A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting Francisco (Fran), at Café Madrid (c/ Mesón de Paños, 6 – Metro: Opera) to talk about the International Evenings that are held there every Wednesday. Afterwards I invited him to take part in the ‘My Madrid’ section of this site.

Fran is a freelance legal consultant for the telecoms industry. He has a background in languages – he speaks English, Russian, Italian, French and German – and this ties in with his passion: meeting people at the International Evenings in Café Madrid. Fran has been running the language evenings at Café Madrid since 2000 and says: "everybody is welcome and for free can meet a lot of people from a number of countries and exchange culture and languages". Here are the answers to the questions I emailed him:

Favourite Bar/Café – Café Madrid (c/ Escalinata – Opera)
Favourite Dish – Gazpacho / Any fish / Ice cream
Favourite Tapas – Gambas (Prawns), Tortilla (Spanish Omelette), Pulpo (Octopus)
Favourite Restaurant – Maceiras (c/ Huertas, 66) 
Favourite Shop – Mercado de Fuencarral (Market)
Best time of year in Madrid – The whole year
Favourite Barrio – La Latina – it has everything I like: it’s a
very nice old quarter with amazing buildings, churches and views, and
at the same it’s very lively, full of restaurants, tapas bars and clubs.
Favourite Building(s) – Palacio Real (The Royal Palace).
My favourite day trip from Madrid is to … Segovia, it’s a wonderful old city and very near you can find a superb palace with beautiful gardens surrounded by mountains
A perfect ‘night out’ in Madrid would …Tapas bars, International Evening at Café Madrid and a late club
My favourite walk …From Paseo de Rosales to San Francisco Church and then getting into La Latina