The Traveling Shorts: Madrid: to know it is to love it

June 1, 2009 by Courtney Waldron 

Destination: Madrid

I said my goodbyes at home (that was difficult), I traveled the long 15-hour trek to Spain (that was grueling) and I’ve been in Madrid for one week.  I’ve visited fascinating tourist places and lively local hangouts and tried as many new foods as I could.  Here are my favorite places and initial impressions as a foreigner who has only been in the city for a little while.  

The Plaza Mayor 

A local or two said that this area is mostly appealing to tourists and I can see why.  

A large block near the center of the city, the Plaza is a square surrounded on all four sides by old European buildings (apartments on top, shops and restaurants on bottom) and, according to “Rick Steves’ Spain 2009,” has been the stage for markets, bullfights and Inquisition executions since it was established in the 1600s.  

The first afternoon I visited there, I stepped into a cultured and comfortable scene.  An accordion player serenaded diners and coffee sippers chatting around outside café tables. Artists worked on their watercolor and acrylic paintings or tried to sell them to passersby.  

No matter how touristy it is, I really like it here. 

The Royal Palace 

I didn’t expect it, but tourists are actually allowed to visit inside the historic palace.

Not one space in any of the rooms of the Palace stood without design.  Intricate patterns covered every space on the floors, walls and ceilings, sometimes with fabrics and sometimes with wood coverings.  (One room was constructed entirely out of porcelain.)  

Built in the 1700s (though previous buildings served as the kings’ residence on the same ground before reconstructions), the Palace has been the stomping grounds for generations of Spanish kings and queens.  I imagine it also was a wonderful maze in which the royal children could play hide and seek (as long as they didn’t chip the gold-plated floors). 

The Madrid Museums 

In one week, I’ve managed to piece together maybe two or three pieces of the thousand-piece puzzle that is Madrid’s art scene.  

Madrid houses all types of art, from older paintings in the world famous Prado to modern exhibits in the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía to the personal works of locals painting on the streets.  The size of the Prado is impressive itself.  With more than 3,000 pieces, according to my Steves’ travel guide, the museum cannot be fully appreciated in the short two-hour time slot at the end of the day when admission is free. 

Here I found a taste for Goya and his dark commentary on human nature. 

The Centro de Arte Reina Sofía displays more modern pieces —  some permanent and some temporary exhibits.  

Though I still cannot appreciate the contemporary significance of a single dark line watercolored across a blank canvas, I found other interesting exhibits.  

A favorite is the work of Juan Muñoz, who uses spatial techniques to make an entire room a piece of art.  One such piece, titled “Waiting for Jerry,” featured a pitch black room with a lighted mouse hole at the bottom corner of a wall with music playing overhead from the old Tom and Jerry cartoons.  

In another piece called “Many Times,” I walked around dozens of shoulder-height sculptures of the same human character in different positions and different expressions of laughter.  With such a broad range of art, Madrid is a major destination in Europe for all aficionados del arte.

 The life of the city 

The rhythm of the day is different here, but easy for me to adjust to.  

Instead of three big meals in 24 hours, mealtime protocol consists of a light breakfast in the morning (coffee or tea, maybe some toast and fruit), the biggest meal of the day between 1 and 4 p.m. and a lighter dinner at around 9 or 10 p.m. The sun sets around this time also.  

Not everyone follows this schedule day in and day out.  I see people munch on smaller meals and snacks several times throughout the day.  At night, it’s easy to grab a drink and a tapa (small appetizer) at one bar, leave and walk a few shops down the street to grab another refreshment.  

The food is delicious in Madrid and deserves an entire article of praise itself.  Many shops close in the afternoon and re-open around five.  I don’t know if people really take their siesta or not during these hours. 

On my first night out with three Madrileños, they told me to meet them at 11:30 p.m.  This is the typical time to begin a night of bar hopping, music listening and dancing.  

Since the metro closes at 1:30 a.m., locals have told me the dedicated partiers stay out until the metro reopens at 6 a.m. to go home.  With good food and vibrant activity on every street, I’ve already fallen in love with Madrid. 

Now that I’ve moved out of a hotel and into an apartment near the center of the city, I can lose my tourist backpack and get into the groove of local living. I have much left to learn about Madrid in two months, but I know for sure I’ve never fallen for a city faster.