Located in a sort of cave under the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, El Mesón de la Guitarra may just be the perfect little bar to have some sangria, some tapas and listen to some authentic live guitar playing that is not for show, or only for tourists but for ambience, for fun. It gives you the the feeling you are no longer in your own country (assuming you are not Spanish), and that’s what most people are looking for when they travel abroad. Maybe that is why most people like the Guitarra the best among the 4 or 5 cave bars that line this street. (Well, Zarzamora across the street is fun too!)

As you descend to the bar from its entrance on the street Cava de San Miguel in which is actually the outside of the Plaza Mayor, you enter a dimly lit cavern with walls of bricks hundreds…