S2:D6 Madrid Curiosities

Today is not about health. Today is about some of the curiosities and hidden gems we have come across during our stay in Madrid. The city of Madrid has over 3 million people so it stands to reason there’s going to be some weird things found in the city. 

The first curiosity is what is known as the tooth mouse of Spain. When a child loses a tooth, the tradition is for children to place it under their pillow and a mouse named Ratoncito Perez comes to exchange the tooth for small gifts or coins. The fun part about this is there are hundreds of little mouse holes and houses hidden in the city.

Number two our new list is the cookie shop embedded within a no leave monastery named Monasterio del Corpus Christi.  Women who choose to dedicate their entire lives to God enter…and never leave. These women take vows of silence and don’t speak to each other. To support the operations, these women used to provide services like starching clothes. The starching process used egg whites which made the clothes quite stiff (and gross if you ask me).  At some point, this group decided to use the leftover yokes to make cookies. Today these cookies are sold to the public and are quite popular. The process is fascinating. After hitting a buzzer, you are allowed into a small room where you order your cookies. The client places money on a spinning wheel. On the other side of the wheel is a bag of cookies. There is no face-to-face conversation with any of the nuns during this process. It’s like an ancient vending machine. 

And can we talk about Taco Bell? In Spain, when you order a meal at Taco Bell, you have two side options, nachos or French fries!? That’s borderline sac-religious! They make up for it by allowing you to buy a beer with your meal and having an excellent recycling system.  We’re good again TB. 👊

Lastly, let’s talk about rooftops. As in rooftop restaurants and bars. The density of Madrid can make things quite chaotic. The appeal to step away from that chaos whilst enjoying a cold beverage is alluring. In our hunt to find a rooftop restaurant, we found this process to be almost like a game. We’ve been turned away from many places for unknown reasons. Their are long line that never seem to move. There are cover charges that don’t make sense.But there are also roofs that are accessible through dark dingy hallways that most would not suspect would lead to anything. We found one of these yesterday on one of the busiest streets in Madrid, Gran Via which is the Michigan Avenue of Madrid for you Chicago land lovers. Like a speakeasy that leads to a magical place filled with chicken wings and Tinto Verano’s.