We’ve just had a fantastic couple of days in Madrid (although our flight home was cancelled due to the horrific UK thunderstorms but don’t get me started on that!) We love Spain as a destination, one of our favourite cities is Seville, but neither of us had ever been to Madrid so we thought what better way to use up some air miles than with a weekend in Spain’s capital.
Getting there was simple. A direct flight from Heathrow followed by a simple trip on the Madrid metro system to take us straight into the city and our hotel. We’d chosen a small hotel within walking distance of the main areas but without being in a touristy spot and I have to say it was perfect. A big plus for me was that it had a fitness suite but I barely went in there as going for a run around the locality is my favourite way to orientate myself around a new place. My first run took me through the city out beyond the Palace and back wiggling through small streets and parks. Madrid, I discovered, is quite hilly but it was a very lovely way to start our first day there.
Whenever we go to a new place we always book a free walking tour on our first morning so that we feel like we’ve covered a lot of the main areas and can focus on where we want to go back to and explore further. Guru walks tends to be our guide of choice as they offer loads of different options at different times and in different languages. Usually the guide is an actor or a student living in the city, earning a bit of extra cash in tips. Our walk took us around the Old Town of Madrid which was incredibly interesting – I don’t know a lot of Spanish history but a whistle stop tour through the two royal dynasties soon put that right.
Our next port of call on any trip, wherever we are, is the cheese shop! There are a few markets in Madrid, we’d noted in the morning that avoiding the main tourist trap market was a must so we headed away from the centre and found a great place with plenty of stalls selling local fresh produce. Plus there were lots of locals shopping there which again is always a good sign. As regular leaders of my blog know, I am big into goats cheese and whilst Spain might be more famous for its Manchego style cheeses we found a Madrid based, goats cheese maker and decided to sample their range.
A bit of history behind the cheese… Back in 1991, Juan Luis Royuela and Yolanda Campos Gaspar decided to make a life change. They left their jobs and went on a cheese-making course! These are the kind of kindred spirits that we love! They then found a local, struggling dairy (La Cabezuela) and embarked on reviving its fortunes.
The headquarters of La Cabezuela are in Fresnedillas de la Oliva, which is just outside Madrid in the Guadarrama mountains. Since the 17th century, a native breed of goats have inhabited the Guadarrama mountains. These goats are very hardy and so well-suited to navigating rocky terrain. They tolerate the cold and rainy climate of the Guadarrama area, but unfortunately when our two cheese heroes took over, the breed was nearing extinction. The thought of losing this rare breed inspired the Royuela-Campos family to make it their mission to conserve the Guadarrama goat population by dedicating themselves to local cheesemaking traditions using only the milk of this specific goat.
We loved the fact that the family holds a deep connection to the local area with an understanding that a sustainable future for the region and the Guadarrama goats starts with the people, the mountains, the traditions and the goats themselves. La Cabezuela aspires to preserve the traditions of cheesemaking of this Spanish region by introducing locals and those further afield to their cheeses.
But before you can make cheese, you have to get to know the milk. The goats graze on pastures of thyme, acorn, heather and grasses that flavour their milk with the unique terroir of the area. Guadarrama goats produce just two litres of milk a day, compared to other dairy goats who average three to four litres per day, so the cheese is always made in small batches.
We started with their flagship cheese, the traditional semi curado (semi cured). This delicate cheese has a fabulously smooth texture with a deep, grassy herbal flavour. It is aged for two months, during which time its natural rind forms which had lovely flavours of fresh wild mushrooms.
We followed this with their Roy Goat Cheddar. This cheese was inspired by a visit to British cheese producers in Lincolnshire and Devon. The cheeses are made in larger moulds and have a delicious buttery flavour. Finally came Lingote Cremoso. As the name suggests this is a soft cheese, loosely based on an old French recipe dating back to 1915 but with a distinctively Spanish feel. Soft, creamy and incredibly moreish!
I am now in the process of liaising with the dairy to see if they export to the UK and whether we can introduce it to our counter. Unfortunately we couldn’t bring any of the cheese home on this trip (the cancelled flight would have scuppered that plan even if we had managed to secrete a wheel through customs!)
But on to day 2 of our trip. My second run of the weekend took me out in the opposite direction from the main areas and towards the largest park. I traversed through rose lined avenues coming across the occasional early morning runner and back to the hotel in time for breakfast before we spent the day meandering around the beautiful city that is Madrid. We loved the wide streets and the fact that a lot of the centre was pedestrianised so it was really easy to walk around. The historical squares, churches, and museums were incredibly interesting and everyone we met was so friendly. The day passed by in a flash and we both felt as though we’d been completely de-stressed and revitalised.
The only negative part of the whole experience was our return to the UK which ended up being via an airport hotel, a short hop to Porto and then an onward connection back to Heathrow. Not the best way to end the weekend but sometimes these things happen! Should you get the chance to spend a couple of days in Madrid, I would thoroughly recommend it!
