Shawn

I did mention the the anis briefly I remember feeling all lovely and wobbly and serene after one very large glass mid afternoon in the Plaza at Chinchon.

Carole

It was May when I was there 2 years ago, and it was sooooo hot. I don't know whether this was unusual, but I remember it hitting 40 at one point in Madrid - it was nice to get out to Chinchon and bake there instead for a day

Do I remember something about some kind of special bakery down an alley too?

I'm sure you will be very happy with your decision to stop over in the lovely Chichon

Jo

Jo and Shawn,

I love Anisado, and I always buy the Anís del Mono, from Badalona, Spain. Is the anís from Chinchón smoother than other Spanish anises? What makes it so special? Or, is it that something you have to be there to taste?

I'll drink to that Boozelady! hic!

Well, being on a Chinchon roll, here is Chinchon's official website:
http://www.ciudad-chinchon.com/
It even has a Special Protection Area for birds with colonies of choughs, black kite, kestrels, peregrine falcons and royal owls. What more can a girl ask for in life!

Carlole:

Overnight stop? Looks to me like you might have to change your plans and stay a week!

Booklady:

I'm no expert on the anis. But I do remember it being much nicer than Ouzo and Perno (sorry, that's the pathetic extent of my previous experience ) The size of the glass may have had something to do with the ultimate outcome too

Jo

Jo, who is the Anis Booklady?

Tut nev!

Post duly edited to remove all trace of grammatical errors (Is that 'traces of grammatical errors'? Or 'trace of grammatical error'? I've hedged my bets and used a bit of both )

I don't know, it's almost as bad as being in the chat room with you

Jo

Hola Nevado,

I am more of a Cuba Libre Librarian, as my friend Esq knows, than an Anís Booklady! But I do like good Spanish anís, and now I'll have to go to Chinchón on my next visit to taste some.

I am not Nevado, and this means that I'm being a budinsky, but 'anis' is a delightfully vast and complex subject that covers the entire Mediterranean (a.k.a ouzo, pastis, raki, anis des Vosges, anisette, etc. etc.). Spain represents a fragment of that picture, and Chinchon a shard. In France, one of the many forms of 'anis' is called 'badiane', which is a lovely Persian word that means 'anis étoilé'. And so, I suspect that Anis Booklady is 'l'anis étoilé' of Madridman.com. Vive l'anis. Vive Booklady. Vive Madridman. Vive Chinchon. Et bonsoir. Plume

MM: It's cochinillo...and you have to be a complete buffoon to mess it up...so I imagine that the choices in Chinchón are worth it, considering the glowing recommendations here.

One word of advice that's been mentioned: Go to Chinchón during the week if you want to avoid the Madrileño crowds on the weekends...