Tapas

After the museum this morning, Jean and I needed a siesta.  I slept soundly for an hour and a half.  We woke around 4.30, and went for a long walk shortly afterwards.  Down the Calle Arenal we went, cut through near the Chocolateria, and then made our way down Calle Mayor where we tuned and strolled past the Palacio Real again, past the Jardines de Sabatini again, and through the Plaza de Espana.  We then entered a church to get cool and sit down for a rest.

We walked up the Gran Vie, a wide road, and then headed south through some narrow alleys back down to the Mercado de San Miguel.  

In the market, we sampled some goodies.  First was various stuffed olives.  I had one stuffed with cheese, and one with prosciutto, and then about five mixed olives on a skewer stick.  Jean had an olive stuffed with anchovies, also a gurkin stuffed with tuna.  She also had black olives and a couple of pickled onions on the side.  We had sangria to go with this.  Next, Jean and I had mozzarella, which was really soft, creamy mozzarella.  Mine had blueberries on top, while Jean had rocket and balsamic glaze.  I then hunted down the three-inch long oysters I spotted last night, and had just one.  It was the best grade.  A freshly shucked oyster from the Atlantic.  I also had a fruit salad.

On nearly arriving back at our hostel, a group of African vendors of fake bags etc spotted the cops approaching, and they take only two seconds to pack up their material in a sack which, when unpacked, serves as a display surface (see pic below).  One of them noticed me snap a photo.  I just smiled and waved.

Olives and sangria

Our mozzarella 

Dodging the police