About an hour’s drive North of Madrid are the Guadarrama mountains. I have talked about them often, but never quite dedicated a blog to it -and this is not it. But a recent outing prompted me to write this.

Of course, the main reason to visit the mountains is nature and nature sports: hiking, cycling, or skiing (sorry, camping is forbidden except in designated campgrounds). But there are also great villages and buildings, like El Escorial (read about that here) or El Paular monastery (click here for more).

Spending my Summers there since my youth, we would, of course, take advantage of all the natural resources, but we also wanted to find places to hang out and party.

My cousin Quique recently opened a bar, La Gamberra, in nearby Alpedrete. My sister and I were invited to the opening night. We had a blast! La Gamberra has a simple but delicious, straightforward menu with a heavy beach vibe -lots of fresh seafood[1]! Obviously, a full bar, this is Spain after all, a huge “terraza” outdoor seating, “Beer garden” style, and best of all awesome great live music, most nights. They also have a prix fixe lunch menu for weekday lunches based on homemade traditional stews. The mood was enjoyable! Laid back, with the live music playing, people spending time together, having fun. If you are in the area and looking for a place to eat or to have a fun drink and enjoy some live music, I could not recommend this place enough!

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[1] Remember that Madrid has the second biggest seafood market in the world after Tokio, despite being over 200 miles away from the nearest ocean.