Midsummer is as important to the Swedes as Christmas. So knowing the country would be shutting down we decided to head to Madrid. But we made a mistake. Midsummer isn’t celebrated on the summer solstice, but on the Friday between 20-26 June. This meant we headed off a week early, but no great harm was done.

One of Oziel’s friends from University, Arturo, kindly offered to host us in his home in the vibrant Chueca.

Our main aim in Madrid was to eat, and to this end Arturo was an excellent host. The first night we had Mexican as we watched Mexico beat France in the World Cup.

Arturo took us to the newly renovated Mercardo San Miguel. It has everything you would want to find in a Spanish market – seafood, meat, fruit, wine, bread, cakes, etc … And it’s all available to eat in or take away. We set-up camp for a late lunch at the serrano ham stall, bringing with us a cheese platter, wine and bread. Then we moved to the cake stall.

We enjoyed pinchos at Lateral. We think it might be a chain. If so, look out for it on any future Spanish adventure.

We also enjoyed both the lunch and dinner at In Situ with Arturo. The food was great, the menu changed daily, the service was friendly, and we came to love the smoke free environment. In Spain people can still smoke everywhere, so when you find a smoke free environment it is an Oasis.

There was also a great place with orange walls, but we have no idea what it is called. But definitely one to watch out for.

Watch out for the running of the bulls in the photos below. I was in the middle of all the action!