I went to the Prado this morning and the lines were horrible; luckily a Press Pass opens them up and in a few minutes I was at the temporary show on El Greco and his influence on everyone from Manet to Francis Bacon; very impressive; a quick tour of the Goya black/dark/noir paintings in Room 67 and I was off to lunch.
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El Senador is a place I'd read about on Chowhound as having good suckling pig and I sure needed that today after wrestling all day yesterday with Air France & Expedia to get me back home to Paris. It's across from the Senate, has been here for either 60 or 16 years and is crusty as the dickens, and empty too - Senate must be out of town (but wait.......)
They started me off with some rolls (very crusty good), sausages (good) and butter and some wine from La Mancha, replete with a drawing of Don Q. himself; I moved on to a "green" salad that, though, had heirloom tomatoes, sliced onions and a fine dressing; then what I came for - the suckling pig leg with tender hot meat inside and crispy crunchy skin outside - heaven!
My coffee (just fine thank you) came with a coffee liquor topped with cream and the bill with this all, but no bottled water, was 38.50 E or 77 E a couple. Oh, as for the empty restaurant, the Senate staffers were all in the attached bar having a lovely time.