Madrid

So there I was as anxious as anything about leaving the farm and all the animals, to go on my first holiday in twelve years, to venture around Spain and then to visit our friends in the North Western Scottish Highlands. In Spanish this could be considered a hola-day! We bundled into the bakkie and headed for the airport, first landing in Heathrow where we had many hours to kill and I immersed myself in bookshops and all the perfume and cosmetics anyone could absorb without melting in the duty free store. We finally caught our plane to Madrid after I had done sketches of a very tired Asian girl who slept most beautifully and peacefully shifting her position like a Balthus painting in the functional Heathrow Terminal 5 metal chairs.

In Madrid we were met by a taxi transfer, a grand black Merc with a serious black suited driver who when I pointed out what an amazing airport Madrid had, said this was just Terminal 3 and that it had 'cost plenty money', which he indicated by rubbing his thumb and fore fingers together, his English being as non existent as my Spanish. I was bowled over by the design and all the incredible attention to modernist architecture and design and decided there and then the Spanish are the world's maestros when it comes to ultramodern, slick, functional beautiful design aesthetica Hola! Lifts.
, air vents, ceiling and roof structures, sanitary wear, taps, furniture...  

We settled into our small two star but comfortable hotel , Hotel Aguilar chosen because of its central locality in Carrera de San Jeronimo, most importante to ask for a quiet room off the street as Madrid throbs with music and a fiesta atmosphere into the early hours of the morning. We still had loud Espaniol TV from other rooms, but nothing a good sleeping pill could not took care of. The hotel was clean and comfortable and what we loved most were the unbelievably worn stairs as histories of feet must have travelled up them and worn down the wooden treads ...and the cracking mosaic floor.

And this is what was right outside the door,  within the first five minutes of stepping out of our hotel....a confectioners, a tourist shop, a bride on the pavement, a beautiful private garden all gated up, Hapsburg architecture, an old Baroque church, people walking, cars, Espania State and Banco  buildings ...people resting and a lovely chocolate shoppe called  the Violet shop which became our landmark to find our way home when we got lost, which was almost all the time.

 



 

(My feet were sore already !!)

Madrid had a poet mayor in the years after Franco and evidence and appreciation of the arts, with statues in honour of Spain's great cultural and historical 'men' abound, especially poets. I say 'men' but actually it is quite a surprisingly unchauvinist place, as seen from 'the outside' by an English speaking tourist who only managed to master a few key words, such as Hola, Buenos dias, tardes and noches, Hasta luega and Muchas gracias, and mixing up cuanto (how much?) with cuento (story). For a woman it felt safe on the streets and women were out and about on their own or in groups, all hours of the day and night, confident, beautiful, relaxed in all shapes and sizes and wearing many many different shoe shapes and styles some with astonishingly high heels, from the myriad of shoe shops ....but to get back to the poets...

 Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, (29 September 1547 – 22 April 1616) novelist, poet, and playwright.

Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca, 5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936)  Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director

 Pedro Calderón de la Barca(17 January 1600 – 25 May 1681),   dramatist, poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age

Nicolás Fernández de Moratín (1737–1780) was the father of one of the most important Spanish writers and dramatists of the neoclassical era,

Leandro Fernández de Moratín (March 10, 1760 – June 21, 1828) was a Spanish dramatist, translator and neoclassical poet

León Felipe Camino Galicia (11 April 1884 - 17 September 1968)  Spanish poet

The streets are filled with people from morning to morning (right through the night) and because the sun goes down so late people start their passea outside at seven pm and and invite friends to join them around twelve midnight  for drinks and dinner, eating tapas or paella. A myriad of lovely old streets wind up and down and around the old part of the city linking Plaza Puerto Sol, Plaza Santa Ana, and Plaza Mayor . Literally hundredsof people come out to passea , relaxed, friendly and enjoying life. There are buskers and artists in the Plazas especially Plaza del Sol where we saw 'people sculptures', the Spanish versions of Gilbert and George, which included a blooming flower angel, a silver cleaning woman caught in a moment of washing the floor, a man caught in a moment of a-stride, two miners, bronze reptile men and a mud person, resting in between taking off their masks which must have been pretty unbearable in the Madrid heat (which at night was till in the c30s). There are bars, restaurants lots of them, and hundreds of other social gathering places. During the day these are often closed up, with roll-down corrugation gates covered in graffiti and the shops that are between them are open in the day. Then at night at about eight pm, when the shops close  the bars, cafes, eateries and clubs open. Walking in the same street at different times of day is like being Alice in Madrid- Land and you simply don't recognise it. It is like a moving stage set with completely different scenes, now the lively shop windows you saw during the day are covered with corrugated roll-down graffiti covers and the bars and restaurants between are open.

Plaza Puerto del Sol - Gateway to the Sun
the busiest place in Madrid...by night.....beneath the statue of Charles III

Plaza Santa Ana

Street Culture

'Isn't Madrid the most stylish city.'....a friend stated ....and no more so than in its varied street culture..

 with the best looking police anywhere in the world...driving Picasso motor cars

a real sculpture though it took us time to realise it was not one dressed up as a bronze person

even the Pharmacies are magnificent to look at

Mercado de San Miguel

.... the unbelievable Mercado de San Miguel (San Miguel Market) which was bustling with sophistication and elegance at 11 o'clock at night...and scrummy food...which we mainly looked at!

 Books and Antiques

Madrid is a literary city with books for sale everywhere, some set on tables in the middle of delis, at the bus station, in large modern bookshops and in specialist  antiquarian bookstores...

 

.....And then I found the most beautiful shop I have ever had the pleasure of stepping into ...a treasure trove of art and artefacts....very catholic and sumptously exquisite...enjoy these pictures they sooooo  inspiring...!

There were others too....

Plaza Mayor

Plaza Mayor is the major square and meeting place in Madrid surrounded by the former Royal apartments of imposing and  elegant 17th century architecture designed with overlooking balconies for the Royals to stand and watch events below. Built by Felipe II who made Madrid the capital of Spain and designed by the architect Juan Gomez de Mora who was responsible for many civic and royal buildings. Felipe is commemorated by an equestrian statue in the square and de Mora in a bronze street inlay. Amongst the many coronations, fiestas and celebrations it has seen in its long history the square was also the scene of the Inquisition's purging of heretics and this is where many where burnt at the stake. It has now happily been returned to the people and is the setting for many restaurants and in summer is an open air theatre, and while we where there, an exhilarating live orchestral performance. The Plaza is reached by walking up stepped passageways along which more restaurants and shops have their premises. In the warm balmy Madrid air with the sky still an intense blue, the night was palpable with atmosphere as the sounds of the orchestra played out over the square to hundreds of people. Strolling, sitting or standing, we absorbed the sights and sounds of Sanish culture, as decorative lamps lit up all the buildings and cast shadows and light over centuries of history.

  

Plaza de Tirso Molina

There is a less glamourous, touristy side to Madrid at Plaza de Tirso Molina. We happened upon it as the flower sellers were closing up for the evening at about 7.00pm . Perhaps it was just the time of day or the visible lack of street planting and litter that made it less appealing. Ironically it is the square of  'flower and plant sellers' and the bright bouquets of flowers,succulents and pot plants on sale (for a price!) saves it from having a slight air of desperation. There is a kind of gypsy energy in the flower kiosks and the buildings surrounding the square are traditional and architecturally interesting in their details.

Some Shops

Bali meets Madrid

and others

Trees in the city

Madrid is a hot, huge city. Despite the soaring temperatures, the city has a cool shaded quality due to the prevalence of trees planted around it. Cooling fountains for rinsing off hot hands are regularly placed in open spaces and avenues of tall wide trees on streets or in public gardens, with benches  beneath are provided, where one can sit and enjoy the absorbing  sites of peole strolling by and children playing in the play parks. There is a lovely quality of rest and relaxation which the air contioning effect of trees and the cool colour of green generates. All South African cities could take a tip from Spain and plant more trees!! Spain is one of driest countries and yet they manage to create the impression of an oasis with fervant attention to planting greenery in the cities. Trees are pruned vertically in busy strees to accommodate busses and no matter how narrow the streets, there are trees planted everywhere. Trees used included Planes, Celtis, Syringa, Tipuana, Robinia, Prunus and Orange and shrubs such as Hybiscus syriacus are trained into large standards. All tree varieties are planted provided the species can endure the heat. That is, there was no fuss paid to whether the variety is indigenous to Spain,the focus is on the best tree for the job and not its nationality!  There are also fantastic multi-staked stainles-steel planters  with mass planted with pelargoniums and petunias.