We had an early flight back to Nice from Madrid today. It will be hard to go back to light lunches at noon, and big dinners at 8:30pm. It was easy for us to adapt to the lifestyle of the Madrileños: a large lunch between 2:00 - 3:00pm, with reservations at most restaurants required; a lighter dinner, often tapas, beginning around 10:00 to 11:00pm. In such a cosmopolitan city as Madrid, there are exceptions, but this seemed to be the norm. And there were certain dishes which were offered only at lunch, and impossible to get for dinner, such as Paella and a revered local dish called Cocido Madrileño - maybe because they are too heavy to be eaten so late. Cocido Madrileño is a stew made up of chickpeas, potatoes, pork, beef, sausage, vegetables, spices, etc., cooked for several hours in one pot, and then served similarly to Pot-au-Feu in France, where the broth is served as a first course, followed by the chickpeas, meat and vegetables as a second course. Of course, the wonderful Rioja wines and the refreshing pitchers of Sangria went down pretty smoothly too, and will also be missed.
Comments