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Shopping for shoes in Madrid
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Selection of espadrilles at Casa Hernanz
Every romantic vacation deserves an allocation of shopping time. What could be more romantic than buying your girlfriend or wife a pair of shoes from Spain? She will cherish them long after the trip is over.
Most people consider Italy as the place to buy leather goods but Spain has all the style and much better prices. Madrid shopping websites affirm the quality and fashion of the local leather purveyors and the overall craftsmanship. Many of Spain’s prized leather goods are produced on the Mediterranean Coast and in the Balearic Islands.
Walking on Madrid’s cobble-stone streets you will notice many women wearing espadrille shoes. Fashionable Madrilenas’ choose espadrilles for their style and comfort. While nearly every shoe shop in Spain sells them it is much harder to find a place that actually makes them.
A particularly helpful guidebook listed an espadrille store, where they actually make the shoe. The store, Casa Hernanz, one block off Plaza Mayor, always has a line spilling onto the street. In the windows are hundreds of shoes displayed with their style name and price. The women all speak Spanish during the wait, which can take an hour. Some buy multiple pairs. There are a few men from other shoe stores purchasing materials from the shop to make their own shoes.
When it is finally your turn, ask for the style, size and color in Spanish or write it down. They are in a hurry to serve the many women waiting in line. You will have the chance to try on the shoe to determine if it is the correct size before you purchase it. The shop is very crowded, so it is a relief to finally pay for your shoes and to get outside. Wearing your own pair of espadrilles you will understand why so many women enjoy them. Not only are they comfortable but stylish.
For a wider variety of every type of shoe, The Chueca District has the widest selection in one convenient location. Fortunately it is a short Metro ride from the central core of Madrid. Chueca is the “SoHo” of Madrid. There are a variety of restaurants and bars in this up-and-coming neighborhood where people enjoy outdoor dining at the various restaurants in the neighborhood and local bars provide indoor dining. This is obviously a local’s neighborhood and not nearly as crowded as the central historic area in Madrid.
There is a critical mass of stores, nearly 50. The secret must be out, because all of the shops can be quite crowded with men and women shoppers. In some cases it can be hard to move about and to take in all of the styles. There are so many shoes to choose from: practical, trendy, sexy… Wander through the stores to find the perfect pair or pairs of shoes for your taste. If you search long enough you will find shoes for your style and hopefully your size. The leather craftsmanship is of excellent quality, for which the Spanish take great pride. Your beautiful leather shoes will bring back happy memories from your visit to Madrid every time you wear them.
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