El Mercado de San Miguel

The most happy accident I had in Madrid is stumbling upon the Mercado de San Miguel whilst looking for something else. According to its website, the Mercado de San Miguel began as a bookstore. Today, it's a hugely popular place for madrileños to get drinks and food. The building is itself gorgeous, all wood glass and steel. A person can find nearly every kind of sustenance in this place: vegetarian, chocolates, fruits, tapas, whole fish, beers, wines, etc. The serving stalls occupy the outside perimeter of the building. I hesitate to use the word 'stalls,' because it reminds of a bathroom or county fair; instead, imagine handsome restaurants squeezed into less than 100 sq ft. In typical Madrid custom, you stand as close to one of the workers as possible and shout to them what you want. This may require repeated attempts and one should be patient for mistakes (I once received a small tin plate of marinated squid). Everything is served 'a la carte,' in that single sizes rules this roost. Prices range drastically and I've learned which servers are most economical. For example, I now get three blue cheese croquets at 1.50Euro each, a glass of white Rioja wine for 3Euro, and a fruit pastry for 3Euro. All told, a delicious and small meal for less than 10Euro (of course, I tip -- I'm American and simply cannot *not* leave one).

I returned to the Mercado every day since the first on Thursday. I have not come close to tiring of it. No pictures, unfortunately; the biggest tourists come into the place with biggest cameras snapping photos of people with their mouths open. It's awkward.