The two most beautiful benefits of travel are 1) meeting new people and 2) exploring everything about food. Madrid, Spain, is one of the top “foodie” destinations in the world; it’s impossible to walk for more than 2 minutes in any direction without seeing something fantastic to eat. On a sunny Saturday morning, we found ourselves wandering the side streets and happened to see a sign pointing to the Mercado de San Miguel. We continued along for a short distance, and before our eyes was a world-class food emporium. Open-air, bustling with people, food stalls, laughter, and enough to eat and drink for a very long time.
Everywhere we looked, it was jam-packed with people lined up for food and drink. Tables were scarce, so when someone saw a seat or two, it was a mad rush to get there before anyone else. We finally saw a table where four people were eating a vast spread of food with glasses of wine. There were two empty chairs, and I squeezed in, pressed up against an older gentleman from the group. They were really enjoying themselves and were polite to us when we sat down, moving closer together to give us more room.
I could hear them speaking in Italian, and I know enough words to make a significant impression on a child. Anyway, I pointed to a large bowl of olives they were eating and asked what kind they were. With that, he invited us to taste some. None of them spoke perfect English, but his wife leaned over and asked us where we were from. I replied, “Tennessee.” The man immediately lit up and said, “Yes, Jack Daniels!”
So, from that point on, we were all new friends. We all bought and shared a lot of food and drink and had a terrific time. At one point, the older man and his son-in-law disappeared; we took that as our signal to depart and started walking away down the small street. After a minute or so, we heard a young girl’s voice calling out to us, asking us to stop.
We turned around, and it was the man’s daughter gesturing to us. She said her dad had gone away to buy a special drink for us, and we had to return. Hey, who’d turn that down? When we approached the table, we saw six new glasses filled with a beautiful amber-colored liquid. He’d gone off to buy glasses of a fantastic Spanish brandy to salute our new friendship. He raised his glass and said to all: “Cheers to Jack Daniels!”
What a guy. What a family. And what a beautiful memory of Spanish Olives and our Tennessee whiskey.
Are we there yet? 