Having heard that the bus to the airport could be spotty in the mornings, I left a bit earlier to head off to the airport. At home, I’m used to buses stopping, especially when there are people at the bus stop. I’ve since learned that you flag them down (sometimes with frantic arm waving) in Europe. I had looked down for a split second and my bus came tearing around the corner with no intention of stopping. Thankfully I looked up in time to wave for the driver to stop. Off to the airport to wait…

Once I landed in Madrid, it was a longish trek to get from the airport to the hostel. The Madrid metro system reminded me a little of the Paris metro system. There were many intersecting lines, longish treks to get from one line to the next in the metro stations where you had to go up stairs, down stairs, and through some really stuffy tunnels with hordes of people. Eventually I made it to the hostel.

Then it was out the door to explore the city. Madrid is a fabulous walking city…pretty much all flat and very easy to get around by metro. However, it was also THE busiest city that I had been to in some time. I’m not sure if it was just before Christmas and everyone was out shopping, but holy crikey there were a lot of people. After being in Madrid, streets seem so empty to me now, even when I was in Toronto…and Toronto is one busy city. I was able to see all of this in close-up at Plaza Puerta Del Sol, which is the point where all distances on Spanish roads are measured.

I took one quick look when I managed to cross the road to see the ridiculous waves of shoppers took a few photos and abruptly headed for the nearest escape. I just couldn’t imagine wading through all those people. Instead, I took a stroll down Calle de Alcalá, which took me right down to Plaza de Cibeles. Thankfully there were fewer people and some interesting sights along the way. There was the Metropolis, Banco Español de Crédito, Palacio de Comunicaciones (post office) and Banco de España, to just name the ones that I could identify.

One thing that I saw continuously, were people wearing wigs of all ridiculous shades and styles. I had no idea why, but these wigs were for sale at all the Christmas markets in the city. After experiencing German Christmas markets where many of the crafts are handmade, I found the Spanish Christmas markets lacking. Plus there was no food or glühwein.

Back at the hostel, I met Jane and Joanne from Malaysia and chatted with them while I had dinner. They had decided that they would join me in my adventures in Madrid-not sure why they figured that was a good idea…oh well. I also chatted with an architect from Istanbul and she traded her views of Madrid for mine of Barcelona. To this day, I think she summed it up the best. You can go to any major city and there is a landmark, an event or something of significance that you automatically associate with the city. As a few examples: Barcelona has Gaudi; Paris has the Eiffel Tower; Berlin still has some remains of the wall; NYC had the twin towers, etc, etc. But she struggled to find something that she could associate solely with Madrid. As I think back to my time spent there, I have also struggled to find something associated with Madrid.

That’s not to say that it was an uninteresting city. Far from it, there were many unique public art sculptures scattered around the city, lots of greenery, the Reina Sofia was beyond phenomenal, not to mention it is the capital of Spain. But something seemed to be missing…so perhaps I was expecting too much. Who knows…

Tagged: lis mad plazapuertadelsol calledealcal metropolis bancoespañoldecrédito palaciodecomunicaciones bancodeespaña wigs tirsodemolina elosoyelmadroño mariachiband calledelacarretas grilledsweetpotatoes tiopepe