Of course, the "real Spanish" experience is similar to what people around the worldevery day. Spanish people have concerns bout their job, marriage, family, paying the bills, and wondering if they can afford a newer car or a holiday this summer.
But if they mean they want to get away from the tourist crowds, then I can offer something more substantial; a five-stop journey to the west and south of Madrid where they probably won't encounter a single foreign tourist.
You'll need a car for this trip. While public transit in Spain is excellent, this journey crosses many of the "spokes" in the hub-and-spoke transit system, so an automobile will be the best way to follow this itinerary, and allow you to explore any out-of-the-way spots you may want to explore along the way.
In part one of this journey, our first stop is the town of La Alberca.
Take the highway out of Madrid to the northwest and make the obligatory stop at the walled city of Avila. Then dip down to the southwest. You'll find magnificent mountain vistas opening before you, sparkling waterfalls, and hiking trails as you drive this route through the Sierra de Gredos mountains. All sorts of villages line the road, with places like Navacepeda de Tormes and El Barco de Avila giving you a chance to experience Spanish life at the slower pace of days gone by.
When you reach La Alberca itself, you'll find a town seemingly trapped in the 16th century. For centuries part of the poorest region of Spain, it remained frozen in time until it was declared a national historical site and made the subject of a movie that detailed the grinding poverty of the region.
In the 80 years since then, the town has become quite popular with Spanish familes during the summer, but for the rest of the year, it lapses back into a rather somnolent existence. The town's architecture is unique, more akin to what you might find in medieval villages in France, and some of the buildings date back to the time of Columbus.
Watch for the town pig, who gets to live a life of leisure and luxury (for a pig) until January of each year, when he's raffled off to the highest bidder. This area is one of the main sources of famous (and very expensive) Jamon Iberico, taken from black Iberian pigs fattened on a diet of acorns.
The surrounding Sierra de Francia mountains provide some interesting hiking trails, with part of the Camino de Santiago running by the town as it makes its way from Sevilla to Santiago de Compostela. Take the time to visit the nearby monastery on the top of the Peña de Francia; the views are amazing! The driving distance for this leg is about 290 kilometers (180 miles) with the driving time about 4.5 hours.
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Next time, Badajoz!
