The following paragraph is about shoelaces. If you enjoy reading about the mundane, read on! If not, you can skip it with my blessing.
I have spent way too much time on this trip thinking about shoelaces. Specifically, where to buy ’em. This is not something unique to a Spanish vacation. I have trouble finding them at home as well. The Notions Store or Notions Department, once the source of such things, has gone the way of 8-track tapes and analog TV.
Why the quest, you may ask? Well, on our first day in Madrid, I found that one of the laces on my (ironically) newest pair of shoes had started to shred. Or split. Or separate. Not sure of the best description but, needless to say, it was not long for this world and I couldn’t find myself laceless in a strange land. So my odyssey began. It was suggested by Jaunjo that I try the El Corte Inglés department store, but there was never one convenient enough. But, on our last day in Madrid, I realized that the foot-high black letters emblazoned on a store front just steps away from the hotel, ZAPATOS, translated, was SHOES. So, after they reopened post-siesta, I entered the store and stumbled my way through the purchase of pair that were the right color but the wrong length: they were barely half as long as the originals. But, I made the purchase and made do. I was desperate!
Then, in Granada, as Rob & I made our way to the cathedral to see the royal bones, what should I spy as we dodged pedestrians on the narrow sidewalk but the closest equivalent to a Spanish notions store that I’d found to date. Inside, in a back corner, tucked behind a pillar, were a handful of shoelace packs….and one contained dark-colored round laces! Of course, being an American, I had no idea how long 120 cm was. But it had to be longer than the first pair I’d bought. So, purchase made, I left feeling I’d found my holy grail. And I sorta did. But…they were really long. And they were black, not brown. But they did enable me to wear the shoes again despite big lace-loops flopping.
This should be the end until we got to Seville. Just one block behind our hotel, there was an El Corte Inglés department store. First, it was like returning home to the department stores of yore. I’ve waxed nostalgic about them before, so I’ll get to the point here. Among the many departments, this store had a shoe repair in the first basement level. And, as suggested, I found the appropriate laces there. Now if I can only have the same success in Cleveland.
Spain and Portugal in Depth 