Cafe-Bar El Madrugon

 

Rain is forecast for all this week and it's only Wednesday. La Plaza de la Fuente Arriba (Top Square) is busy for a couple of hours in the morning but by 1.00pm. the only activity is in the bars. The chairs and tables on front of 'La Alegría'  'Los Caballos Dos' and 'Bar Madrugon' have disappeared. Even 'El Bulgaro' isn't putting his out in this weather.

It's time for the second in the series 'Favouite Bars'. Today it's 'Cafe'Bar El Madrugon'.
I'd never noticed the 'Cafe' part before. Madrugon is probably the smallest bar in Álora and is as small as it looks here. It is run by Manolo and his son Javier You could fit about seven men around the bar and perhaps another three behind them (unless one of them is 'Paco Gordo' who runs the bar nearly next door.) I wrote 'men' because most women give it a miss.
´El Madrugon´means 'the crack of dawn' and Manolo opens every day at 5.30am. , which is two hours before daybreak at the moment,  until 2pm. and opens again at 4.00pm. until trade dries up. . I have only been there once before 7.00am. In the good old days of the construction boom El Madrugon would be crammed with men having a coffee and brandy or anis or two before meeting their lift to the hazardous building  sites on the coast.
Manolo usually stands in the doorway of his bar and always greets me with a 'Holá. Qué hay!' in his growly voice. Apart from this greeting I don't understand much of his conversation. I smile and nod and make the odd guess at what he's talking about and order a mitad doble (cafe con leche) or a caña (small beer) (Cruzcampo).  Javier speaks more clearly but faster and with a lot of shrugs and gesticulation. Manololo calls him Él niño' and Javier calls him ' El Moro' (the moor) but not to his face. El Moro has been Manolo's apodo (nickname) since he was a boy and had a dark complexion. You can see this in one of the old football team photos on the wall. His name actually appears on some of these photos as 'El Moro'. He also makes an appearance in the film 'Children of Alora' which was made in 1964 and is well worth a look. Manolo is in the crowd watching a ´Verdiales'  performance near the end of the film. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CZCzSS9tHE He is standing between the two guitarists

That's Javier behind the bar and Manolo is sitting on the stool behind Paco 'Gordo'.

 

Like all the bars here (I think) Madrugan has a selection of tapas. Manolo's speciality is ´Caldito' which is hot spicy fish soup served in one of those glass cups that they used to serve 'frothy coffee' in during the 60s. At the bottom of the glass is a piece of fish. Try it. Manolo used to serve riñones al Jerez (kidneys in sherry), carrilla (pig's cheek) and other hot and tasty tapas but the Public Health Inspector stopped him doing them as he hasn't got a kitchen. He used to cook them at home and warm them up on a camping  gas stove at the back of the bar. His tapas now are mainly cold except for chorizo al infierno (literally chorizo from hell) which is a chorizo cooked in a pig shaped pot with a solid fuel tablet. Manolo recently asked me to do an English translation of his tapas list which is now displayed on the bar. Among them you can find  'chorizo from hen'.

José Luis Rodridgo Zapatero visited Álora during his term as Spanish prime minister. Manolo was a big fan and sent him this picture I took on the day.

 

He has a framed letter from Zapatero on the wall thanking him for the photo.

 

During the warm months Manolo has tables and chairs outside the bar. He shares them with Paco at La Alegría. Paco provides hot tapas too. They have proved very popular indeed and must have doubled Manolo's profits.