Trip Report: Madrid

Clareboy

I have visited the Spanish capital 4 times over the past 2 years and it has become my favourite city.

For someone like myself, coming from a small quiet community in the west of Ireland, it is a bit of a shock to the senses to arrive in the centre of a city of 4 million people. As well as the fine architecture and the bright lights, Madrid is very much a city of music with all kinds of musical groups entertaining the passing throngs on every street.

The best way to explore the sights of Madrid is to travel on the open top double decker bus called Madrid Vision, which operates a hop on hop off service from 10 AM until 9 PM. They operate 2 routes, Historical Madrid and Modern Madrid and a ticket costs €17. Madrid is a very busy city as one would expect in a place with a population of over 4 million and the capital of a country of 40 million. Travelling on the upper deck of the bus gives one fabulous views of the city’s architecture and great photo opportunities.




Templo de Debod – The first place that I alighted from the bus was at the Templo de Debod, a genuine Egyptian Temple dating from 4000 BC that was brought from Egypt and rebuilt in Madrid. It was a gift from the people of Egypt to the people of Spain. It is situated at the highest point in the city and the views from there are truly magnificent. If one wishes to escape from the noise and the crowds of the city, a place of great peace and beauty is the vast Rosaleda de Madrid – the Madrid Rose Gardens. There are hundreds of rose beds interspersed with lovely fountains and a most wonderful scent of roses fills the air.

Puerta del Sol – This square marks the epicentre of the city and indeed of Spain. On the pavement, a stone slab shows Kilometre Zero. It is from this point that all distances are measured and here that 6 of Spain’s national highways officially begin. In the square is a statue of a bear pawing a strawberry tree, which is the city’s emblem. Puerta del Sol is a popular meeting place and is a place for demonstrations and celebrations. In the evenings, all kinds of mime artists, musicians and street entertainers can be seen here.

Royal Palace – The magnificent palace of the Spanish monarchs is a colossal building that dominates the western side of the old city. The Spanish Royal family do not live there, instead choosing to live in a more modest palace. The palace is surrounded by beautiful gardens, fountains and statuary. I had visited the Royal Palace on a previous visit to Madrid in 2007. On this particular day, there were hundreds of visitors queuing up to visit the palace. Nearby is the Royal Theatre which hosted the Eurovision Song contest in 1969.

Madrid Cathedral – Facing the Royal Palace is Madrid Cathedral, which is a modern building, completed in 1993. It was officially opened in that year by Pope John Paul II. The cathedral is in the Neoclassical style and there is no admission charge and one can take photographs inside. It is a very impressive church and contains many outstanding examples of religious art.

Parque del Retiro – The Retiro Park, which covers 330 acres, is considered to be one of the finest city parks in the world. The centrepiece of the Retiro Park is a boating lake, which is dominated by a gigantic monument to Alfonso XII. On the day that I visited, the place was thronged with people enjoying the facilities and being entertained by numerous entertainers including a Mexican band.

Gran Via – This street is Madrid’s great thoroughfare and is permanently jammed with traffic and crowded with shoppers. It is the business and commercial heart of the city. The Gran Via is considered to be a showcase of early 20th century architecture and the street is lined with vast palace like banks, office buildings, hotels and stores.

Modern Madrid – This part of tour covers an area of wide tree lined boulevards, tall office blocks and spectacular fountains. One of the places passed is Bernabéu Stadium, the home of Real Madrid, the famous football team. It was a beautiful sunny day in Madrid with the temperature reaching 31 Celsius.

After all that sightseeing, I was feeling pretty hungry, so I was on the lookout for some where to eat that served good food and that was reasonable in price. I found this place off the Puerta del Sol, which offers an as much as you can eat buffet for €9.95. It is a nice clean and quite place and offers outstanding value for money.

Madrid by Night – Madrid is an extraordinarily lively and vibrant city and a stroll around the downtown area in the evening will give the visitor the opportunity to see some incredible mime artists, musicians and street entertainers. The Puerta del Sol and the Plaza Mayor are the best places to see these amazing performers.
There was this guy – a crazy waiter - who was leaning backwards with only the heel of one of his shoes in contact with a small wooden platform. This gravity defying guy was holding a tray and a large jug of water – truly incredible.
Plaza Mayor - a beautiful medieval square that is the throbbing heart of Madrid. The square consists of a continuous sweep of arcaded buildings and hundreds of balconies. All around the square are numerous restaurants and cafes with the diners being serenaded by wandering musicians.
There was a man playing music with a tray of drinking glasses filled with different amounts of water – truly remarkable. There were 3 talking heads left up on a table with no visible bodies attached to them! And then the lady dressed up in the costume of a Flamenco dancer, but she had no head! This beautiful girl with long waist length hair used to arrive in the Plaza Mayor every evening with a wooden dancing board and proceeded to entertain the passing throngs with a display of Flamenco dancing – she was the best! And then there were stilt walkers, buskers, witches, Vikings, cowboys, bull fighters and every kind of human and animal form.
In the middle of all this, a gang of women dressed up as cowgirls and Indians, and blowing whistles, obviously some kind of hen party – hens on tour!
A little old lady plays a traditional wind up street organ, the first time that I had seen a real organ grinder. In the Puerta del Sol, Christ himself could be seen dressed in long flowing white robes and holding a wooden staff, incredibly suspended in mid air without any visible means of support!
All this fun and spectacle can be experienced any evening in downtown Madrid with having to pay into any theatre or place of entertainment. The municipal police keep a close on the proceedings which gives visitors a sense of security. There is a mobile police station almost permanently parked at the Puerta del Sol. Mounted police on horseback provide an impressive and reassuring presence.
In order to get the flavour of Madrid by night, one needs to go to the famous Puerta Del Sol (Gate of the Sun), the exciting heart of downtown Madrid. It is here that one can listen to all kinds of music such as jazz, Mexican and classical. There are also all kinds of tricksters, mime artists and street entertainers to amuse and amaze the passing crowds.
There was this guy sitting the middle of the square with no head! His head was resting on his knee! There was another guy with a hat perched on top of an invisible head. There were three heads left on top of a table and they were actually talking to each other. There was a bull fighter in his full suit of lights fighting off a figure of a bull.
The most spectacular act was a lady painted as an angel who was blowing star dust to the crowd. She seemed to be suspended in mid air as she held on to a tree – a truly remarkable sight.
There are also some very sad and disturbing sights around the Puerta Del Sol. There is this guy with no hands with a begging bowl clinched between his teeth. There is another beggar with no legs outside Kentucky Fried Chicken. Another unfortunate sits in the middle of the street with a stump of a hand outstretched. I had remembered seeing those unfortunates when I was in Madrid in 2007.
The Puerta del Sol is also a popular place for all kinds of protests and demonstrations. The evening that I was there, a group of people were preparing to spend the night sleeping out in the open as part of some kind of protest about social services. The area is always ringed by police and one feels safe due to their presence.
One could say about the Puerta Del Sol that “all human life is there” and one can be both entertained and disturbed by what one sees. As well as all of the above, there are children and adults blowing bubbles, guys preaching region and stallholders selling roasted chestnuts. Puerta Del Sol is the very pulsating heart of one of the most vibrant and dynamic cities in the world.

Plaza Santa Ana. We were entertained to a spectacular display of fire juggling and fire eating by two street entertainers before retiring to a tavern for drinks. It was Friday night in Madrid, so the streets and bars were very crowded. I have noticed that in Madrid, that even though the streets are packed with revellers at night time, there is none of the aggressive and loutish behaviour that characterises the weekend scene in Irish towns and cities



The Metro is the fastest and easiest way to travel around Madrid. The basic single journey ticket is only €1. The Madrid Metro is one of the longest urban underground railway systems in the world with about 300 kilometres of track and 294 stations. It carries about two and a half million passengers per day and it employs 7,000 people. The first line was built in 1919 and it is continuously being extended.

Paseo de Castellana is Madrid’s embassy district and I wanted in particular to visit the Irish Embassy and see how our tax money is being spent! The Irish Embassy is housed in a tall modern copper coloured building. The building also houses a number of Irish government agencies including a Tourism Ireland office. There is a very friendly Irish lady working there and she gave me a bag full of tourist literature on Ireland, which I distributed to my Spanish friends. She well represented the happy smiling face of Tourism Ireland in Spain!



Madrid is the extraordinary capital city of an extraordinary country. Aer Lingus, Ryanair and Iberia fly daily from Dublin to Madrid. Accommodation is very reasonable with a single rooms in the down town area from as little as €25 per night.