Meandering through Madrid

This weekend, we went to Madrid with our study abroad program. The program handled our transportation and accommodations so before we knew it, we were being whisked away to Spain’s capital city on a high-speed train. Our first day in Madrid was a weird one. When we first arrived, we dropped out bags in the hotel that, while conveniently located, was not situated in the prettiest part of Madrid. Annie and I went off to lunch at a restaurant that we just came across which was quite delicious and then went back to the hotel to check into our rooms. By the time we left at 3 for the tour of the city our program had arranged, we really hadn’t seen much of Madrid besides the restaurant we had found for lunch and the grungy street we were living on, with the Dominos Pizza and the strip club across the street

Then we embarked on the worst city tour I have ever been on. The tour began on a bus which drove us to all four corners of the city but not to any particularly interesting sites and in a disorienting way that made the city’s layout hard to follow. The entire 2 hours that we were on the bus, we had to listen to the awful tour guide, who had discovered the most boring facts about the city and then proceeded to recite them to us. This lecture was only interrupted by a 25-minute diatribe about why she supports bullfighting and a description of the fight. I don’t think entertainment should ever consist of watching something be killed, so bullfighting really doesn’t do it for me. But this woman felt the need to subject us to her political agenda, and there was no escape on the bus from her shrill voice over the loudspeaker.

We were finally freed from the bus and we were supposed to head out for a walking tour at this point, but Annie and I quickly decided that we could do better. At this point in the day, I wasn’t a huge fan of Madrid. From what I had seen, it seemed dirtier than Barcelona and inferior in most ways to the city I’ve learned to call home. My opinion of Madrid quickly changed as we began our own adventure.

We started at the Mercado San Miguel for a snack, since we were starving. The Mercado is a beautiful modern building with sliding glass doors and a mixture of prepared food and fresh products. We began with some croquettes and then moved on to some pasta. We were starting to feel less famished but decided to top off our snack with some “fresas con nata” or strawberries covered in homemade whipped cream. This was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. I’ve been wanting for strawberries for months now, so this was the perfect treat.

Then we trekked across the city to the Prado, one of Europe’s foremost art museums. Because it was after 6 o’clock, we got in for free. Literally, when we walked up to the ticket office the woman was just handing tickets out. Annie is writing a paper on one of Goya’s most famous paintings, “The Third of May 1808”, so we began our visit by searching for that painting. It was in the first Goya room that we looked in and we were slightly giddy at this point in the night, but it was one of the most exciting experiences I’ve ever had of coming across a painting in a museum. Then we wandered through some more of the rooms dedicated to Goya, spending a while in the room with his disturbing “black paintings.” One of the best things about the Prado is that the texts that accompany the paintings have more information than just the name of the painting, who painted it, and when.   They actually explain what the painting is about and why it is significant.

After Goya, we moved on to Velaquez to see his masterpiece “Las Meninas.” Even though the museum was not empty, it was not too crowded either. It was so easy to get in and the feeling of being in a museum at night is different so we were exhilarated by the experience. I felt like that John Mayor song when he sings “I wanna run through the halls of my high school/ I wanna scream at the top of my lungs.” This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Then we went off to do the typical Spanish dinner – tapas crawling. We began at one restaurant for drinks and tapas and then wound our way through the streets, taking in Madrid and eating our way through the city. We also passed Botín, which is the oldest restaurant in the world. We ended up back in our room, happy and full. OH and also, I bought a coffee mug in the shape of a cow’s head, so I was pretty pleased with our evening.

Saturday morning, we filled up on the free breakfast at the hotel before heading out to one of the most beautiful parks I’ve ever been in: El Retiro. The park used to be part of the gardens of one of the Kings or Queens of Spain and its held on to its royal heritage. We wandered our way through the beautiful trees covered in fall colored leaves on our way to the lake, where we rented a small boat. Shoutout to Annie for rowing us around the whole time. It was a beautiful day to be out on the water; the sun was shining and the temperature was surprisingly warm. This was definitely another highlight of the trip.

After our boating adventure, we went to the Glass Palace, which is an exhibition center in another part of El Retiro. This space is owned by the Reina Sofia museum and was home to a really odd piece of art, but the coolest thing about this space is that its walls and ceiling are made entirely of glass, so you can look out at the beautiful trees and watch the leaves fall.

We headed back to the hotel to join our group for a tour of Madrid’s second most famous art museum: The Reina Sofia. The Reina Sofia is home to Madrid’s collection of contemporary art and its crown jewel is Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica.” Our guide was very knowledgeable and her tour definitely made the pieces that she pointed out to us more accessible. Also, she liked me because she kept referring to Moulin Rouge (one of my favorite movies) and I could answer all the questions she asked about it. The Reina Sofia is extremely large, as is the Prada, and part of it is housed in an old hospital, while the other part is kept in a 21^st century building right next door.

Following our afternoon of artwork, we headed to the Circulo de Belles Artes for their rooftop terrace which has almost panoramic views of the city. These views were quite beautiful, but we were also exhausted and starving from our long day of exploring, so Annie and I headed back for a snack and a flop. We split a delicious calzone at a little Italian restaurant we found on the way home and then went off to nap.

When we woke up, we decided to go off and find dinner. It was on Saturday evening that the population difference between Madrid and Barcelona was really palpable. Madrid has a little over 3 million more citizens than Barcelona and they were all out for dinner on Saturday night. We wound our way through enormous crowds before finding a bar that had quite a few diners at it but wasn’t insane.

After dinner, we struck out to take on the Madrid nightlife scene. We went to one of Madrid’s most famous clubs, Kapital, which has 7 different floors, each with a different vibe and DJ. It was expensive (€20 to enter) but definitely worth the experience. We decided that the second floor was our favorite as that was where they were playing many different throwbacks, everything from “I Want You Back” to “Hot In Here.”  Also, a direct quote from the evening: “This song is from Jason Derulo right?  And he’s American and you two are American so you should show us how to wiggle.” “Umm we’re probably not going to do that.” “I can show you how to wiggle.” *shakes his butt around*

Sunday morning, we perused the famous El Rastro market. This market is similar to Portobello Market in London; it stretches out over what seemed like a mile of city blocks and they sell everything from second hand fleeces to Madrid magnets. I didn’t buy anything, but it was definitely worth checking out. After that, we headed to the botanical gardens that are neighbor to the Prado. These are a beautiful refuge from the city life and it seemed that several friendly cats agreed.

After the gardens, we were exhausted. We decided to stop into Starbucks, ordered Christmas drinks, and crashed on the couch to check out our photos and rest our feet. It was the perfect end to our trip. And now, I’m on the super fast train back to Barcelona for our second to last week of classes at UPF.