Does the world need another blogger?: First two days in Madrid

Why do I feel that I have to provide a justification for writing a travel blog? Well, maybe because I’m planning to write about Spain and it is not exactly an exotic destination. I also am planning to write about hotels, food and famous sights which are not exactly unusual topics for travel writing. So what is the point?

The answer may be in another few questions: how many poems have been written about love? How many paintings of the Rouen Cathedral did Claude Monet paint? Every author reflects on familiar topics through their own eyes, experience and mood at the moment. So here it is my unique late summer 2013 trip to Spain…

The first day in Madrid we found ourselves

in a strange little hotel in the Latina neighborhood
with very few hotels but with a lot of fruit shops
and cheap local bars. The hotel is a creative
remodeling job of a medieval building with the
original staircase and a room with a weird
configuration and even stranger plumbing.

Asymmetrical toilet anyone?

Or a separate wood paneled shower with a view on the rooftops and a little rainbow from the morning sunlight.

Our first dining experience in the local bar without basic knowledge of Spanish turns out to be two humongous plates of meat (smoked ham, pork loin with thick layer of sause) and a cheap bottle of very good wine. There were two distinct groups of local customers there. Older folks, mostly heavy set males were eating big plates of deep fried food and drinking a lot of beer in a small dining room, while younger crowd was hanging around the huge oval bar nursing singular glass of beer and consuming free olives which were served with it. The dirty napkins and olive pits disposed right on the floor. Definitely a local flavor…

We woke up to the beautiful sunny day and following advice of a very lovely hotel receptionist, we went to the local flea market. The market is very popular with both locals and tourists. Locals are buying very cheap clothes and home goods, while tourists marvel the huge selection of flamenco accessories and other traditional specialties.

Add to this street musicians, other performance artists and you have a perfect Sunday morning in Madrid!

Next is the walk around the city known between Patrick and myself as a death march. This means walking until you drop.

The city is grand and beautiful!

Retiro park is a former property of the Spanish royal family and the main green space in Madrid.

It has a strange trees with round bark.

Inside the park is lovely Museo National Centro de Arte (part of Reina Sofia).

It has a fascinating exhibit of Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles. Here is an Indian teepee made of banknotes from all American countries erected over pile of bones and surrounded by candles.

Looks like a commentary on colonialism?

And here are thousand of books with photographs of sea water in a constructed representation of the ocean.

The Crystal Palace is a marvelous glass building decorated with mosaic and tiles

From the green heart of the city to the traditional center – Plaza Mayor gathering place which every old respectful European city must have. Surrounded by grand buildings, with a king on the horse in the middle, what can be more traditional and lovely than this?