Magical Madrid

Wednesday, November 12, 2025

We arrived in Madrid yesterday and checked into the Atocha Hotel Madrid. It is in a great location near the art museums and the main railroad station. It is about a three minute walk from the maze of picturesque alleys known as Barrio de las Letras. The staff at the hotel is friendly and helpful. I would strongly recommend it. I wish we had remembered to take photos.

We had a lot of errands to do and spent the morning taking care of this and that and settling in. Then we went out for a walkabout.

This is a stolpersteine. Unfortunately, the photo is blurry.

It is part of a global art project created by a German artist to commemorate victims of Nazi persecution. A brass plaque about 4 inches square is embedded in the sidewalk, usually in front of the home of the victim. The plaque gives the person’s name, whether the person was exiled or deported, where they ended up, and date of death. In Spain, the stolpersteine usually honor the memory of Spanish Republican exiles who were deported to Nazi concentration camps. In Germany we saw many stolpersteine that marked the former residences of Jews.

I believe this plaque commemorates Eleuterio Díaz-Tendero Merchán. I found a good photo of it on the internet. It says he was murdered at Dachau in 1945.

Madrid has many wide avenues with green strips in the middle. This is the one that runs along the front of the Prado Museum. We will be going there in a few days.

Who can resist taking a photo of this lush living wall?

A piece of modern art stands watch at the front of the Reina Sofia Museum.
It is by Alberto Sánchez.

We went to the Barrio de las Letras for dinner. There are many small tapas bars in this area. It’s fun to walk through the narrow little cobblestone alleys. They are mostly pedestrianized and a lot of people are out and about. It has a lively atmosphere. We ended up at Cerveceria Cervantes.

Sangria in a beer mug

Tapas

You can basically see all but two of the tables in this shot of the tiny establishment where we stopped. At the far side of the room, there is a window out to the street. The staff passes food and drinks through the window and people outside consume their drinks and tapas standing up.

Today’s fabric is esparto - a native Spanish grass used in artisanal weaving. It is used to make mats, espadrilles, hats, purses, baskets, and many other products. It is durable, strong, versatile, and sustainable. The Atocha Hotel Madrid was once a factory where items were made from esparto grass. Now, objects made from esparto can be found in every room of the hotel as decorations. Images from Adobe Stock.