Madrid is everything and everything is Madrid. Known for its hospitality, Madrid completely breaks with the cliché that a large city may be cold and soulless. On the contrary, Madrid is an amalgam of cultures, peoples, customs and races, forms of entertainment and philosophies of life. It is the city where everyone finds their place. If there is something I love about Madrid, it is that everyone is used to everyone coming from somewhere else.

Madrid is a mixture of traditionalisms. It is a place where the oldest customs are represented by “el Rastro”, a Sunday market evoking the noise of the crowd where everything new and anything used find their place, as well as the “Plaza Mayor”, the main square that served as market bullring in the 18th century, setting for parties and even as the local place for burning heretics. The surrounding streets form a jigsaw of narrow streets, alleyways and passages where you may feel as if you were going to come across a 18th century swordsman. This is the Madrid of the Austrians area, where you will certainly find the best drinks and tapas in Madrid. King Philip IV was tired of the drunkenness of his subjects and he therefore asked the tavern owners to cover (tapar in Spanish, hence the name) each glass of wine with a slice of bread accompanied by a sausage or cheese to mitigate the damaging effects of the alcohol.

This traditionalism gets mixed up with the most novel avant-garde. Madrid is home to ARCO, the annual fair of contemporary art; the Museum Reina Sofia, where Picasso’s Guernica is exposed, as well as its extension, carried out by the architect Jean Nouvel; the Kio Towers standing in the Paseo de la Castellana; the gay Chueca and the bohemian Malasaña neighbourhoods, where the most transgressive shops, restaurants, bars and hotels coexist.

Do not forget the essentials of Madrid. One of them is the Prado Museum, one of the world’s leading art galleries with paintings by some of the most universal artists, such as Goya, Velázquez, Bosch, Rubens, Tintoretto, Durero… Others are the Puerta de Alcala, a 18th century memorial; the Cibeles Fountain, which represents the Roman Goddess of the Earth; and the 118-hectare Retiro Park, setting of Madrid life, especially on sunny Sundays, when it is full of strollers who rent a boat or simply walk along the beautiful park. As a curiosity, it is to be said that the park is unique in the world where there is a statue erected in honor of the fallen angel.

Then we arrive at Puerta del Sol, heart of the city, where we may find a monument representing the symbol of Madrid. Walking down the Gran Via, ideal for shopping or to visit one of its many musical theaters that give it the fame of “The Broadway of Madrid”, we reach the Spain Square. Our tour continues towards the Orient Square, magnificent place where we find the Royal Palace, which reminds us of the Palace of Versailles. The Sabatini Gardens are nearby, creating a haven of peace in the very centre of the city. In the same area stands the Almudena Cathedral, a gothic temple dedicated to the patron saint of Madrid. In 1085, as Christians retook the city of Madrid from the Arabs, they found a statue of the Virgin outside the wall. This Virgin was given the name Almudena, from the Arabic mudayna, meaning “outside of wall.”

Nor should we forget the Thyssen Museum, with paintings by Gauguin, Monet and Pissarro; the museum of contemporary art Caixa forum or the magnificent Temple of Debod, an Egyptian temple from 2200 BC that was donated by the Egyptian Government to acknowledge the help of Spain in the rescue of the Abu Simbel temples. Of course, we cannot forget the tireless nightlife. A city like Madrid invites to sacrifice sleep in macro discos, clandestine bars, taverns and loads of pubs where thousands dance to exhaustion.

We could be writing about Madrid for many more pages, but what one immediately realizes is that Madrid is more than a lovely place. There is an old Latin proverb that says “ubi bene ibi patria”, that is “your fatherland is where you feel good”.

Spain is waiting to welcome you with open arms! |