Bluebird Flies

As you can see, the inside of our apartment is really clean and modern. We chose it because of this, its moderate price, and its proximity to good food in the heart of the La Latina district.

Ariel cooking: photo by Macy (who is laying in bed!)

The kitchen of our apartment: the couch unfolds into a queen bed for sleeping, and the white table opens up for meal times.

Modern bathroom!

Does anyone know what this shower contraption is called? So many options!

4-pronged deadbolt on our apartment. Crazy!

However, if we had seen pictures of the outside of the apartment ahead of time, I’m not so sure we would have rented it. The apartment overlooks a courtyard. Across the way are several apartments piled high with junk, overlooking a used furniture store. Graffiti litters the walls, bars cover our windows, and 3 layers of metal prison-like gates close off our apartment area from the street. Throughout the day, various groups fill the courtyard – loitering teens, boys playing tag, a man playing fetch with his dog, and old men smoking cigars. An old lady hangs her wash on the line 2 stories up, and I wonder how she hangs it from the very ends.  Another woman smooches her little dog (which is wearing a diaper) and allows him in her door. Pigeons join me as I lean out the balcony several times a day to see what the day has brought into the courtyard.

Ironically, it is these gritty things that would have driven me away from this area–had I seen pictures—that tie my heart to it now. I’m not sure I would have seen the beauty of these people or of this building when I was busily flipping through apartments for rent on www.airbnb.com. But now I would stay in this area of the city a long time.  I feel completely safe here and walking the nearby streets at night with Macy.

Apartment courtyard: view from our window

Street in front of our La Latina apartment

View of the courtyard from our balcony – where I hang the wash.

While it seems like a ghost town between 3 and 6 p.m., everyone comes out in the streets around 9 p.m. (we’ve read that restaurants do not serve dinner before this time). Hole-in-the-wall famous restaurants serve the finest suckling pig and wine in Spain, just inside walls filled with graffiti. Youth, lovers, friends, elders, kids, dogs, and whole families hang out on the sidewalks.

Streets are lined with tables and chairs. Sit down at one, and a waiter appears seemingly out of nowhere to offer you drinks and tapas or pinchos. This nightlife goes on well past midnight on weekdays (maybe even until 2am – I didn’t stay up to find out!), with kids still riding bikes and playing tag in the plazas while close-knit groups of parents and grandparents sit nearby discussing the events of the day while enjoying inexpensive but mouthwatering tapas and wine.

We had a great meal on that corner. Maybe a little rough around the edges, but we love this part of Madrid! People were so friendly, food was SO good, and we felt perfectly safe.

Spanish kids playing in the plaza at midnight

Families still having dinner at midnight on a weeknight!

If there is a rude person in Madrid, we certainly have not met him. Waiters go out of their way to bring something special for “the baby” (Macy, who is 7), even after she’s knocked over and shattered a glass on the floor of the restaurant! I received my first double-cheek-kiss today, and a store clerk recognized me today and gave me a box of gluten-free rolls I had paid for and then left at the store yesterday. A little money seems to be nothing, even in the tourist areas. If I don’t have quite enough money to buy what I need, no problem! They just tell me I have given enough and take what I have.

Another delicious meal at a hole-in-the-wall place

That’s my lunch salad. Yes, a bacon salad. With lots of other meat on it, too. Divine

Red wine, octopus carpaccio, and olives. Bobby is in heaven

Old man at the bar near hams

I have fallen in love with the people of Madrid. I’m sad we have to leave Madrid after only 3 days (and 2 of those have been mostly in our apartment because Macy has been sick), but I’m hoping to return someday. I also look forward to finding new places in the world where I can be close to things that make me smile– an old woman hanging her laundry, dogs frolicking in the courtyard, children laughing, and old men sharing cigars. After living in the country for so long, I am enjoying apartment life – always being near others and always something to see. I will definitely consider it when booking future places to stay! Sometimes it’s the gritty places that have the most heart…

This is my favorite picture so far! What is this woman’s life like?