavors are going well-- hopefully those new passport photos will feature some shiny new grins!

Julia (they/them) joined us for our last 2 weeks in Madrid and they wasted no time in becoming a local-- hitting surrounding cafes to work remotely, taking advantage of delicious "menu del dia" options for lunch and riding mass transit like a pro, as we knew they would.  

We knew Jules would love la Tabacalera in the Lavapies section of the city.  An old tobacco factory now art space, it's filled with wall art and areas for artists of all kinds to create.  

We also knew Jules would be up for seeking out my grandfather's former apartment  (circa 1970's) in the beautiful Chamartin part of town (near the currently-being- renovated stadium for Real Madrid).  Unfortunately, no one answered when we rang the bell and there was no porter in sight.    Alas, we'll just have to console ourselves with this pic outside the building.  

Part of the joy of staying for a long time in one place is the ability to take short trips to nearby cities.  Valencia won the coin-toss this time-- beautiful city, the beach, the city of paella and oranges and all just a 2 hour train ride away... and we love a good train ride. 

It also turned out to be a great biking city.  A 2 hour tour through the city was the perfect way to see the highlights and feel like a kid again zipping around on well maintained bike paths.   Of note-- 

  

This is one of the 2 remaining medieval gates to Valencia, called the Torres de Serrano, from 1392.  The holes in the wall-- yeah, cannon balls.  

The City of Arts and Sciences (pic above and below) blew our minds.  Newly constructed in 2005 and designed by the same Spanish architect who designed the new World Trade Center subway station and the Milwaukee Art Museum, among other amazing structures, we spent hours after our bike tour just gaping at one  fabulous design after another.  Home to a science museum, an IMAX theater, an oceanarium and space for live theater, opera and the symphony, this space has it all.  Placed right along the Jardin de Turia, a bike path and gardens on a former river bed, this set up made for one of the best biking experiences we've had.  

In the pic below, file this under the playground of my dreams.   Parque de Gulliver, also on the bike path,  features a tremendous fiberglass figure of a prone Gulliver that is an inventive series of slides and climbing walls.   Jules and I screamed all the way as we almost flew off the side of his belt.  Check out this link to see a bird's eye view of this amazing playground.  

 

Another stop on our tour was the spectacular Mercat Central, built in 1914, and filled with every mouthful of deliciousness you could imagine.  We stocked up here with the makings of a tasty picnic lunch-- turkish veg pie, sweet and soft fresh dates, bocadillo de jamon y queso, and Valencian horchata, which is made with tiger nuts instead of rice, as they do in Mexico.  We all preferred the Mexican version.  Sorry, Valencia.  

The Llotja de la Seda (Silk Exchange) is a magnificent UNESCO World Heritage Site in a lively square near the Mercat Central. After 66 years of construction,  merchants conducted their business here in the 16th century and in 1939 the Spanish Parliament used the space after the Spanish Civil War.  

Ah, la playa.... our hotel was just in front of the wide, lovely beach Platja del Cabanyal.  With the restaurants facing the sand and a long promenade, it had a bit of a quiet South Beach vibe to it.  (understanding that "quiet" is an adjective rarely used when talking of South Beach). 

  

And what are the odds?? Don just happen to be on FB and found that our wonderful friends from Montepulciano, Enrica, Sayeed and Ahmed, just happen to be staying in Valencia just 2 hotels down from us! It was a great reunion after last seeing them in October 2021 and visiting their fantastic BnB right in the middle of Montepulciano, Italy (5.0 rating with 100 reviews-- consider them for your dream visit to Italy!)

¡A comer!  We had a couple of Valencian dishes we needed to try and wasted no time in doing so.  

Ok, we didn't try these.  The name-- just a tad intimidating!  The recipe-- not what you'd think, thankfully.  

The other official drinks of Valencia-- vermut (which had hints of chocolate-- interesting), Agua de Valencia (tasty but strong) and your basic Tinto de Verano (soda and wine).  We did a 1,2,3 and pointed to our favorite.  Tinto won out, hands down.  Sorry, Valencia.

The paella Valenciana (this version de verduras) was filled with olive oil goodness and did not disappoint.  

Our last afternoon in Madrid, we had to have one more vermut (the better kind!) and tapas. After passing this one local cafe a million times and never stopping in, we finally gave it a try and were pleasantly surprised to find the vermut on point and the tapas interesting and tasty.  Sure, it's a Spanish tortilla on white bread but who knew?  And marinated artichoke hearts on baguette-- nice!  

 

And shame on me for taking too long to have chocolate caliente con churros.  If the chocolate isn't thick enough to spackel your wall, it's not thick enough.  The straw here shows this cup of chocolatey goodness passes the test.  

The three of us bid Madrid a fond farewell and headed out to New Mexico for a great visit with family for Thanksgiving.  

We made sure to get at least one hike in, this one at the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park.  We saw a coyote!  And the visitors' center has the perfect room for viewing all the waterfowl that call NM home. 

 

This post's SOL is a fun reminder that Christmas is coming to Mexico!  Piñatas everywhere and this family went all out-- they're bigger and even more impressive in real life.  Imagine all the goodies that could fall out of this one!

So, that's a wrap!  Today Zach is coming by our place with a xmas tree to make our Airbnb ready for Christmas.  With a promise of Colombian food for lunch, we knew we had his attention.  Not surprisingly, with all the places we go, our favorite places are always where we can be with our kids.  Jules joins us in Mexico on the 22nd-- the Fearsome Foursome reunion will be sweet!   With that, this blog post is dedicated to our super kids!! 

Happy holidays to all-- we hope you're able to spend it with the ones you love.  Thanks for following along!

Don and Monica

 Spain, New mexico