Hola Madrid
I wrote this from a lovely Airbnb room in Madrid. It was incredibly hot, as the news warned me it would be. I could hear the occasional shouts and laughter of Spaniards as they make their way back to work from a siesta (now I understand why they need to sleep in the middle of the day: the heat makes you tired!).
This was the second time I’ve been in Madrid, and I got to see it better, though now that the trip has ended, there are some things I wished I’d realized earlier about being in a different city.
The most important is that you don’t have to see everything. Enjoy what you have time to see and be in the moment. If you run to get to the next museum, next monument or next restaurant, you’ll just be too tired to really enjoy it when you really get there. My mind gets tired from all the map reading, stress of getting lost in a big city or of taking the wrong metro line. My body gets tired from all the walking at almost 40 degrees in the middle of the summer. The air is dry and your water will soon get too hot to refresh you.
If I didn’t get to see something, that is fine. There will be more trips, and if I never come back to this city, at least I enjoyed very much what I got to see.
Madrid is full of magic. I saw things that surprised me, like kids out playing at almost 2 in the morning. We ordered a delicious Paella at midnight and more people were coming to eat when we asked for the check. Maybe Europeans will laugh at my surprise, but I had never been in a city in which the stores stayed open until very, very late and on weekdays!
Madrid is full of history. It’s been around for longer than countries like the United States. Spain, in general, has seen all sorts of cultures and peoples like the celts, phoenicians, jews, romans, barbarians, arabs, latinamericans, and all of these have formed what they are today. Madrid is a living example of this beautiful mixture where also the contrast of old and new is very tangible.
There is tons to do in Madrid. On our third night we went to a Flamenco show at Cardamomo. You get unlimited sangrias and an amazing show in which you see the beauty of the music and dance that form one of Spain’s cultural icons.
We visited three museums. Famous Museo del Prado, where Goya’s, El Greco’s and of course Velasquez’s greatest paintings live. Tip: if you’re a student under 25, don’t forget your student ID since students have free admission!
We also visited the Museo Naval, a small but interesting naval museum. Here we saw the temporary exhibit Hombres de la mar, barcos de leyenda, an exhibit of nearly 30 centuries of naval history and literature: from Jason and the Argonauts, to Captain Nemo and from the Bounty to the Titanic.
But our favorite museum was the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, the National Archaeological Museum. The history of Spain since the prehistory is displayed in a beautiful and entertaining timeline. You learn from all the different peoples that inhabited the peninsula, it’s different ages and it’s explorations and discoveries. Definitely worth checking out (and it is only €3).
We had no idea there is an Ancient Egypt temple in the middle of the city. The Temple of Debod was given as a gift by the Egyptian government in 1968 and it was rebuilt in the city.
Madrid is a very walkable city. The distances might seem large on the maps, but once you walk them you realize they’re not. Of course, keep hydrated and walk wherever there’s shade.
Transport is excellent in Madrid, nonetheless. The metro lines are efficient and take you anywhere you, as a visitor, might want to go and the trains and stations are very clean and modern. I consider them cleaner and nicer than the ones in New York.
As digital nomads, Michael and I need fast internet speed so that was something we inquired before booking places to stay. You might be surprised at how fast the internet can be in Spain. All major companies seem to offer fiber internet and many people get really fast internet in their houses.
One week in Madrid was not enough but it was certainly enjoyable. It is not only a capital of a country, but a capital of delicious food, very happy and loud (in the good way) people, and rich culture and history.
