Tapas and other Madrid, Spain Local Custom Tips

Tapas are basically small portions of different typical foods you share. They are thus a great way of tasting the huge variety of Spanish dishes.

Tapas include "raciones", "canapes", and "croquetas" and my suggestion is try them all!

By the way, don´t worry if you don't understand the menu, most tapas bars have their tapas on display at the bar so you can simply point at what looks appealing to you.

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Maybe some of you already knew about this, but I'm pretty sure that lots of you will be as amazed as me about this: in Spain most companies give you food tickets when you work for them. They are like checks allready written with an amount, that you can pay with at most of the restaurants. The company gives you a fixed daily amount, usually approximately 6 euros, so if you come to work from abroad don't forget to ask for them!

A brilliant and economic idea!

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Madrid is pretty famous for its marcha: going out is usually referred to as 'salir de marcha' (going out marching is the best litteral translation I can come up with) because Madrileños typically prefer to have a single drink in a bar before moving on to the next (and the next, and the next...).

Add to the nearly unlimited possibilities of bars, terraces and clubs, the fact that there are thousands of people in the streets, that it is possible to witness a traffic jam at 4am, and that there is ALWAYS a next place to go to no matter the time, and it's easy to see why Madrid is the undisputed champion of European nightlife! There seems to be an unwritten law that forbids you to go to sleep before dawn...

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What are called 'Minis' are actually everything but small in size: they are 1L big plastic glasses filled with beer, rhum and coke or any type of alcoholic drink. Minis are usually shared within the group, and tend to be very popular mostly among teenagers.

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Spain is known for its siesta (nap) and for its quailty of life: Work to live instead of live to work. And taking a nap in the middle of the day is indeed a wonderful invention. What you have to understand though is that Madrid (and most of Spain for that matter) shuts down from about 2 pm until 6pm in the evening.

The regular business hours are indeed from 9h or 10h in the morning till 13h30 or 14h, and from 17h or 18h till 20h or 21h. The 3 hour break is the lunch and siesta time.

So from 2pm to 6pm approximately, you won't find an open store, except for convenience stores like El Corte Ingles. Other exceptions are construction workers, particularly road workers, who are out all day;.and tourist-oriented places, such as museums, have reduced siesta hours, closing at two and re-opening at four.

So keep this in mind when scheduling your days, especially if you have a limited amount of them....

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