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Made in Spain
Whether you’re an expat chasing the dream, a traveller inspired by European elegance or a foodie seeking the perfect paella, Made in Spain is your insider’s guide to all things chic, cultural and quintessentially Spanish.
Join hosts Nalini Sharma and Laura Senior García for a glamorous mix of travel, food, fashion and the rich cultural narratives that make Spain a global icon of style and sophistication.
Nalini is a former Canadian TV presenter, who has previously covered red carpet and live events, and major news stories. She channels the same wit and curiosity to the Made in Spain podcast, offering sharp, unscripted takes on everything from Spanish traditions to expat surprises.
Laura, a seasoned leadership coach and global traveler, shares her deep, first-hand knowledge of Spain—not just as her birthplace, but as a country she continues to rediscover. With a British father and Spanish mother, she considers herself a global citizen with deep roots in Spain. Her insights connect Spain’s rich past with its modern evolution, offering a unique and personal perspective on life, culture, and luxury in Spain today.
Every episode of Made in Spain explores the country’s hidden gems and exclusive experiences, but it’s more than just a guide—it’s a conversation.
The show’s Slice of Life segment gives listeners an unfiltered peek into Nalini and Laura’s daily experiences – the joys, frustrations, and unexpected moments that make life in Spain, and beyond, full of surprises. Sometimes, it’s about the reality of settling into a new country – at other times, it’s about their travels, funny mishaps, or behind-the-scenes stories from researching the podcast. No matter the topic, listeners feel like they are right there with them, stepping into their world.
Made in Spain
Madrid: Serrano style, Malasaña nights and yayos
Step into Madrid, a city that confidently wears contrasts like a second skin. From our first moments exploring the Spanish capital, we were struck by its ability to simultaneously embrace luxury and grit, tradition and rebellion, elegance and edge.
The city's personality reveals itself in layers. You might start your evening sipping expertly crafted cocktails beneath the chandeliers of the Four Seasons, only to end the night in a historic dive bar where the floor sticks to your shoes and the bartender rings a school bell when patrons get too rowdy. This is Madrid – unapologetically authentic and full of surprises.
Our whirlwind day began with exquisite Asian cuisine at Li Long, where we discovered that even upscale restaurants offer affordable weekday lunch menus. The sommelier's passionate knowledge enhanced our meal, particularly when accompanying what might have been the best lobster we've ever tasted. From there, we ventured to the Golden Mile of shopping along Calle Serrano, where luxury boutiques like Purificación García and Carolina Herrera showcase Spanish design at its finest. Pro tip: if you're visiting in early July, even these high-end stores offer significant discounts during Spain's major sales period.
The heart of our Madrid experience came in Malasaña, once the epicenter of Madrid's counterculture "Movida" movement. At Casa Camacho, a bar unchanged since the 1800s, we sampled the authentic Yayo cocktail in its birthplace. The contrast between the morning's luxury shopping bags and this neighborhood dive couldn't have been more striking – yet somehow, perfectly Madrid. We also discovered the Temple of Debod, a 2,200-year-old Egyptian temple gifted to Spain and reconstructed in Parque del Oeste, offering magical sunset views that shouldn't be missed.
A word of caution: Madrid's summer heat is intense. Without coastal breezes, the city can feel like an oven, with even the wind bringing no relief. Many locals escape to the coast in August, but with proper planning (indoor activities during peak afternoon heat), summer visits can still be rewarding.
Have you experienced Madrid's fascinating contrasts? We'd love to hear which side of this multifaceted city captured your heart – the elegant luxury or the authentic local haunts. Either way, Madrid awaits, ready to show you all its fascinating faces.
Welcome everyone to our season finale episode. Madrid Serrano style. Malasaña nights and Yayos for days. So this episode we are in Madrid, a city that wears heels and sneakers, a Rolex and a tattoo sleeve all at once.
Speaker 1:You can start your night sipping cocktails under a chandelier at the Four Seasons and ended drinking a Yayo at a dive bar where the floor is definitely sticky.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so let's talk about our trip to Madrid, nalini, so tell us a little bit about how you got there, because we did go separately, oh right.
Speaker 1:Okay, so this is just a slightly offside already, but I took the little dog with us.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, we did discuss this in the planning for the episode. For those of you who are pet lovers and doggy lovers, you know sometimes we are going to bring up and recommend places that you can take your doggies to with Madrid, and specifically the bullet train is, I believe, quite doggy friendly.
Speaker 1:They're dog friendly. So we took the bullet train. We took Renfee Really super easy from Alicante, two and a half hours. You just have to check for anybody traveling with their pet. Some trains are not dog friendly, so you just have to pick the right time.
Speaker 2:But there, I mean there are, I don't know how many trains, I bet it's like depending, maybe like if someone has an allergy or something.
Speaker 1:So some are not dog friendly, but there are many trains that leave from alicante that are dog friendly, so that's how we got there. Um, what time, you guys were there a little earlier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you were there so we took the wego and we did the excel seat, okay, uh, so we go, that's o-u-i-g-o. And sometimes they have like incredible like nine euro offers per way, but yeah, I think like it was two of us and round trip it was 45 euros from the coast round trip for XL seats, which is like their business class. So really easy place to get to Madrid. You know, you can drive, you can take the train, you can go on an airplane. I don't even think it's worth driving because you'll end up spending more on gas than you would on the train. But the first thing that I think we both love about the city is accessibility.
Speaker 1:So it's super accessible. And one thing that I have not discovered yet First of all, the train station is under massive renovations in Madrid, so keep that in mind Every time I go back.
Speaker 2:The station for Chamartín, because you used to go on the train to Atocha, yes, but now there's only like one train a day from Alicante at least that goes to Atocha. A lot of them are going to Chamartín. It is a mess. It's a mess.
Speaker 1:It will continue to be a mess for months probably years, a couple of years, but when it is finished it will be a huge hub for rail travel.
Speaker 2:For the people who are working on the Chamartin train station. Please put more restaurants and food options there. We are all tired of having to eat Burger King, yeah.
Speaker 1:Also maybe an extra I don't know bathroom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, maybe an extra bathroom, that know bathroom. Yeah, maybe an extra bathroom.
Speaker 1:But what, once you get into madrid, there is there's a metro. The metro goes to the train station. It's underneath. I mean, it's actually closer to get on the metro than it is to get on the taxi to the taxi stand. The only issue typically when we go to madrid, it's to fly out of the country and we have the luggage. Yeah, and this time we could have tried it, except Kai had a friend and he had luggage, and you had the doggie and we had the dog and yeah, it was just it wasn't.
Speaker 1:Our little Luna. We're so in love with her. I will tell you she was fantastic. She didn't make one peep on the train, Not a. Tell you she was fantastic. She didn't make one peep on the train not a sound.
Speaker 2:Not a sound in the taxi. Nothing, zero. So before we move on to our actual topic, which is Madrid, I'm gonna go a little bit off topic into the train situation, because it is hilarious that we had the comparison of the two. Nalini had you know Luna, who is this well-behaved, absolutely gorgeous puppy that didn't say a word or a bark or a peep. You know, on the way going to Madrid and on the way back nothing on the return.
Speaker 2:We were going in separate trains and I told her afterwards we had a very different experience of a wonderful lady with her little dog who must have been going through like a panic attack or something, and the dog, not the lady.
Speaker 2:Well, and almost giving everybody else a panic attack, because the poor puppy sat there for two hours and 20 minutes going like this and the lady wouldn't stop saying, like if you don't shut up, I'm gonna put your muscle on and I can't. Like, like, can you please leave him alone? Like go to the corridor. Like leave the, you know, leave the actual cart. It's driving everybody mental, you know, and you're snoring.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, and there's someone snoring behind and someone else like looking at an inappropriate Netflix program, I'm like, oh my goodness, this is like you know the the one real thing yeah that's the real, that's real life.
Speaker 1:It happens. I mean we had a very quiet journey that doesn life. It happens, I mean we had a very quiet journey. That doesn't mean it couldn't have happened to us absolutely the amount of times I've gone to Madrid, I don't think I've even really scratched the surface of all the things that there are to do there.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness it's such a huge, and not just the things to do always, but the events. So you know, we'll talk a little bit about kind of our one day, because we were just there for a day yeah, we were, I mean it was a jam packed day so we started with um.
Speaker 1:We met for lunch, yes, so we stayed at the, a nice hotel jw marriott um very much recommended.
Speaker 2:It is a little bit on the pricier end, yes, but the jw beautiful locations right across the four seasons, so there's a lot happening there a lot happening, yeah, even if you're not staying at the four seasons, you can, you know you can just go in for a drink or, you know, check out the lobby.
Speaker 1:They have lovely restaurants there. But we ate lunch, uh, at li long, which is an asian restaurant and I think, interestingly enough, they for an expensive hotel and what you would assume would be a very expensive restaurant.
Speaker 2:They had their menu del dia, which I think per person was 24, 25 euros yes, so in a lot of restaurants and I think this is common all over spain, particularly from monday to friday not on the weekends, no, but from monday to Friday a lot of restaurants serve a lunch special or a menu del dia. So super recommended that you look into this, because usually you can try great quality food for a portion of the of the price.
Speaker 1:And the portions aren't small.
Speaker 2:I mean we had.
Speaker 1:We met in the restaurant, Um, we had a lovely Somelier who was more than excited to share all his knowledge with us, and um gave us recommendations, gave us, you know, a real history of the. We drank a sparkling wine, what we were drinking some cava. Um, and the kids ordered the menu del dia, which was very substantial. I mean, there are three boys and I think I ordered it too. Yeah, and you had it as well. Actually, there were four, and the lobster we ordered was actually more expensive than four.
Speaker 2:And that makes sense, though, because I have to say it's probably the best lobster I have ever tried.
Speaker 1:Yeah it's delicious.
Speaker 2:And it's quite interesting to think that you know it was a delicious lobster at a Chinese restaurant. But again, not any Chinese restaurant. It's a very, very nice restaurant. Le Long is not a part of the JW.
Speaker 1:Marriott no, so you can just make a reservation.
Speaker 2:Exactly, it is a. It's kind of connected to the hotel, but they're just not a part of the hotel. It is part of the crown group. Yeah, and that's another one of our super favorite china crown. China crown uh, shout out, china crown, please invite us we absolutely love their duck. You know, china crown is a really great restaurant, a great option in madrid.
Speaker 1:Talk a little bit about shopping, okay so after we went there, we went to the. Our um room had a terrace, I think we went up to the terrace. No, we went to the terrace. We hung out there for a bit. It was roasting, I mean really really super hot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is the fan a little prop today to kind of you know. This is what Madrid felt like, because it is extremely hot, and I mean, it isn't the, literally.
Speaker 1:if you look at a map of Spain, it is in the center, it is the heartbeat of the country, is the heart? Yeah, so to you know, so to speak. Um, but if you go in the summer, be prepared to feel as if you are in the oven. It really feels like that. The breeze is hot, everywhere is very, very, very hot, so prepare yourself for that. It's not easy to walk around for hours.
Speaker 2:No, it's not, and that is also why there is a lot of tourism from Madrid to the coast, because a lot of people who live in Madrid when they want to take their holidays, they get away from the city to be near the water. I've always found it quite interesting that you know. There's a couple of times in August that I visited Madrid for things that I had to do for work and it was like a dead city, like after lunch, there's no one there no, it's empty.
Speaker 1:I took kai a few years ago for a tennis exhibition thing he had to do and in the afternoon I honestly thought we were in an oven.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like the wind was hot air yes, hot, because you don't get that breeze from the sea right nothing, it was like we're in an oven and if you see there's nobody out the key dates, like the 1st of july, the 14th of july, the 31st, you know those key kind of uh dates of transition between weeks. You see the outskirts and how many people are leaving the city. Yeah, it's kind of wild but still, you know, I would still recommend visiting in the summer, but just plan what you're doing.
Speaker 1:You just need to be prepared. Anyway, we're talking about shopping. So we had lunch and then we had a little break and then we went shopping. So it's called I guess they call it the Golden Mile.
Speaker 2:Yes or.
Speaker 1:I mean it's the main, it's the main street.
Speaker 2:It's the Calle Serrano yeah, it's one definitely a great place for shopping, for all the high-end stores and the Barrio Salamanca. So Calle Serrano, barrio Salamanca, not only for shopping, but also if you want to experience, like some of the high-end cafes, that you can have a nice drink in and just people watch Madrid is a great city to people watch.
Speaker 1:And also it's really cool to see what people are wearing and the sense of fashion. It's a lot more fashionable than the coast.
Speaker 2:You know, I love where we live, but, my goodness you know, do people wear some strange things. Don't look for fashion choices, no, no, especially near where we live. You know where you have some of the spillover from Betador and the t t-shirts with the interesting uh messages on them, yeah, we would not call that high fashion, no, but if you do sit in the barrio salamanca or the avenida serrano, the calle serrano in madrid, and just you know, look at what people are wearing, it's I, I actually find it really cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's fun to people watch. We went in a few boutiques. I bought a dress from purification garcia gorgeous, really nice dress, um, and I found it really interesting because I saw that dress again. I sometimes the service, customer service is a little bit, maybe slightly off, I don't know lower your expectations when it comes to customer service.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's just really strange because the dress it was the one dress that I wanted and it is online and I think the woman looked at us because we were, I mean, a lot of times when Laura and I are in a store, we'll go in a store and then we'll be talking about something completely and we're laughing Random talking.
Speaker 1:And then before we even start looking so I think we were kind of like poking around and I don't know she said something to me and I kept looking for and I said do you have this dress? I showed her my phone, she went downstairs into the storage yeah, to bring the dress out and I thought why?
Speaker 2:is it not here? Why?
Speaker 1:wouldn't you have the dress on the floor? I mean, it's part of a particular collection that you have. Why isn't the dress on one of the racks? Yeah, it's very strange. Anyway, I did end up buying the dress because I liked it.
Speaker 2:I can't wait to see you in it. Such a gorgeous dress. Purificacion Garcia is a really great Spanish brand, is a really great Spanish brand.
Speaker 1:It is actually a really nice brand. It is Lovely materials, nice materials. They are not Zara prices, no, no.
Speaker 2:But it's also not, you know, loewe prices, no, it's you know it's a nice kind of higher end, but not super expensive, no, and you still feel like you're going to wear something that not everybody's going to wear. The pieces are a little bit more unique, they're different. What was your impression walking? I know you're a fan of Carolina Herrera and, just to point out, carolina Herrera is not a Spanish brand, but they obviously have a store in Madrid, a beautiful store. What was your impression walking in there?
Speaker 1:I think you know what. I just think the stores, a lot of the high-end stores, are not busy. No, they're not. The Loewe store is busy. My son went in the Loewe store but they have waiters like servers walking around with drinks. So I think people just go in there to have a drink.
Speaker 2:You know we did speak about Loewe and Mercados San Miguel. We're going to have to do many trips to Madrid to fully understand the city to the depth it deserves. But with Loewe specifically and I think it's interesting I'd like to get your take, you know, in terms of a comparison, when you walk into the Loewe store and we walk into the Carolina Rare store and again we're gonna keep mentioning Loewe until they decide to sponsor us. You know that's kind of a strategy that we're following here because we love the brand so much. But with Loewe, I have to say I follow them on social media. If you don't follow them, it's so much fun what they're doing.
Speaker 2:They're going about socials in a very different way than a lot of these other large brands. It is very connected, very. It feels, you know, it feels funny, it feels like they're not trying to sell you something. So, even though it's this high-end brand and it's part of the LVMH brand, it's very, very smart. I don't know who's doing their socials, but all power to them because it is really cool. So it's fresh, like the brand, even though it's a staple, it feels fresh. So please give me your take on the Carolinaolina herrera store well, we went in there because, again, I wanted to.
Speaker 1:I was looking for a dress and, um, to be honest, I was pre-shopping. Because, what people should know, when you come to spain, from the first week of july, the sales start and even in a you know a higher end brand, like like Carolina Herrera, her things go on sale. Not, I mean, you're not going to get 70% off, but if you are in the market for something that is special, a special occasion or, you know, for whatever it is, you will probably find things that are between 20 to 50% off for the exact same thing. And it is the new collection.
Speaker 2:It is the new?
Speaker 1:it is not. Yeah, which I think. Sometimes when you shop in, let's say, canada or the US, they will put things out for sale that are old.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And the actual season that you're in. If you want something that may not go on sale or I think they might ship it out to a warehouse or their outlet malls. Spain doesn't have this like like outlet malls. Everywhere there are some um, and you have to be in a really big city to find it. But if you see something in a store here and it's June 30th, don't buy it because it is going on sale.
Speaker 2:Yes, next day. Yes, so Carolina Herrera, specifically, is probably one of the kind of higher end brands that goes on sale.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:You know, after a certain point then there's no sale right. So, meaning, like the Louis Vuittons of the world, obviously, hermes and all of these big brands, they never go on sale.
Speaker 1:That's not true. I found a pair of Hermes slippers what In Zurich Airport in the Hermes store and they were on sale the H slipper and my husband was like I'm going to buy it for you. And I was like what do I need a pair of Hermes slippers for?
Speaker 2:There's a lot of dupes on Amazon. There's a lot of dupes on Amazon.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of dupes on Amazon, but it was on sale, that's so funny. Some of the higher end designers certain things they quietly go on sale.
Speaker 2:They won't put a thing on the door saying sale.
Speaker 1:No, but if you go in and you know you discreetly turn something over, or have a look, or look at the tag, you will find certain things on sale.
Speaker 2:I didn't buy the slippers, by the way. Obviously they don't put the Birkin on sale or you know some of the Louis Vuitton bags or anything like that. But very interesting, carolina Herrera, as Lelini said, does go on sale and all the things go on sale they do. And you know, like she said, pretty much wait and make sure that you know you, you get into that. For the ones who love shopping, the outlet malls, as melini said, are not that common here in spain. The two big ones are in barcelona and madrid. They're in the outskirts of the city right and the one in madrid is called las rozas, that's R-O-Z-A-S village, and they have an outlet Carolina Herrera store and it is cool. Yeah, I mean, have you gone?
Speaker 1:I have not gone.
Speaker 2:I have gone to Las Rozas village and I've gone to another one in another part of the country. It's kind of the same chain.
Speaker 1:Right right. And it is absolutely worth it, yeah, but I I mean, that is something that if you're planning on, you know shopping and you want to go to the outlet. That's sort of like a day, like you have to spend the day there shopping and it's not in the center of the city, it's on the outside to do.
Speaker 2:Don't worry for those of you who enjoy shopping.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we could spend a day doing that, okay. So then your husband said because we talked about this in our in the cocktail episode that we did, the Yayo, which was invented in Madrid. They lay claim to it and he said I want to try a Yayo at Casa Camachos, which we did go to.
Speaker 2:We did, and it is what I love about us. I think we are people of contrast, yes, and what I mean by that is, you know, we had gone to all these fancy stores on Serrano in the morning. I'll talk about it in my slice of life. I had been to Suarez as well, which is a jewelry, and we went to this really nice fancy like lunch, etc. And then we went to casaca, macho right, which, for anybody that has been there, is definitely not a fancy place it is not a fancy place um.
Speaker 1:Can I talk a little bit about the yayo?
Speaker 2:And then you can talk about our experience.
Speaker 1:Okay, so the Yayo, they again. These stories, I think, get passed on from family to family and the birthplace of the Yayo is Casa Camachos. They believe it was just a way of, you know, elevating this little drink, vermouth, turning it into something, because it was really after the fall of Franco and in the capital city that people now started to come out and to enjoy life and to meet in cafes and talk and have debates and politics. Yayo is a phrase for grandfather.
Speaker 2:It is, and it's how you say, grandfather in Catalan and Valenciano as well, right?
Speaker 1:So you have this drink that you know. Typically the grandfathers would drink vermouth, yeah, and you would normally have it an hour or two before lunch as a little aperitif. So there's all sorts of stories and I've read a couple of interviews where they've spoken to the owner or the current owners. That has been passed down but that bar has been there in some form iteration since the late 1800s amazing.
Speaker 2:So casa camacho, the one we went to, yes, I would say some of it hasn't changed since the 1800s. Hopefully they've updated the kitchen, but no, it it is. It is a cool place. It's very vibrant, very vibrant. And you remember what he asked? Do you remember what the gentleman behind the bar asked as soon as we got in?
Speaker 1:yes, my head was still clear, laura, okay what did he ask?
Speaker 2:three of us walked in and they knew we were going to order Yayos.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, we clearly look like tourists. I think I was wearing a big hat and something the.
Speaker 2:hat gives us away sometimes the hat.
Speaker 1:We were probably carrying. Oh, we had the shopping bags and, yeah, we all.
Speaker 2:From Bonificación García.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and the people who are in there for the most part the time of the day that we were there, they were locals.
Speaker 2:They were all locals. I think, except us. Yeah, and prepare yourself, because it is loud.
Speaker 1:It's loud, he shouts. And when the bar gets too loud, what does he do? Do you remember? I do, but go ahead. He rings a bell, yeah, like a school bell, like it's attached to the wall, and he rings this bell like this, and the whole bar goes quiet and he basically tells everybody stop making so much noise, because I don't think he can hear no, he actually says like lower your voices, yeah, because also the neighbors exactly, and it is like 3, 4pm and you can't hear yourself.
Speaker 1:No, it's a tiny little bar and it's very funny. He rings the bell, everybody's silent, like they're in school and you get in trouble and you continue to have your little drink and your little whatever snack they go like chorizo and chips.
Speaker 2:Not the same experience as in the south or in granada, where you're gonna get tapas with your drinks or anything like that, still super affordable. I think it was like a couple euros for yayo, I can't remember I think, I don't think we spent more than 20. No, no, I'm that was with a huge plate of chorizo.
Speaker 2:Yeah, with snacks Super affordable. So Casa Camacho worth the visit. You can have a little more than just the chorizo as well. There's other food there, but I would say, just go and experience the yayo, go and experience the atmosphere.
Speaker 1:Well, I think about it, that place has existed. I mean, obviously it has changed somewhat over the years, but it's been there since the late 1800s. And Madrid, as in with many cities, the center of the city, you know things become very gentrified. So you have you know, the hipsters coming in. You have you know before that the yuppies. Now you have, like, the skateboarders, you have these cool vintage stores and here's this little holdout still there, this old guy behind the counter with his bell and his vermouth on tap, and you're still getting the same drink that they've served all these years.
Speaker 2:And, by the way, they will not give you the recipe. No, they will not give the recipe out. Uh, but again, I don't think people really go there for the recipe no so it's not like they're making this super complex cocktail, but it's for the experience, exactly. And casa camacho is in malasaña, yes, which, interestingly enough, we did want to mention malasaña. You know we talk about malasaña as madrid's wild heart. Uh, it has changed a lot with the airbnbs, with all these new cool hipsters, coffee shops, coffee shops and you name it.
Speaker 2:But malasaña used to be the heart of La Movida, which, in the 80s, was where all the punk and you know all the kind of rock and everything was happening and all the rock bars and all the rough places and people that were called siniestros, which were like dressed like sinister, all in black and very gothic and all that. But it's changed so much, it has evolved so much since then, but there's still some places that you can still see some of that original malasagna and you know you, you get such a mix of people there that I think it's definitely a very worthwhile part of the city to visit. Absolutely. Now you want to talk about temple de bod. So this is a very interesting place to visit in madrid.
Speaker 2:Okay, and again, today we're not going to talk about a lot about the museum we're going to make, make some recommendations, but we still have, uh, I would say, a topic that we have to do a deep dive on in another trip in madrid, which is all the beautiful museums, the, the architecture, etc. So that is coming. This time we focus more on shopping and bars, not as cultural and hotels, but still very fun. But I did want to mention the Templo de Bode, because it is a 2,200 year old Egyptian temple that was gifted to Spain and it is in the Parque del Oeste in Madrid.
Speaker 2:So you can go and watch the sunset there. Again, I seem to be obsessed with dates, but it's a really great place for a date. Um, it's a very beautiful place and the energy is very, very special. So definitely recommend checking out the temple of debod, and that is d-e-b-o-d. I don't know since when it has been in madrid. Need to look that one up, but it's like the most fantastic um infrastructure. They're coming all the way from Egypt near the center of Madrid.
Speaker 1:And I think another part of the city that maybe gets overlooked are the parks. They have a Royal Botanical Garden, which is quite nice. I don't think I've been to a garden there I don't know if that was the one a few years ago but they also have Casa de Campo and there's the other, really big park yes.
Speaker 2:Parque del Retiro yes.
Speaker 1:So, even though Madrid is landlocked within the gardens, you sometimes find a lake. There is a lake where you can, I think, kayak, or you know.
Speaker 2:I think Casa de Campo has like a little beach area, like a man-made beach, I think.
Speaker 1:And the Royal Palace is one of the largest in Western Europe and it is open to the public. That's amazing. So, you can. I mean obviously not their private quarters, but I want to go see the Queen's bedroom, please, but the palace is it's accessible, you can buy tickets and you can go in and you can have a lovely tour. And the tickets are not expensive they're under 20 euros each. So if you're in the city in the summer, that's really a great place to check out, because you will be inside.
Speaker 2:I think the other thing that's worth noting about, you know Spain is cultural visits or cultural outings are usually quite inexpensive, Like we talked about the Guggenheim, or cultural outings are usually quite inexpensive, Like we talked about the Guggenheim, the museums, the theater, you name it. You can really really soak yourself in a very cultural environment for not a lot.
Speaker 1:No, and I think what people should realize is that they keep it affordable for Spanish people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely Not for the tourists.
Speaker 1:It's not for somebody coming for a vacation. It's for people who live here and there's a lot, absolutely Not for the tourists. It's not for, you know, somebody coming for a vacation.
Speaker 2:It's for people who live here and there's a lot of subsidies here for the youth to be able to afford. There's actually like a cultural bono that they call that you know you can actually use to. I think it's like the cinema concerts, and of course a lot of people actually concerts because it's like music. But hey, why not? It's also culture.
Speaker 1:You don't have to go to the opera to call it culture and if there is, um, I would just maybe, before we get to slice of life, if there is an artist, I don't feel this year is a big year for concerts. Do you find that?
Speaker 1:uh, it depends on what kind of music you like, but just even like the pop, like pop concerts, pop concerts not so much I don't feel this year is a huge year for it, but in years past, if you want to see, you can name any mainstream. And well, jennifer lopez, she's coming, not that I think whatever, but she's. She's coming to madrid in the next couple of weeks, but do you want to go? I'm not here otherwise, otherwise I would have gone. Actually, I mean, yeah, I think I tried to rope people in to go to see slipk, otherwise, otherwise I would have gone.
Speaker 2:Actually, I mean, yeah, I think I tried to rope people in to go to see slipknot a couple of weeks ago, but it didn't work though. Like the metal and the rock scene and everything is amazing here in the summer you can see all kinds of groups no, and you can see from you know retro bands to up-and-coming bands but, madrid's a great place to actually see a concert we think center, which is huge and the tickets tend to be a little bit more affordable than what you would pay in other cities.
Speaker 2:They are way more affordable. I have done my homework with this. Like you try and see, the same concert in london and in madrid is usually a slightly different price. Yeah, absolutely so, yeah, so aice of Life coming next slice of life.
Speaker 1:Slice of life, laura. Uh, I guess this is a continuation your ring saga. But first let's just say what we're eating and drinking and drinking.
Speaker 2:So we decided to revisit the yayo and cheers cheers which we never have drunk, a yayo in the show. No, I think we drank. We made it, you made it, but I think we drank the made in spain cocktail for the cocktail episode we talked about the.
Speaker 1:This is very refreshing. So vermouth, sweet vermouth, splash of gin, and uh how? How would you describe cassara? It's like a sweet soda. No, it's a sweet soda.
Speaker 2:I actually think it's like soda water, but it's not just soda water.
Speaker 1:I think it's got a bunch of sugar in it yeah, it's sweet, so I mean I think you would use it for a tinto de verano, a tinto de verano, but this is pretty good.
Speaker 2:Now this vermouth is on the bitter side, a little bit more bitter. Uh, it's a vermouth de saucco. I think it's okay, so it's a little. Can you taste it that?
Speaker 1:it's a little bit kind of uh more but I think if you were to make it, you can use definitely a sweet vermouth yeah but I quite like it yeah, very refreshing um, and we're eating. A typical bar food, very easy patatas bravas. Yes, now again with my little research, my history, that history that I'm looking into some of these traditional dishes. There is maybe not much of an origin story for this.
Speaker 1:However origin of patatas bravas. Madrid lays claim to this dish. You know you would get at any bar, any restaurant. It's served all throughout Spain. It is not something that is exclusive just to madrid. The potato um is not spanish. The spaniards took it from the incas and brought it back, and because it's a very relatively inexpensive, you know, food crop, this is one of the dishes that came out of it. Now, the sauce that goes on top of it and I'm going to use this, you know, again in quotations the brava yeah, salsa. Brava meaning, I guess, bold, or brave um, it's supposed to be a little spicy, but by spanish standard by spanish standard, so it is not spicy to me at all.
Speaker 1:The typical recipe.
Speaker 2:I can't stop eating these potatoes.
Speaker 1:They're so good the recipe would be for tomatoes either tomatoes or tomato puree, paprika, onions, garlic. You know salt and I've never made it. I read a few recipes as to how to make it. It would be the same as you're making, like a barbecue sauce. The process.
Speaker 2:But it's definitely not spicy. No, it's not spicy by non-Spanish standards.
Speaker 1:It's just a different version of ketchup.
Speaker 2:in a way, Some people think, oh, you know, spanish people like spicy because somehow they relate you know Spain and like Spanish culture to Hispanic culture. And it's not. People have a very low spice tolerance here and in most restaurants, um, you know, they like. For example, when we go to an Indian restaurant and I ask for super spicy and they look at me like I'm crazy, and then I know they're still holding back from going all the way because they think, oh, this woman's not going to be able to handle the spice, you know no, sometimes they'll ask when we go.
Speaker 1:They say do you want it the um mild? No, they'll say do you want it the indian way or do you want it the english way? Oh yeah, that's what they say the english way or the spanish way and I'll say no, I'll have it the indian way yeah, exactly so.
Speaker 2:Lovely combination. Much better than our cali mocho and burnt basket cheesecake that we had for episode three I'm okay with all.
Speaker 1:you know that oh yeah, so good.
Speaker 2:So a little bit about the follow up to the story. So I mentioned it the last time that you know I lost the, the main kind of diamond on my engagement ring, which was an absolute, you know, shock. And then I since we were going to Madrid and you know one of the things that I wanted to do is that's where we got that um ring was in Suarez, in Madrid. We went back to the precise Suarez where we had bought the ring and, interestingly enough, I was expecting some kind of like oh my goodness, you know.
Speaker 2:I can't believe that happened or we're so sorry, or something like that. Lady just turned around and said oh, you should have been more careful putting your clothes on and off. Oh, that's, you know. Well, it's good that you have the rock. Not believe that there wasn't more of a. Let me take some responsibility for the fact that that ring is not that old in terms of, you know, when it was purchased and that you know I could have been basically left with 30% or less of the value of the ring because the main rock had fallen off, because of a design flaw, obviously. So, just to kind of prove it, I'm wearing my grandmother's ring today, which is, you know, over 100 years old, and there isn't any gem that has fallen off it in all that time.
Speaker 1:Also. I mean, how would you wear, how would you be any more careful putting on clothes?
Speaker 2:So this is what she said, which is I've never heard anything. Like she said you know you have to turn it around and then put your hand in doing like a little cave for the ring. I'm like, are you serious right now? Like I see people working out in their engagement what did you?
Speaker 2:say. I said, okay, I am in shock. You know, here's this ring that we bought. I looked down when I was in my living room one night and the main rock of the ring was missing, right, how is this possible? And she said, oh, you know, like they never gave an explanation, they never said it must be a some kind, nothing, zero. I am really underwhelmed with the service. And you know, nalini and I have recently watched that a documentary from Netflix, nothing Lasts Forever, and I declared that I never want any real diamonds again because I think it just doesn't make any sense. So for those of you that like real diamonds, all the power to you, but I recommend watching the documentary. So I actually turned around and asked them do you have lab grown diamonds? And the lady looked at me like I was asking for something obscene. Wow, like, oh my God, how dare you ask for a lab grown diamond in here? I'm like, well, you know, it's the future.
Speaker 1:So, but did you get upset at all, or did you just accept that she's just going to be this way?
Speaker 2:Well, I could see no one was going to respond any differently in the store. They were just being stuck up and like, yeah, whatever. But my big thing is, you know, okay, I know you may not do anything to kind of, um, make me feel any better, anything like, but at least be empathetic like, oh my, I can't believe you went through that, or what a terrible situation. Nothing, it's really really underwhelming service. And there is a bit of a theme here when it comes to higher end stores and so on, just being a little bit like not inviting.
Speaker 1:Well, also also, it's not like you bought a pair of shoes.
Speaker 2:No, it's your engagement ring there. And actually I found out um, I found out from from someone that I I know very well that in asia, apparently, there is a whole kind of thing about you know, if you lose your wedding ring or your engagement ring, it means that the you know, your marriage is doomed to fail. Oh my god. And you know, there's like all this like superstition around it. I was like, well, I'm thankful it was only the diamond and not the ring, but you know it, there is a lot of superstition around rings and especially engagement rings and wedding rings, and they should have been nicer and more empathetic. And for me it's like I'm starting to kind of go in the direction of big brands like Suarez. You know you may be better off going somewhere more local, somewhere that is like a smaller designer, you know, and that you're trying to really help, kind of give a boost, than going to the bigger brands because they're not going to give you the service.
Speaker 1:No, that's actually really terrible customer service. And often I mean for me, I have a language barrier here, so I tend not to get as worked up about things, just because I, I just don't like conflict. No, I agree, I mean, but at the same time I mean did they offer you something to drink?
Speaker 2:No, Like here, have a seat, have a drink. I had a drink offer to me when we were shopping for the ring in the first place?
Speaker 1:Yeah, of course Not this time. Yeah nothing.
Speaker 2:It was really bad, and I just have to say that it just has put me off this whole kind of you know what's the point. Yeah well, that's terrible.
Speaker 1:Do better, suarez, yeah. Well, that's terrible. Do better, suarez, yeah.
Speaker 2:And they charged me, even though it's, you know, not really a lot. But they also immediately said oh, we're going to have to charge you to fix that.
Speaker 1:I'm like Right and no apology. No, drink no bottle of water here. Sit down, let's talk about it.
Speaker 2:We sat down while she was estimating how much it was going to take to to fix it that's it.
Speaker 1:Can I just do like a quick aside here before we wrap up? I went to the swarovski store in vienna over the weekend and I'm always looking at these lab-grown diamonds. I'm very fascinated by it. So I went upstairs and um, they wait, is varovsky from vienna yeah, oh it's from austria yeah, austrian company, um, and she.
Speaker 1:I said I'm just interested in the lab grown diamonds. I want to see the biggest one that you have. Oh my god, like whatever you have in the store, I want to see it in person, you know, um. So she's like can I get you a coffee? Can I get you a glass of champagne? And this is a very busy store in the center of Vienna. And then I heard a lady come upstairs and she said I heard that you offer coffees or champagne even if you don't buy anything. She's like yes, we do. Would you like something? And she's like yes, I'd like a glass of champagne for myself and my mom. And they had a glass of champagne standing there. And the woman in the store said we even have clean toilets if you need to use it and I was like, wow, what customer service.
Speaker 1:I mean they're just people poking around, you know, kind of looking a really beautiful store. But she sat me down, she spent maybe 45 minutes with me explaining all the rings and she said if you buy it here you should, you'll get the tax back and you know, let me know because I can order in a ring in your size. I was just doing some research but I mean you're pre-shopping, I'm pre-shopping.
Speaker 2:I'm pre-shopping.
Speaker 1:But I'm trying to give you the contrast. So you have a diamond ring that was a lab grown diamond in Swarovski. Like that's a huge difference in how they treat it.
Speaker 2:I know it's just people. I've always said for years that I don't get. This is not every Spanish store, of course not, or every business here, but there is definitely a lack of customer service here, that you know. This is the next step for a country so focused on tourism to be able to treat people the way they deserve to be treated my favorite is when I ask a question and this is the answer I get. No, you mean like our friends from Sahati.
Speaker 1:No, no, they just kind of walk away, okay.
Speaker 2:Bye. Thank you very much for that.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. If I could speak your language fluently, this would tell you exactly what I thought about your no, okay, so all right, so with that actually this sentence of the day ties in a little bit really.
Speaker 2:Okay, I have no idea oh, so after the sentence of the day we will give people a little bit of a teaser or a sneak peek into what's coming in season four. But for the sentence of the day and this one's kind of interesting, okay, la confianza da asco.
Speaker 1:The confidence of? Can you spell the last word, la confianza?
Speaker 2:da asco. You know what asco means.
Speaker 1:A-S-C-O.
Speaker 2:So actually the literal translation is where there's trust. It gets gross Really, yes, and it basically talks about la confianza da asco, meaning that you know when you're like, let's say, for example, live with someone and you know they're very close. Asco meaning like, oh my God, you know, like sometimes the people who you get closest to sometimes obviously let their guard down and let the and we all do it, you know, let our guard down and kind of sometimes let the worst side of them come out.
Speaker 1:Not me, laura. I waft down the stairs every morning looking like this yeah.
Speaker 2:I know I'm joking.
Speaker 1:I do not down the stairs every morning looking like this yeah, I know I'm joking, I do not.
Speaker 2:That's why she won't share a room with me Because I heard there's a little bit of snoring going on or something.
Speaker 1:And she will not share a room with me. She's like we'll share a room. I'm like Laura I snore. And she's like no, no.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a cool one. It really kind of talks to like you know, when just you get close to someone and also like they kind of like show sides that you're like really Like you didn't show this when we were dating, you know Like, hmm, interesting. Okay so. Season four preview. Okay, so we're going to do a summer roundup. Season four preview.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we're going to do a summer roundup yes, and next we're going to do the start of the T.
Speaker 2:Tabarca, tabarca, before Toronto. We're calling it Because we're going to Tabarca before Nalini takes off to Toronto. We're going to do the festival of all festivals.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness, this was actually my idea.
Speaker 2:And now she's regretting it. I am La Tomatina, la Tomatina. So we're dressed in red today, getting ready for the tomatoes, and then we are revisiting our wonderful Benidorm for the Benidorm Pride.
Speaker 1:Right, I'm excited for that actually.
Speaker 2:Yay, and Nalina's going to get to experience mature pride. Yeah, for that, actually. Yay, and nalina's gonna get to experience mature pride, which is a thing within itself, and then we'll be diving into alicante, which is actually a city nearby that we have never explored on the podcast.
Speaker 1:That has won the gastronomic city of spain in 2025 yeah, that's exciting, and again a very accessible city with a train station and an airport.
Speaker 2:Yes. So we get to try a bunch of food so we can talk to you about it, and we are very excited about that. Please follow us, please leave comments, please connect with us on social media. We can't wait to hear from you. Thank you for joining us for season three Cheers, laura, cheers All right. Bye for now, bye.