Thursday, July 28, 2016

Flamenco & Churros in Madrid


Before Tonia arrived to visit with me in Madrid, she asked me to make flamenco reservations for us. After a bit of research, I settled on a venue called Las Patas for our tickets. Since that means 'the feet' in Spanish, we had high hopes for the evening.

The show started at 10:30 pm, so we are a late lunch in anticipation. It's just not the thing to do to go to dinner before 10 pm, so we had to adjust our schedules accordingly. Not even kidding... When we arrived, Tonia treated us to our tickets which I greatly appreciated. At 39 euros each, this was pricey entertainment. Our table was touching the stage and had my name on it - misspelled but whatever. It cracked me up since I had emailed the reservation, but I digress.


We had to snap a pre-show selfie.


Here's how the stage looked before the show began.


When the show began, I was instantly mesmerized. I had seen flamenco a few times before but never a show of this power and quality. 


There were two singers, one of whom I think was pretty famous, two guitarists, a drummer, and three dancers. 


Of course, I could understand very little of what they sang because my Spanish isn't so good. But the pain, the anguish of the song and the dance was beautiful to witness. 


The dancers moved do quickly that I struggled to even take a photo. Being so close to the stage meant I could watch every step they took up close which made it even more powerful to behold.


The dancers and the singers wore their pain in their expressions as they performed, and I found myself drawn into their story.


During intermission, we snapped another selfie for good luck.


I preferred the singing of the man on the left, even though I don't think he was the famous one. Beware, he's quite the ladies' man and winks outrageously if you make eye contact with him. 😂😂😂


This dude is the one I think was famous. It's hard to explain, but it had to do with the way the other performers fawned over him.


Usually, I don't enjoy make dancers as much as female ones, but this dancer was excellent. 


Again, he's moving so fast that I can hardly capture the shot.


But be warned that the front row is a sweat-slinging zone, so keep your mouth shut and cover your drink with a napkin. Nope, still not kidding...



In general, the spotlighted female dancer dances last, and this woman was an amazing performer. I was so impressed with her!




At the end of the show, they came out for a mini jam session before taking their final bows.



Solo selfie at the end for the win - haha!


After the flamenco show ended, we did what Madrilenos themselves do late at night: we went to Chocalateria San Gines for chocolate con churros. 
 

They're basically like the funnel cakes you get at fairs in the USA, but you dip them in melted, dark chocolate instead of powdered sugar. Advice -> split one order. We got two orders which was much too much for us to finish. An order was around 4 euros, so very reasonable. 


The outside seating was closed by the time we arrived after midnight, but the inside of the shop was quite nice. It reminded me of an old fashioned soda counter setup.


The basement level (where the restrooms were) was equally well-decorated.


I can see why this is such a popular spot. If you're in Madrid, they're open from 7 am until 5:30 am each day. I'm like, why not just be open 24 hours, but what do I know?



Flamenco and churros are a not-to-be-missed experience in Madrid!

2 comments:

  1. How fun! It's interesting how you are challenged to use other sources of information when you don't speak the language fluently, like the body language, to intuit things about the performance and performers. Those churros look and sound wonderful!!

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  2. yummy churros y chocolate! oh my word, i just realized that was the name of my 8-9th grade spanish class textbook. those dresses were swoon worthy. i bet they looked even better while they danced.

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