Hi folks! I just received an email from Andre ( Walks of Madrid Tavern Crawl tour) informing me that there is a good chance he may have to cancel a Tavern Crawl set up for May 12 which is the weekend I arrive in Madrid and are scheduled for his tour. This is a bit of a blow to me as I am travelling solo and was really looking forward to meeting people, both other travelers and Spaniards, especially to spend time with to socialize, etc.. I was seriously looking forward to this tour (showing Andre's webpage to friends last night who wished they were going with me) and really dread the prospect now of being alone in this very social city not knowing where to actually meet people (been there, done that, not a lot of fun) and share a few drinks and tapas with. Are there any other options that can be recommended to me for a decent fun tour on the weekend evenings? I really do not look forward to doing tapas solo. I guess I'm having the good ol' last minute self-doubt here but it really is important to me to experience this great city by socializing with others and making the tavern rounds as Madrilenos do. Thanks for any advice!!
(I will now go take a warm bath, deep breaths and calm down a bit)

[ 05-02-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Aaaaaww.. That REALLY is a shame! Keep in mind that most often the tapas tours don't have any Spaniards other than Andres himself and the others are likely tourists like yourself.

Having said this, why not consider the Stephen Drake-Jones WellTours , historical tour and tapas in Old Madrid.

Or why not "Put Out The Call" to have "Party With(out) MadridMan" while you're there?! Do it here! Do it now!

So who's up for a gathering with dargus to have tapas, drinks, and conversation?! If I was there I'd join you myself.

Saludos, MadridMan

Hello,

My family and I arrive in Madrid on the 10th and leave on the 12th. I want to do my own tavern crawl on the 11th of May (I am turning 30) with my husband. I am up for adding some people. I think it would be fun especially starting at 9pm and going all night. Is anyone else up for the cause? Who wants to coordinate?

Devon

I agree with MM. Going on a crawl with some people from the board or getting some ideas from the board is great. Maybe Andres, could give you the names of the places he usually takes people. I have some of them at home. I'm at work, don't tell anyone The crawl with Andres was fun, but you could definitely do it on your own. He just took us to three places on the outside of the Plaza Mayor. We went on both crawls, with Andres and The Chairman. We had an excellent time with both. The Chairman is going to cost you a lot more money, but we felt it was worth it to become a Wellington Society member. We took our card with us everywhere, gave us some sort of weird comfort, knowing we had a phone number.

Thanks for the replies! I emailed the Chairman about three weeks ago and he replied saying I am to call him on his cellphone when I arrive. I assume his tours are not formally scheduled so there is no guarantee that I will be able to do a tour with him. Can anybody please fill me in on how he schedules his tours? He sounds like a real busy guy! I was really hoping for a weekend social to kick off my trip. Devon, May 11 is the day I arrive from western Canada after about eighteen hours in jets and airports so, unfortunately, I think that is the one night where I should behave myself in order to deal with the jetlag. Otherwise I would seriously consider it. There is always the Irish pub thing where expats hangout. Can anybody fill me in on pubs that are good for just meeting people. Unfortunately my Spanish is veryyy basic, not for fluid conversation, so I am interested in meeting like-minded travelers who can converse in English (yet I do want to practice Spanish!). Also, can anybody recommend Tapas type tours like Andres in Sevilla or Granada? Thanks!

a small note:

"Aaaaaww.. That REALLY is a shame! Keep in mind that most often the
tapas tours don't have any Spaniards other than Andres himself and the others are likely tourists like yourself"

MM I think Antonio had told you about this. When he joined some months ago he met my friends: Daniel, Alf and Pino because they where there, with me. The truth is
that my most successful crawls have taken place when my merrier friends have joined. I have only being alone two or three times since I prefer to take my best friends with me.

As for the crawl I am going to cancel is not for sure yet, but I really need a rest. Since April 00 when the crawls started and because of them I haven´t being able to go out of Madrid. Now I have a great opportunity to do so. Nevertheless Dargus has the email of the other group coming and I ll send him more possible joiners and information on where to go.

Regards,
Andres

[ 05-03-2001: Message edited by: Andrés ]

Thanks Andres. I do respect the fact that we all need a break away from it all and I would be doing the same thing if I were in your situation. It is only coincidence that I am intending to be in Madrid same weekend (I tried to schedule it for the San Isidro festivities). Would any of your other friends be interested in guiding this tour for a fee? Also, does Stephen Drake-Jones have tours on weekend nights or are they generally on weekdays? Ciao!

Hey Devon, we might like to get together on May 11th. My husband and I (both 37) and my Mom and Aunt (young 50's and love to party!)thought about a Tapas crawl but did't want to commit since we don't know what we'll find when we get there. I don't mean to be non-committal but if you or anyone (including dargus if you'll be there then) wants to pick a place and a time for May 11th, anyone who is free can just show up say with a 30 minute window. If anyone can recommend a place to start, maybe by the Plaza Mayor, that would be great! Let's try to do it!

[ 05-04-2001: Message edited by: betharita ]

[ 05-04-2001: Message edited by: betharita ]

Hey Devon, we both posted questions about getting to Marbella from Madrid. We'll be driving there on May 12 and staying at the Four Seasons Timeshare. We're originally from Chicago too. Mucho coincidentios!

[ 05-04-2001: Message edited by: betharita ]

Hello betharita,

That is spooky that we are both from Chicago going to Madrid at the same time. We are also staying at a timeshare in Mijas Costa. Are you driving? I have rented a vehicle from Avis and are going to follow the itenary given to us by the other thread. I plan on leaving madrid at 8am. Please email me and maybe we can connect at some point.

Devon

By the way I am up for meeting at the plaza mayor on the 11th. Its my birthday and I WANT TO PARTY!

Hello
I tried to reply to the email you sent but it didnt work so I hope that you read this before you leave for SPAIN. We are staying at the Hostel Dulcinea in Madrid arriving on the 10th also. I think that it would be a great ideal to meet at the tapas you mentioned but if you look at the previous thread there is a list of tapas bars that looks interesting. Let me know what you think. By the way we leave at 8:30pm on wednesday what about you?

Devon

Hola! Unfortunately, due to a change in sheduling and problems with my airline tickets, I am going to be flying into London May 13 and staying there for four nights (instead of madrid May 10) before flying into Madrid and, on the same afternoon, taking the AVE down to Sevilla. So it looks like I will be only spending my last night in Spain in Madrid (May 24). But, ultimately, Sevilla is going to be an incredible experience. My main concern is that I had hotel reservations at Hotel Arias and needed to shift my nights by only one day later. They responded and said they could not help me on the final night (full) and said they were cancelling ALL of my original reservations! I don't know why there are doing this.I couldn't believe it. Do you know hard it has been trying to book a hotel in Sevilla in the middle of May? Anyway, thanks for all of the great advice. If anybody is going to be in and around Sevilla May 18-22 please let me know! Adios!

Devon, this is my last stop. We fly out of Atlanta at 5:30 (I think) on Wednesday night. I don't have time to check the other tapas places you mentioned but if you want to try the Tabernas y Dolores first, we can move on from there. We will try to make it around 8pm on Thursday. Anyone else who sees this is WELCOME!

Have a great trip...hope to see ya'll there.

Hey Dargus,
I am planning on being in Madrid May 16-19 and heading for Seville on the 20th. Maybe we can hook up for a drink or three in Seville?

p.s. Right now I am only about 180 miles south of you

Ron

Hello Beth,

I have written down the information and I will hope to see you there on friday night. I am so excited about leaving tomm. I will figure that if I dont see you by 8:45pm then you were detained. I will be the happy girl (you know im turning 30) with my hubby. See you soon,
Devon

My Walk of Spain Tour was cancelled tonight(5/15) also. What's with this guy? Isn't this a real business or what? Very disappointing.

That is a shame, Cam. Andres who leads/operates the Walks of Madrid (called "Walks of Madrid", but the website is "www.WalksOfSpain.com" - not sure why) tapas tours is human like everyone else and I don't know that he has other people in his circle to take over if he cannot make it to the tour. Also, it's possible there were not enough people in the tour to be worth while. I'm only guessing here about the reasons for the cancelation. The "company" isn't a real company, but rather a sideline for Andres. He has a "real" job during the daytime. Maybe if he's reading this he could give you an explanation.

Still, ENJOY MADRID and Spain!!!!!!

Saludos, MadridMan

Again there are some misunderstandings and questions about walks of Madrid:

Cam: My Walk of Spain Tour was cancelled tonight(5/15) also.
Also?
Andrés:I told Dargus that I may cancel his tavern crawl but at the end there was not need to, so:I, Tracy, Susan, Rick and Michael went out from 9 to 1:30 what meant 5 of my favourites taverns and Spanish vermu,Sangria, different wines, beer, garlic shrimps, Spanish omelette and three different desserts. Two of my girlfriends, Cristina and Mariam where also joining but were unable to due to personal reasons.
----------------

Cam: Isn't this a real business or what?

Andrés: We began as a small club for nice people (Spanish and foreign)
who wanted to go out, we tried to become a business (I didn´t like it)
and now we have come back to what we
were a club for social people who want and agreable night out.
---------------------------

Cam: Very disappointing
I can understand that, it was my first time cancelling a tavern route,
very frustrating to let people down but I had problems in my weekday job
-----------------------------
MM: called "Walks of Madrid", but the website is "www.WalksOfSpain.com"
- not sure why

I want to have room in case Walks of Barcelona or Walks of Seville are
born.
-----------------------
MM: I don't know that he has other people in his circle to take over if he cannot make it to the tour

Andrés: It´s one of the thing I want to but unfortunately that is easier
said that done, it needs some maturing and work.

Ok, I hope this helped, now I have to keep working on next Saturday night taven crawl.

Regarding the Chairmain, he was very accomodating and flexible once I called him from Madrid. If the tour operators spend lots of time communicating by email than they don't have as much time to give tours and even when people commit to a tour they sometimes no show. I went on a tapas tour with my 10 year old and he was wonderful with my son!!! When I go back I plan on doing a couple of days trips with him. He is very laid back and will plan whatever you want once you've done one tour with him and he trusts you won't be a flake. --That was my impression anyway....

I will be in spain this summer, and I would like to ask a question. In the late 60's and early 70's I spent a lot of time in Madrid. One of the better areas for tapas was aaround the Plaza Mayor. in November '97, I returned, and the area was basically closed at night. A staff member at Botin's basically said the area was not safe at night. I noticed that one of my favorites was still around (meson del champiñon) and it looked like some of the others might be. The question is - is the area open in the summer? Is it ever open?

EBETANCOURT:
HI..THIS IS MY FAVORITE AREA OF MADRID. WE NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEM THERE LAST SUMMER. wE STAYED OUT UNTIL EARLY INTO THE MORNING. sO YES, THEY WERE VERY OPEN. WE ESPECIALLY LIKED "MESON DE LA TORTILLA"..IN FACT, WE ARE STAYING AT THE HOSTAL LA MACARENA RIGHT ACCROSS THE STREET FROM THESE PLACES. ANYONE KNOW ANYTHING (GOOD OR BAD) ABOUT THE PLACE??

Katieb,

Please, don't shout when you talk on the board (writting in capital letters means shouting on the Internet).

Please, be nice to our ears.

ebantancourt-

I was also in Madrid in the late 60's and until 71, and remember going to a section that was frequented at that time by Spanish students. There was always much singing and clapping and traveling musicians. One spot had huge mushrooms filled with something delicious. Does this sound like the area around Plaza Mayor? Somehow that does not seem quite right to me. I'd love to see that area again after 30 years, even if it has changed or closed up, but I can't remember exactly where it was. What exactly is the location of what you remember?

If I recall correctly, that "thing" that was in/on the mushrooms is a chopped mix of garlic and ham plus a little vine and plenty of olive oil.

Thanks Nativo. Thirty years is a long time to remember a taste let alone ingredients. Do you think that the above mentioned "meson del champiñon" in the vicinity of Plaza Mayor meets my remembered description? I'm going back at the end of June to revisit places I loved best and perhaps I can add this to my list if I can identify it.

Dewey,

that does in fact sound like Meson del Chamiñon. they served the Mushrooms(Champiñon) with two toothpicks so you could put it in your mouth without tipping it over.
ernie

Thanks Ebetancourt. I will be excited to explore that area again as well as so many other places. It is strange going back after 30 years. I remember in Retiro Park we met an old Spanish man who had been to the United States in the 1930"s and had not returned since. He loved to tell us what New York city was like, and we loved to listen because his memory was an untouched time capsule. He still thought of it the way he had experienced it as a young man and it was New York City that we had not seen except perhaps in old black and white movies. Now I am that old man with my outdated impressions.

HI everyone!

So, what's the verdict on Andre's Walks of Spain Tavern Tour -- are they still going on?

I'll be there in our beloved Madrid as of Thursday & need to know soon!

Thanks,
Reenie

Hi reenie! You might want to email Andres directly and ask. Good luck and have fun!!

Thanks, Madrid Man -- we're meeting up for a tapas tour Fri. nite! YAY!