The Tourists Go to Madrid

Days here: 61 (It's my two-month-aversary today!)
New Year's Resolutions: 1. Write more; 2. Spend less money on alcohol; 3. Make better and more mature choices

Last Week, from Wednesday 29th to Friday 31st, Courtney, one of my fellow Auxiliaries in Socuèllamos, and I spent a busy few days as crazy American tourists in Madrid. Though I've been here almost two months, I hadn't had a chance to go to Madrid and really spend time there taking in the sights. I'd gone there for official business and spent a night or two there waiting for a flight in the morning, but I hadn't really experienced Madrid. Shameful, I know! Well, I finally made it.

Day 1

This trip was all the more exciting because it was my first couchsurfing experience. For those of you who don't know what that is, check out couchsurfing.org. Basically, you search for people who offer couches in various cities. You request to "surf" on somebody's couch for a certain amount of nights, and if they accept, you have a free place to sleep! So legit and a really great way to meet people. Our host was Carlos, a 28-year-old Peruvian immigrant who worked at the Madrid airport as a waiter. He gave us a bed and an extra mattress to sleep on, so our two nights were actually quite comfortable. We arrived in Madrid on Wednesday, and after dropping our stuff off at Carlos' place, we started on our way to the Madrid center. Fortunately Madrid's metro system is very extensive and it was easy to get there from our neighborhood, which was well outside of the main areas.

Our first stop was Plaza de Puerta del Sol, Kilometer 0 of Madrid. This bustling and crowded ant farm of a plaza is called Kilometer 0 because of its centralized location and because all of the important sites can be easily reached with Puerta del Sol as a starting point. After spending a few minutes admiring the street performers we headed towards Calle Alcalà, one of the four major avenues branching out of Puerta del Sol. Alcalà, as busy as the plaza, is a giant avenue of shops, businesses, and government buildings. Not the least of which was... STARBUCK'S! Yes, it was obligatory to walk into the shop and get a little taste of America. Because it was freezing, I had to resist the temptation of getting a Mocha Frappuccino and instead went for a good old-fashioned Cafe Latte. Tall, of course. After this short pit stop, we continued on our trek. After a short walk, we reached the intersection of Alcalà and Paseo del Prado, another major Madrid avenue. On the corner was what is possibly my favorite building in Madrid (from outside, as we didn't go inside). It was the Palacio de Comunicaciones, which houses the Madrid mayoral offices. I was impressed by it's majestic presence in the middle of such a busy intersection (as opposed to the other important buildings, which are mostly set apart), by its aesthetic beauty, and by the fact that such a beautiful building still serves an official purpose rather than being redesigned as a museum. We continued down the same street and finally hit the Plaza de Independencia, which houses the Puerta de Alcalà. The Puerta is much like the medieval city doors in many European cities, and it quite reminded me of the Arc de Triomphe (thought Alcalà is bigger and of course, nicer), but that doesn't take away from its majesty and imposing presence.

After a million pictures, we continued down Calle Alfonso XII. It was getting close to 6pm and we had made plans to go to the Musèo Nacional del Prado at that hour. We arrived at the Prado, a public art museum which houses mostly Renaissance-era productions, such as Goya, Velazquez, etc. (Mostly Spanish artists, of course.), right around 6. We made plans to meet with Kayla Gordon (whom many of you know from Berkeley and is an Auxiliar in Sevilla), Johnny Chiou (whom many of of you also know and was visiting for the holidays), and two other friends of theirs also from Berkeley, at the museum at 6pm because that's when the free admission starts. Of course, being poor recent college graduates, we take advantage of every free opportunity. As we arrived, the line was already kind of long but it actually moved quite fast. We were inside the museum by 6:30pm. We headed into the galleries and giddily didn't follow any particular order or look for any particular rooms. We just followed the layout of the galleries and enjoyed the various paintings. My favorite piece was definitely Francisco Goya's La Familia de Carlos IV. Now, you all know I'm not a monarchist, but the beauty of this work of art in its representation of the royal family is quite breathtaking and thought-provoking. Like, for example, why did Goya decide to shroud some of his subjects in shadows, including himself? Haha, look at me sounding like an art scholar! The thing is I've been reading much about Goya and romantic art since the exhibition.

After the museum, Courtney and I walked around a bit more before deciding to stop for dinner at a restaurant not far from the center. After dinner, we went to a bar called Populart, a place we had read about that offered live jazz shows. The place lives up to its name- it was very full considering it was a Wednesday. We couldn't find anywhere to sit, but the show was enjoyable. What wasn't enjoyable was the bill: we paid 7euros for a Tinto de Verano, a drink for which in Socuèllamos we pay 1,50 for comparable size and quality! Yeah, I limited myself to one. We decided to call it a night and headed to our host's flat.

Day 2

After breakfast on day 2, our first stop was the Plaza del Oriente, the park just east of the Palacio Real. After walking a bit through the streets and through the Plaza (beautiful, I can just imagine the royal family centuries ago taking strolls in the same places I walked), we decided to get in line for the Palacio. The Palacio Real used to be the official residence of the Spanish royal family and the royal court, but now it is used only for official ceremonies. The line didn't look as long as the Prado's, but it moved soooo much slower (and it was cold and rainy!!!). Maybe that's because people actually had to pay this time. We finally got in proceeded to follow the museum-like route of the Palacio. First stop was the Real Armerìa, the Royal Armory. This exhibit houses an interesting collection of old weapons (from ancient swords to modern-ish pistols and rifles) and sets of armor from all eras of Spanish history. There's even a section of child-sized sets of armor for the little prince's. Those were purely ceremonial, obviously, but kind of interesting. The next stop was a temporary art exhibit called "La Pintura de los Reinos," or "The Painting of the Kingdoms." I really enjoyed this exhibit (gosh, I realize I am becoming an art junkie), which was a demonstration of the way Spanish and Italian art in the 16th and 17th centuries influenced art in New Spain and vice-versa. So you can picture what the exhibit was like, one prominent section showed three different paintings of Jesus' Crucifixion. One was done in Spain, one was done in Mexico, and one one was done in Peru, all within one hundred years of each other. I don't understand much about painting, but the displays explained the similarities in the pieces despite the different styles and miles that separated them. The next stop were the Official Palace Rooms, which is a pre-set tour of several (though not all, as that would probably take too many hours) of the Palacio's chambers. The chambers are very pretty and elaborately decorated, but honestly, once you've seen one you've seen all of them. Anyway, the tour was mercifully short. The last stop in the Palacio was the Real Farmacia, the Royal Apothecary. This... basically... consisted... of... several... hallways... with...jars.... and... vases... labeled... with... different...herbs...and...potions. Yeah, seriously! I had to write it like that so you could get a full sense of the experience. Finally we left the Palacio, which overall was a good site. And in any case I consider it such a privilege to be able to witness all of these testaments to history that I enjoy even the most miniscule and insignificant things.

Next we walked up Calle Mayor towards the center. By this time it was about 5:30pm so we stopped by one of its restaurants for a late lunch. The essence of this meal is that I ate WAYYY too much bread. And some food and triple chocolate cake with it, I believe. We continued walking up the street and stopped by Plaza Mayor, one of Madrid's important plaza's for some window shopping. The Plaza is surrounded by quaint shops and restaurants, and because of the holidays there were cute shopping stands in the middle. Being the pragmatist that I am, I didn't buy any of the cute stuff. We then went back to Puerta del Sol's shopping district and did some actual shopping. The whole time I'd been looking for a messenger bag as a Christmas gift for myself, and I finally found a really great one at H&M. I bought it! And I use it all the time now! We ended the night by going to Cafè y Tè, a Spanish coffee-shop chain, and having some heartwarming coffee and napolitanos (Spanish pastries filled with chocolate or custard). We chilled there for a good couple of hours, marking a good end to the night.

Day 3

Our last day! Our first stop was the Parque del Retiro, known as the "Central Park of Madrid." Honestly, that's an exaggeration. The park is beautiful, but it's actually pretty small. We entered the park through the Puerta del Angel Caìdo, a reference to Lucifer, the Fallen Angel. After a short walk, the path from this door led us to the Monumento del Angel Caìdo, one of the few homages in the world to Lucifer. Being the sinner that I am: GLORIOUS. We continued walking through the park, this time off the paths. We came across the park's two "palaces," the Palacio de Cristal, whose purpose I haven't quite figured out, and the Palacio de Velàzquez, used as an art gallery. Both were closed because it was New Year's Eve. We continued walking until we reached one of the prettiest parts of the park and one of my favorite monuments in Madrid. In the middle of the park is a large pond (when it's not rainy, you can ride onto the pond on little rowboats). Overlooking the pond is the Monumento a Su Majestad el Rey Alfonso XII. I have plenty of pictures on my Facebook album, but if you like immediate gratification (who doesn't), here you go. I don't know why I like this monument so much. It just speaks to me as a historian. Alfonso XII (1857-1885), the great-grandfather of the current king, was one of the most popular and beloved king's in Spanish history. So beloved, in fact, that he was able to attain and consolidate power even though his family had been exiled by the First Spanish Republic, created by the Revolution of 1868. Anyway, enough of the history lesson. I get carried away =P

After finishing the park, we yet again walked to Puerta del Sol's shopping district and did some more shopping. Don't judge. What is vacation for? I didn't buy anything more. We did some more walking on the main avenues and went back to Plaza Mayor for some more shopping. As lunchtime approached, we decided to just head back to the train station and have a long, relaxed lunch in one of it's restaurants. As our train left at 4:53, we thought this best so that we wouldn't have to rush to the station after eating. Besides, we'd seen enough.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderfully Happy New Year!