As an American, we usually expect thay a the Labor Day holiday is the perfect time to sightsee or go to a museum. In Spain they take Labor Day, May 1, seriously. So on that holiday everything we wanted to see was closed. We did get to wander around and found a dragon on the prowel.
For dinner we picked a place on the other side of the Palace. When we arrived, it was closed. Just down the street El Ducado offered outdoor seating in what was once a street parking spot. Our first waiter spoke no English.
After several attempts to order a draft beer, I wandered inside and pointed at the taps and chose two different ones. The waiter pointed at the second one I chose and said “sin alcohol”. I knew what that meant. I then chose one labeled Vermut.
When our drinks arrived one was a decent golden ale. The other looked like a mixed drink.
It turns that that a Vermouth mixed drink is so popular in Madrid they have it on tap.
Our second waiter spoke a little English and we leaned that the kitchen did not open until eight.
We asked if there was any food we could order. He mentioned two things. One sounded like it had potatoes and garlic in it. It was a garlic potato salad that was delicious.
As we sat and drank our waiter brought us different tapas: chips, a tuna salad and small bread and ham snack. With all of that we skipped dinner and went right for dessert – ice cream.
From there we headed to Jardin de Las Vistillas for what we thought would be fireworks. We did have a beautiful view of the Catedral de la Almudena.
In the end there were no fireworks. We have no idea what happened but there were lots of other people there who were expecting fireworks.
Since it was Labor Day, maybe the firewoworks employees took the day off.