Flamenco not Flamingo Show

I kind of lost track of time working on the blog Saturday afternoon at the rooftop bar.  Especially when the DJ started playing some good music. 

But I had finished my tea and knew I had to get Stacy moving if we were going to be ready to meet the group by 6:30. And then for some reason, I imagined I had time to get in a quick workout video - which I played on 1.5x speed so it was a REALLY QUICK workout.  I worked up quite a sweat in 1/2 the time.

For tonight’s special dinner and show, we were all encouraged to wear something red.  So you can imagine how we converged on the lobby at the appointed time for our photo shoot. Seeing all the different shades of red in perfect complement was such a treat. And helped us keep track of each other as we walked the busy evening streets of Madrid to dinner. 

And then, we EAT! And eat, and eat, and eat. At an authentic tapas restaurant (Taberna Alhambra) we had what seemed like an endless parade of dishes. In true Spanish fashion, it started with thinly sliced pork and a variety of cheeses, then came Spanish omelette and croquettes and the biggest shrimp I’ve seen in years. And plenty of wine and sangria (the best one yet!) flowing - but again, water was by request only. Which is interesting because their tap water is safe to drink and tastes better than bottled here.

After a fried cheesecake (made with goat cheese) and blueberry compote (yummy), it was time to depart for the Flamenco show.  Which a lot of the friends mispronounced flamingo and after a while, the locals just went with it. Our show was in a quaint little theatre The Tablao Flamenco 1911 (inside the Villa Rosa) and they placed our group directly center stage. 

The 1911 is the oldest flamenco tableau in the world. This unique theatre had an artistic ceiling with huge columns featuring decorative arches and walls covered in mosaic tiles with depictions of Spanish flamenco and bullfighting scenes. It felt like we walked into Arabic speakeasy.

The music, dancing and singing made for a phenomenal show. We got some pictures and some video but these could hardly capture the essence of the experience. Afterwards, a group hit another GREAT gelato spot because isn’t that what everyone does at 10:30pm while walking home from a show.