I can safely say the I have never felt a dire want or need to visit Madrid, but having recently gotten married I got permission from the wife to take a solo trip. Cheap flights an a reasonable hostel meant Madrid would be my next stop. I decided not to plan any of the journey, save a cheeky visit to the Wanda Metropolitano to see Atheltico Madrid play Levante. My trip took place in January 2019 and I enjoyed 8-10 degree heat in the Spanish capital. Upon arrival in Madrid I took a short bus journey to my hostel and was positively lost soon after jumping off. Wandering aimlessly I happened upon my hostel luckily and settled in for the evening. Lodged in a room with 6 other beds I was slightly disappointed to find myself alone in the room for the first evening, as making new friends on my travels was always fun.
The next morning I set out on the metro to the stadium and watched the game. At the time the Wanda Metropolitano was enjoying its first season as the home of Athletico Madrid and what a stadium it is! Later that year it would host the Champions League final between Liverpool and Tottenham, it was easy to see why such a stadium was selected for such and occasion. Athletico ran out 1-0 winners, which was good as I found myself in the home supporters section. Having enjoyed the game I decided to walk the 11km back into the city and take in some of the sites, however my phone maps were giving me hassle and once again it was not long till I found myself lost in San Blas! Knowing that the city centre was due east I kept heading in the general direction before I started to recognise landmarks and my surroundings. It was at this point I stumbled across filming for an advert involving a Formula 1 car and a lot of Heineken banners. To this day I am unsure whether I featured in a Spanish Heineken advert or a Formula 1 one, but as I had no camera, sadly my 15 minutes of fame remain undocumented! Eventually returning to the hostel I made my way down to the social area and settled in with my book. It wasn’t long before I struck up conversation with fellow hostel stayers and enjoyed their company and travel stories, also sharing ideas of where to go the next day. Upon returning to my room I also found fellow lodgers, Ching and Pei-yu, two Taiwanese girls around my age who were studying in Sweden.
The next day I planned to explore as much of Madrid as I could. During breakfast Ching and Pei-yu asked if they could accompany me in my wandering around the city and I promptly accepted their offer. We set off for our first destination, the Tempolo De Debod. Debod is an Egyptian temple which was dismantled, sent to Spain and rebuilt as a thank you from the Egyptians for Spanish help in conservation of their archaeological sites. Though the temple itself was small it was fascinating to see it in such an alien environment as the Spanish capital. Sadly the temple itself was shut to visitors for no apparent reason, but a few pictures later and undeterred we continued to The Palacio Real. A true statement of Spanish history the palace, was once home to Spain’s kings and queens and certainly worth a visit. Next door to the palace was the cathedral of Santa Maria de la Almodena which was happily free to enter. Begun by Alfonso X who lay the cornerstone himself in 1883, the cathedral was finally finished 110 years later in 1993 and consecrated by Pope John Paul II. I found it a typical example of a Catholic cathedral though noted that the upper stained glass windows provided a multitude of colours beaming into the cathedral nave, due to their modern design.
Leaving the cathedral we headed up to the San Miguel Market where we were confronted with foods from around the globe which proved to be a nice change of pace from temples and cathedrals. Having taken in our fill we moved on to Plaza Mayor, the plaza itself was nothing too special though the buildings on the north side were very beautifully designed. A short walk from the plaza and travellers will find themselves in the centre of Spain itself at Sol. A food stop was on the agenda now as my compatriots were feeling hungry and we stopped at an Armenian restaurant. With a nice plateful of paella each we were quite satisfied and I explained the afternoon’s walking I had planned. I thought at this point my companions might throw in the towel as we had already covered a great distance, but they were indeed up for my my plans so we set off on a slight detour as they professed a want to see some street art they had been told about. Naturally I obliged and we headed to Miguel Servet. Some of the artwork appealed to me and I managed to get some pictures in before we moved on toward the Jardin Botanica.
Prior to arriving at the Jardin Botanica I was confronted with what is possibly my favourite road in the world, Claudio Moyano. The road itself runs up a hill from the Plaza Emporador Carlos V to The Parque del Retiro. It is lined up one side with small huts and tables outside all selling books in all different languages from Spanish to Hebrew, French to Mandarin. I can admit I don’t think I have ever walked so slowly up such a short hill in my life. A few book purchases later we entered The Parque del Retiro and settled down with a jug of sangria, it was here that conversation with my new friends flowed and Pei-yu helped me greatly with my camera skills. I was delighted to learn of a flea market in El Hastro selling all sorts from antiques to cameras and retro clothes, only to be saddened that it was only open on a Sunday! We continued to talk and wander around the park killing time until 6pm as the Museo del Prado would be free to enter for the final two hours of the day. Whilst wandering around we came up to the Monumento A Alfonso XII, an impressive structure with Alfonso atop his horse and a suitable place for a rest. Looping around to The Plaza de la Independencia, which had in the centre a typical European victory arch that all capitals require, we were able to join the very long queue outside the Museo del Prado.
Though the queue was very large it wasn’t long until we found ourselves in the museum. At this point we split up as a group, due to our difference in artistic taste and I headed straight to the top floor to see a Rembrandt painting, Judith at the Banquet of Holofernes. Being a big fan of Rembrandt paintings I was excited to see another, though I must admit I found myself somewhat underwhelmed at Judith herself, though other elements were beautiful. Moving on I took in works by Goya, Greco, Tiziano, Caravaggio, Rubens, Mengs and finally Raphael. Most impressive to me was Raphael’s The Cardinal and I was happy to see even artistic masters make mistakes as it was clear to see that Raphael had changed the positioning of the left eye leaving a grey area instead of milky white like the other areas. Having looked around for the allotted time we took our leave back to the hostel and arrived exactly 11 hours after we had left. We settled down for the night and as a three, planned to visit Segovia the next day. (Click the link to see that story, Segovia.)
As Segovia was such a special place I have to written about it in a separate story (Segovia) so the day after our visit I took to the streets of Madrid again to see some of the sites we had missed out. This was in fact my last day in Madrid so having checked out of the hostel I ventured off alone into the city with a vague plan in my head. I soon found myself at The Museo Ethnological, a small but fascinating collection of ethnographic artefacts from all around the world and once the personal collection of Dr Pedro González de Velasco. Ethnographic items from the Philippines, Africa and both North and South America featured greatly. Added to that there was a temporary exhibition featuring Nepal, Tibet and other local countries. This coupled with an oriental religion section was a fascinating little museum and I left pleased with myself for going. I pottered around the rest of the city to fill the time and took in the familiar sights from the days before. Soon it was time for me to head to the airport and back to the UK.
I can safely say the I have never felt a dire want or need to visit Madrid, however, since having visited, I would rather like to go back!
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