Madrid and the Strawberry Tree

In many ways Madrid was the most cathartic experience I had on my journey. It was also the most spur of the moment destination as I had no intention of going there originally. But as it turned out the flight from Rome was a lot cheaper for Madrid, and at that point I was not so eager to go to Barcelona either.

To those of you that don’t know the story, I spent nine months living in Madrid with my ex. At the time it was the most terrible experience I’ve had, yet through the lens of time and distance I grew to appreciate and understand it’s effects on my life even to this date.

I ended up capturing the outer suburbs as we were descending, it was a spectacular view of the city. And upon landing I was hit with one of the most recognizable parts of my daily life, the Madrid Metro. To this date, and across all my travels across the world, nothing comes close to the cleanliness, safety, availability, coverage and punctuality of the Madrid Metro. Not even Japan, Germany or UK in my opinion.

I had two priorities that day: get fed, and get fed. And do that by going to my favorite spots when I was there. First was the Ham Museum (Museo del Jamon).

Next up was Casa Labra where you can get what I thought were best croquettas in Spain, but later discovered were second best. I didn’t think this was possible.

There I am happy with my croquetas. My AirBnB hosts recommended I check out this other place for croquettes, they said I would not be disappointed. Holy shit they were right.

Not only are they infused with Ham but they have ham on top of them. Let me tell you they taste 10x better than they even look.

I ordered another sample plate of some other ham as well and it didn’t disappoint.

With all the ham out of the way I needed something sweet before I could fully go into a coma, and that of course were the famous San Gines churros. Oh-em-ef-gee.

Hot chocolate and churros…

Having lived in the city I didn’t do much of the tourist stuff except go to a few of my favorite places.

I was able to capture some nice photos of the side streets.

The rain and gloomy weather really added to the atmosphere quite well.

This here is the royal palace in Madrid. It’s spectacular on the outside but even more so on the inside. If you’re ever in the area make sure to take the inside tour.

And of course Sol, the center of the city with its famous Bear and the Strawberry Tree sculpture.

It’s difficult to capture the size of Sol, but it is quite big and it’s the center of the city and serves as the main gathering point for subway lines as well as any large people gatherings (protests, celebrations).

The most emotional part of this 2-day excursion into Madrid was retracing my old footsteps to areas I had once lived in. Sometimes you have to go back to where you were to appreciate how far you’ve come along.

Two-minute walk from the Valdezarza Metro is my old apartment. I didn’t think much of it until I was in the station and saw my old building. The emotions inside me swelled up and for a moment I choked up.

In the ensuing years since I left, not much had changed, if anything at all. I didn’t know anyone in Madrid except one person: Maria.

Maria was our downstairs neighbor who would talk to me in Spanish for long periods with me simply saying “No comprendo Español”. That didn’t deter her. But in all of that we became friends with time. The first time we met her she called the police on us because we were too noisy. I went down to apologize and she offered to teach me how to make a Spanish Tortilla.

So here I was, alone, with 3 and a half months behind me of not seeing a familiar face. I wondered if she would even be alive still. She was very old when we left Spain.

I spent so much time thinking what I would say to her when I first saw her that it didn’t even occur to me to think about what I would do if she was not alive any longer. I let the thought sink in and prepared myself for the worst.