NdR: I was in Madrid in the spring, and I’ve been sitting on this post for a while, and I don’t have much inspiration, but I’ll put it out anyway before I forget everything.
The modern capital
Madrid differs from other European capitals in a particular way: it’s a new city. People lived in the area since forever, but until the 1300s it was a village of a few thousands, and it was only in 1561 that it became the capital. And apparently, it became a strong presence in the state, but also a city full of rich people, and not much else. Apparently already in the 1600s people noticed this, and the expression “Solo Madrid Es Corte” came about, to be interpreted as “the Court can only be in Madrid” or “Madrid is just the Court” depending on your mood. People blame this for the following centuries of stagnation.
So Spain found herself§ with a ton of money coming in, a city with little pre-existing structure, and an absolutist monarchy. The perfect recipe.
So, visiting Madrid, I get the feeling of a modern era city. The palaces, the streets, the churches, the complete absence of weird antiquity leftovers. You’ could’d think there was nothing there before the renaissance.
And it’s also a modern city in the broad sense. The metro network in Madrid is one of the largest in Europe, the city is tidy and walkable, its cultural life seems packed, and they have a ton of people moving there.
There and back again
The first time I visited Madrid, I was seventeen years old, on the best school trip of my life. We were at peak teenagerness, inexperienced enough to enjoy everything, big enough to be allowed in bars and clubs, and dumb enough to do all the fun things without shame.
It was also the first time I was abroad somewhat alone. Sure, teachers were supposed to monitor us but we regularly escaped from our hotel and managed to do the things they wouldn’t let us do it. See the first paragraph.
I remember a Madrid that was full of fun stuff, bars, clubs, sexy shops, the Hard Rock Café full of friendly foreigners§, and big museums: El Prado, the Museo Reina Sofia, the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection.
I remember being disappointed at the small size of Dalì’s Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening, and impressed by the huge size of Picasso’s Guernica. And I remember being very impressed by a blue block of concrete, whose author or name I can’t remember.
The second time I went there, I was 20, for new year’s eve, at the exact time when Spain switched from the Peseta to the Euro, and Italy abandoned the Lira. It was a heck of a time keeping track of the conversions.
It was just me and a friend, maybe the first time I was on a trip of just two people, at a time when flights were still expensive, and we didn’t have much money, but we could save for a short vacation. I think we must have visited something, but I can’t remember anything. We went to see a football match at the old Santiago Bernabeu, and discovered ticket scalpers are a thing outside of Italy too§.
I remember bars, clubs, getting somehow in an Erasmus party and getting lost, shitfaced and alone, falling asleep on the metro line and going start-to-end of line two or three times.
We had dinner at a place that my friend knew, El Pastor, where his father had been a bunch of times. The lady who ran the place realized we were not prepared to celebrate midnight, so she gave us a bottle of sparkling wine when we left, and some grapes, which you’re supposed to eat in the last twelve seconds of the year.
There were few things shared between these two experiences, but I can’t say they were the same, and yet I felt the city was the same.
The city that wasn’t
I visited the city again this year, with my wife. I really wanted to take my wife there, cause I have so many good memories, and also it’s one of the few European capitals she hadn’t visited. She now wants to move there.
The city is still full of bars, clubs, and parties, but I’m no longer the target audience. I have become the target audience for El Prado, Reina Sofia, Thyssen-Bornemisza. I was again impressed by Dream.. and Guernica. I could not find the blue block of concrete. I’ve discovered I like Thomas Cole tho.
I think the city changed a lot. There’s a lot more tourists, and I think they had a massive influx of people from South America§.
It’s also somewhat more walkable than it was, or it seemed so, tho there’s still a ton of traffic A local friend said it’s too crowded, and he has moved outside of the city with his family, and commutes, when he doesn’t work from home.
The increase in tourist numbers has probably impacted how much of the city center has become a tourist trap, but I feel the city is big enough that it will take a long time before it goes the way of Venice.
Lost in traducción
One thing I found unchanged: people try to speak to me in Spanish, forcing my brain to try a language which I do not actually know and have never studied, but eh, romance languages something something.
I do understand some 80% of what they say, but fail miserably at answering back, which means I have a harder time than in countries where I could not understand anything of the language, but people speak English to me.
I can force people to switch to English, and that seems an improvement compared to 20 years ago, but I have managed to get by most of the time. Also, did you know you can use despacio and demasiado interchangeably and get what you want 90% of the time? I keep confusing them, and it doesn’t matter.
The recent breakthrough that Spanish “H” is often Italian “F” helped a lot (Horno/Forno, Hongo/Fungo, Hijo/Figlio in Rome, Harina/Farina, Hilo/Filo etc..). Yay for differential linguistics or however it’s called.
When I visited in the past, I did not speak English well either, and trying to get yourself understood was a major part of the experience. It was nice to relive that.
Can’t cross the Manzanares twice
It’s odd, going back to a place, and finding it’s not the same place. It’s also odd, going back to the same place and finding you’re not the same person.
I had a (Spanish!) friend who said she never wanted to see 100% of a city, cause this would make her motivated to go there again.
But it seems to me, even if you see 100% of a city, and you go back, you’re going to see a different city.
Perhaps this means you should not visit any new city, cause you can never say you’ve seen it, anyway.
On the other hand, you’ve seen a city, and you’re the only one who’s seen it that way.
You should visit Madrid, even if it’s not my Madrid.