Madrid in a Fragile Nutshell

As sat down to start this blog post relating what exactly I did in Madrid, I quickly found out I was apparently too distracted to take nearly as many pictures during this part of the trip. So bear with me if this post lacks a bit in the substence department, both in writing & photos. I'm already planning two seperate posts with my top hilights at the Prado & the Reina Sofia, respectively, though!. Obviously I would spend ~4 hours at the Prado & of course not get to see nearly as much as I wanted. Luckily, my mom is just as big on (the history of) art as I am & will probably be up for a full day there when we meet in Madrid. Since I broke my promise to not go without her (because there's no way an art aficionado can tackle it all in just one day!) I told her she could do the same.

Madrid has almost 3.5 million people- only London & Berlin are larger European cities. Needless to say, there are a lot of people.



This is a photo of a street right by our hotel. The blur in the distance is the crowd of people- it was exactly like being in Times Square in the sense that I felt if I simply stopped walking, I would continue to be pushed along by the crowd. To the left is the Corte Inglés , one of the largest department store chains in Europe. It's essentially one big Macy's + Borders + Stop & Shop + Dick's Sporting Goods put together. The glowing green cross to the right is the universal symbol which indicates a pharmacy. (though in Spain, the selection at a pharmacy is almost entirely medicine, unlike CVS or Walgreens in the U.S.)



We walked through El Madrid de los Austrias, or the old district. It translates to "The Hapsburg Madrid", to signify the dynasty of the Golden Age when it was built- the city, as well as all of Spain, experienced an abundance of economic & cultural growth during this time period. Including through colonization. We meandered a bit in La Plaza de la Villa. While rather small, it's unique in the sense of including three buildings in seperate/distinct styles. (Gothic, Renaissance & Baroque)







Of course, we also checked out the Plaza Mayor. It was designed by Juan de Herrera, the same archeitect who designed El Escorial. I have to say it didn't beat Salamanca's in my opinion, though.



All roads- in Spain, anyway- lead to the Plaza de la Puerta del Sol. Literally. It's also one of the busiest places in the city.



The clock of the old Post Office in the Plaza de la Puerta del Sol. During New Year's Eve, there's a celebration in the plaza (like the one in Times Square in NYC, it's apparently broadcast on TV so I'm guessing it's just as huge & well known in Spain) with the minutes to midnight counted on this exact clock. It's believed that the Spanish tradition of eating twelve grapes at the stroke of midnight- one for each sound of the bell- in order to bring good fortune in the new year started at this celebration. Today, the building actually serves as the office of President of the Comunidad Autónoma of Madrid.



Of course, Madrid takes pride in the fact that Miguel de Cervantes, who wrote Don Quixote during the Spanish Golden Age, lived & wrote in Madrid. I suppose I don't blame them considering it's argued to be the first modern novel and all. Today, there's a (very large) statue of the title character along with his squire, Sancho Panza, in the Plaza de España. Oh & I guess I'm somewhere in this picture, too....



Unsurprisingly, Madrid seems to have a souvenir shop wherever you turn your head. Selling souvenirs like these.



Except I didn't want to spend a lot of money right after arriving in Spain. Especially on souvenirs when I have a grand total of four months to come across the perfect ones for my family & friends. So I + others decided to go to this small, yet extremely delicious & extremely crowded pastry shop, instead. We liked it so much, we went the next day, too!



We had the fortune of visiting the Palacio Real, which used to host the royal family. Today it's only used occasionally for royal ceremonies, the royal family (yes, Spain has retained one, but they have little to no political authority) resides in the smaller Palacio de la Zarzuela, & the Palacio Real is a palace-museum of sorts. Unfortunately, I was extremely exhaused from a late night & couldn't really appreciate it. So that's another site I might try to drag my mom & aunt to. Yet another site where pictures inside were not allowed, but a simple google image search reveals how lavish each of its 50 rooms open to the public are for sure.



Again, I should be posting two seperate posts with my hilights at both the Prado & Reina Sofia really soon!