Restaurante Sobrino de Botin; Or, World's Oldest Restaurant

So, having finished the flea market, our tummies indicated it was time for lunch. In America. Lunch time in Spain was still an hour or more away, leaving us plenty of time to explore, examine, wait, and wait; and wait.  At length, wandering around, we decided upon Sobrino de Botin, which Guiness certifies as the world's oldest (still operating) restaurant. We were impressed. Very impressed. Vicki especially wanted to try their specialty, roast suckling pig. I wanted the garlic soup. Surprisingly, very surprisingly, we got in and got a table, and...

Wandering the streets of old Madrid in search of a restaurant that was open before
1PM

Historic

And legendary garlic soup; but not open

At last! Never mind that the people who do the Guinness
certifications are not sober

Opening soon; the tour bus crowds stop, pose, but don't stay for the opening; 
Vicki is first in line; we are hopeful

And we are in! Climbing to the 2nd floor

The (Gringo) menu

Includes a history of the place

White sangria, our Spanish drink of choice

Historic photo

My garlic soup; yum

My scrambled eggs with salmon; extra yum

Vicki's suckling pig; not much meat, she said, not very tasty;
at least it wasn't grain-fed

Panning around; I think we had dessert; maybe not

Lots of old tile

So at this point I wander into the kitchen to see the allegedly 300-year old oven

And there are the specialty; dozens of them

Roasting of the Innocents; Vicki says had she seen this she might have gone for the
chicken;  or maybe even the fish

Almost lunch-time!

Historic photograph, re-take

Madrid's El Rastro Flea Market

Madrid has a Sunday flea market, turning the Calle de la Ribera de Curtidores and its offshoots into one long day-time paseo/outdoor shopping experience. As flea markets go, it can't compare with things we have seen in, for example, Vienna, London, or Paris. Actually, it is more comparable to Rome's Sunday market, which is mostly crap. But we had to give it a nosey (NZ)(=nose around). Plus we figured the Prado would be too crowded on a Sunday.

Madrid has some of the world's best street signs

Madrid's air quality seemed quite high to us; we did notice an unusual number of
military surplus stores around, all thriving now that camo is the new chartreuse

Over-view; we got to the market right at 10AM; most of the shopkeepers were
still setting up; 10AM in Paris and you would have missed everything but the
crap

We'll probably wait until Sevilla

Since the flea market was mostly crap, we frequently stepped into the stores along
the Calle de la Ribera de Curtidores; here we are in one of a block of independent
outdoor stores; in its mountaineering section, most extensive I have ever seen;
the Spanish are really into climbing, I surmise

Street scene

Many such minis; world-wide Mini mania continues; a good thing

These are hand-made purses

I thought she was Mary Poppins; maybe not

Nice mural

This made it all worthwhile: my new Spanish t-shirt

On To Madrid

The route from Tarragona to Madrid is not filled with three-star sights, nor even one- or two-star sights, nor is the scenery all that interesting, so we took the freeway, and in a matter of hours, arrived at old friend Camping Osuna, on the capital city's northeastern burbs.

The Prime Meridian arch

Our first bull sign of the trip...more to come

Tarragona Roman Museum, 2

Continuing our visit to the National Archaeological Museum of Tarragona...

Counter weight for a scale

Thus

Looking from the museum top floor out to the
amphitheater

Ships' anchors

This low-riding tanker was anchored off Tarragona the two
days we were there; we wondered what made the city so
prosperous-looking and well-maintained...and when we drove
on to Madrid, we passed the largest refinery complex and
tank farm we have yet seen...

Falo antropomorfo, the sign said; a reproduction
of the god Priapo

Nice, very large mosaic, especially for seafood lovers

Huge hall of statues, busts

Marcus Aurelius

Another big hall

Euterpe, flute muse

Tarragona main square; beautiful, interesting place; we should
have stayed longer, but for our date at the Seville feria

Parthian shot: Modernista garage