Hi everyone! I just got back from a three-day stay in Spain’s capital, the beautiful Madrid. Most of my classmates and I set out Thursday night and, after a quick three hours on the fastest train (300 kilometers per hour!) on which I’ve ever set foot, we found ourselves in the heart of the capital.
One of the biggest differences I noticed between the two largest cities in Spain is language-related. In Barcelona—the capital of Catalonia—the Catalan language is everywhere: subway signs, menus at restaurants, plaques next to pieces of art at museums. In fact, most words you see in Barcelona are written exactly three times: once in Spanish, once in Catalan, and once in English. With five weeks under my belt in Barcelona, the virtually exclusive presence of the Spanish language in Madrid provided a welcome and interesting change of pace. I have to admit, it’s nice to be able to read everything (I still only know about three Catalan words), but I still find the multilingual nature Barcelona fascinating—everyone I’ve met here speaks at least two languages!
Luckily for travelers like myself, the metro system in Madrid is similar to that in Barcelona and pretty easy to navigate. Interestingly, the city itself is a lot less systematically organized than Barcelona, especially when compared to the Ensanche (the area that surrounds Barcelona’s Old City and is heavily gridded and symmetrical). Without the subway system, I surely would have been very lost among the gorgeous winding city streets this past weekend.
In the center of Madrid lies the Puerta del Sol, a large open plaza that serves as a gathering place both day and night and is Madrid’s equivalent to the Plaza de Cataluña in Barcelona or Times Square in NYC. In addition to touring the surrrounding areas of the plaza and browsing through an outdoor book market, I was able to make my way to two of Madrid’s fabulous museums, el Prado and la Reina Sofia, before tapas at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that served the best seafood I’ve had so far in Spain. Because Madrid is further south than Barcelona and is hours from the nearest body of water (not counting the Manzanares River), the city was exceptionally hot, especially during the middle of the day.
One of the best parts of my weekend had to do with a Sunday tradition in Madrid: a trip to “el Rastro,” a massive outdoor market in the center of the city that sells anything you can think of—from antique spoons to shoes and clothes to wallets made of old cassettes and records. The expansive arrangement of stores and booths took over the streets for at least five blocks each way (it’s hard to tell for sure since I didn’t make it anywhere near the edges) and two main plazas pretty close to Puerta del Sol. I used my bargaining skills (though I admit they’re pretty limited: “¿Este precio? Es demasiado…”) to pick up a hand-painted fan and an intricately-carved leather bag from the depths of the market for pretty cheap. And a day of wandering the city’s streets was a perfect way to end a fabulous weekend.
Although I loved Madrid, it’s definitely good to be back in Barcelona and I’m looking forward to another week in the city…after I finish my two response papers due tomorrow, of course. Hasta luego!
