World class museum specializing in modern art, with many works of the biggest names. Very walkable, and not too big. We were there at around 11 AM on a Saturday and it wasn’t overly crowded.

I’ve always been a big fan of Escher, and visiting an exhibition of his life and works in this beautiful historic building was a real treat. The exhibition was well done and the palace by itself is worth a visit. I had to go alone because my 2 companions weren't interested. It's located right on the main tourist route between Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor. 

We also visited El Corte Ingles, which is the biggest department store group in Europe and the last remaining department store chain in Spain. A big branch is located right next to Puerta del Sol, and includes a large supermarket and plenty of food options. We had a snack here, and Alisa and my sister spent a while shopping. I meanwhile sat in Starbucks. They sell everything here, from designer labels  to  wine and gourmet food treats of all kinds.

This upscale gourmet market in Cueca is not to be missed. It's just a short walk from the Gran Via, and is filled with interesting little food stalls and shops. It also houses a large normal supermarket.

This is an upscale venue which is a bit hard to describe. Its own web site describes it as "a unique gastronomic leisure space".  It is located at Plaza Colon, and on the ground floor has a few expensive upscale stores, and on the lower 2 floors, it is mostly restaurants, with a large pintxos bar, and a variety of what I have to call "gourmet fast food" bars. It also has one very exclusive gourmet food shop with an entrance both inside and outside on the street. The food dining area opens at 12. We enjoyed pintxos for lunch here. There is also a gourmet restaurant on an upper floor, which I believe is open only in the evening.

This is one of Madrid's best known streets, and our hotel was right at the corner where this street starts. For New Yorkers, this is Broadway and 5th Avenue rolled into one. It is non-stop stores and restaurants, and iconic and beautiful buildings.It seems to be teeming with people at all hours of the day and night. We also attended a concert at the Theatre de la Luz, at Gran Via, 66. The performer was Pitingo, one of Spain's most popular entertainers. We enjoyed the concert very much!

This street is the main street through the neighborhood of Las Letras. It's best known for nightlife, restaurants, and a literary and cultural history, hence the name "letras" which means "letters". Cervantes and other literary figures lived in this neighborhood, although any remains of there homes have been largely wiped away. Las Huertas is a pedestrian only street stretching from near the Prado Museum almost all the way to Plaza Mayor. It's a nice walk, but if you do it, start at the Plaza Mayor as it's downhill all the way in that direction.

Cueca is the neighborhood just north of the Gran Via, and is the center of the gay community. It's very "residential" and is full of small stores and restaurants. In the neightborhood is the famous Mercado San Anton, which I described above. Most of the restaurants we ate at were in or near to Cueca.

Fuencarral is a pedestrian only street which runs from Gran Via north  for about 500 meters. It is full of stores and just north of the pedestrian area is the well known Mercado de San Ildefonso.  This little mercado is mainly a collection of bars and small restaurants frequented by young locals. Walking along Fuencarral is quite an experience, as you are bombarded with music blaring from the stores and thick crowds of shoppers and, I guess, other tourists. Fuencarral is actually part of a longer pedestrian only street which connects to it at Gran Via and runs south to Puerta del Sol. The southern branch is called Calle de la Montera.

La Latina is a lively neighborhood just south of Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol. 2 of its main plazas are are Humiladero and de Cascorro, but there are others as well. The Plaza De Cascorro also happens to be the northern starting point of the El Rastro Market, which I described above. This neighborhood is full of bars, and restaurants, and on the sunny Sunday morning we were there, the streets were teeming with people. I particularly enjoyed the Plaza Humiladero, which is full of restaurants and the Calle Cava Baja which runs north from this plaza and is filled with tapas bars. 

The Alcazar is a monumental and very impressive fortress, rebuilt in its current form in the 16th century.  Today it is a military museum, which of course can be visited,  but we opted to view it only from the outside.

Toledo is noted for its multi religious heritage, and it has a Moslem quarter as well as a Jewish quarter. The Jewish quarter is a very popular tourist venue and includes several historic synagogues. One is the El Transito Synagogue which houses the Sephardic Museum, which is a wonderful museum about Jewish life in Toledo and is well worth a visit.

The other synagogue we visited was the "Synagogue de Santa Maria la Blanca".  That certainly doesn't sound like the name of a synagogue, but like most of the synagogues in Spain, it was also a mosque and later a church. In fact, it is built in the style of a mosque, but today has the name of a church. Another popular attraction in Toledo is the museum of the painter El Greco. We went by it several times as it is right in the Jewish quarter, but didn't visit.

This is the historical center of the city. It used to be the central market place. It is triangular in shape and is mostly filled with souvenir shops, occasional farmers markets, and fast food restaurants. In the late 15th century, it was also the center of activity of the Spanish Inquisition, and the place where Jews and other heretics were burned at the stake. The most famous inquisitor, Tomas de Torquemada, had his headquarters in Toledo. Today it is home to McDonalds and Burger King. Such is the irony of history!

This is the restaurant of the Principal Hotel in Madrid where we stayed. It is on the 6th floor and has a lovely view. The restaurant is Michelin star quality, although it has no stars (yet). The executive chef (Ramón Freixa) does have 2 stars at his other restaurant and it shows here in the food and presentation. Both the food and service were excellent, and we thoroughly enjoyed the dinner we had here.

Lovely restaurant with beautiful artwork on the walls, and a varied menu. The restaurant is in Cueca, about a 5 minute walk from our hotel. The service was excellent and the food was Michelin star quality. I had grilled octopus here and it was delicious.  We had a very nice dinner here.

This is an iconic seafood restaurant, specializing in serving mountains of fresh and delicious seafood.  We had the “mariscada” for 2, which was more than enough for the 3 of us. It is literally a mountain of seafood, and everything was delicious, and lots of fun. The place is very informal and noisy, and everybody has a good time, including the waiters. If you like seafood and you are in Madrid, this is the place to go!
The restaurant has a website (linked above), but reservations can only be made by phone.

This is a place with atmosphere and history. They claim to be the second oldest tavern in Madrid. The walls are covered with beautiful ceramic tiles, and the menu is filled with classic dishes which includes lots of fish and seafood. We had mussels, fresh marinated sardines, a lovely dish of sole (pictured to the right) and an order of paella. I highly recommend this restaurant if you are looking for an authentic old world restaurant with lots of atmosphere.  This is another of those many good restaurants in Cueca.
We ate here on the last night of this visit to Madrid because it was close to the hotel, and they don't close for a siesta (they operate from 1 PM to 1 AM!), so we were able to eat dinner relatively early - at 7, which is what we wanted on the evening before our morning flights.

Yakitori is an Asian restaurant which was about 50 feet from our hotel entrance. We walked by it 10 or 20 times and until we decided to actually check it out, we thought it was just another conventional Asian restaurant with lots of sushi, and dishes with exotic names and lots of sauce.
Once we decided to eat here, we discovered a very different ambience. The restaurant has created a fusion of sorts – Spanish tapas and Japanese dishes. All the dishes are small, and most, but not all, come on skewers. In the center of each table is a sunken area filled with crushed ice and bottled drinks. We fell in love with the concept and enjoyed the food just as much. The dish all three of us agreed on as the evening’s standout dish was the “crisp duck confit with spinach and orange”. We liked it so much, we ordered another serving.

This is listed as a “ham shop” with online sales. We visited the shop at Montera 3, which is just off Puerta del Sol. Downstairs it is indeed a ham shop, but upstairs is a quiet bar serving tapas (mainly ham or cheese) and wine. We had a nice pre-lunch snack.

El Brillante is one of those restaurants whose ambiance is more famous than its food. It is located right across the street from the Atocha train station and is probably full at all times. It certainly was when we were there. We stopped in for lunch after visiting the Reina Sofia Museum. Alisa had a salad, but I saw that everybody was eating the calamari sandwich, so I ordered one for my sister and me and it was enough for the both of us. The place is huge inside and has many, many tables outside, where we sat. The ambience is “fun and fast”. The calamari sandwich was super. It was big, but not as big as the one in the picture to the left. Our waiter also had a sense of humor and all in all, it was a fun and filling lunch!

Breakfast at the Principal is quite expensive, and we didn't want a full breakfast anyway, so we looked around for a quick, simple, cheap place to eat breakfast. The first place we found was Josemi's which is located located directly across the street from the hotel. It was perfect if you come after 8 AM. Josemi opens at 7, but nothing is ready besides the coffee. By 8, there's food to eat as well. Breakfast at Josemi was coffee and a croissant, or a Spanish omelet (eggs surrounding lots of potatoes), and a glass of juice and the bill for 3 of us was 12 Euros. It was just what we were looking for – a quick and tasty breakfast.

Noma restaurant was another nearby restaurant where we ate breakfast. It's a small restaurant about a 1 minute walk from the hotel. It serves a variety of set breakfast menus and is clean and neat. At breakfast time, the service is kind of slow, because it is so popular and full. However, breakfast was fresh and tasty. It's a little more sophisticated than Josemi's and we ate here twice.  

I found this little patisserie by accident. I was just walking around, and discovered this beautiful little place which is both a patisserie and light food restaurant.  It suited us for breakfast just when we needed it as it opened every morning at 730. It has a surprisingly wide menu, with several breakfasts available, as well as pizza and other light fare, and of course all of its delicious bakery goods. We enjoyed the 2 breakfasts we had here.
Couldn't find a web site. The address is Calle Mesonero Romanos 14.

This is where we had lunch in Toledo, and it really surprised us. We had no expectations, as we just wandered in to get a quick lunch during our day tour in Toledo. It is located right next to (but outside of) the Plaza de Zocodover, which is a central location in Toledo. There is a statue of Cervantes right outside the restaurant, which everybody poses for pictures with.
We had a nice lunch here. The place is cozy, painted in bright colors, the service was friendly, the prices reasonable, and the food had the taste of home cooking. We had a nice lunch here.