Atocha - The main (or one of the main) stations

I know what people will think - has she finally lost it and is writing about train stations? Is this girl a closet trainspotter with no life? No. I don't have a fetish for train stations or watching trains but bare with me on this one.

Atocha is a train station, no denying that fact. It is also a train station with a nasty near-past too. However Atocha is no ordinary train station - it is part train station/part botanical garden. Yes I know that sounds strange but its true. Last summer when my boyfriend at the time was visiting me, we came here together. We had spent the day in the Reina Sofia museum (which is located next to Atocha) and came out looking for a coffee/beer. I saw the station across road and remembered something odd about it from my guide book. I suggested we investigate it since we were right there. We ran across the road while the little green man on the traffic lights was flashing and bleeping and found our way into the station.

I knew there was a garden inside, but not this! From walking inside what seems like your bog-standard 19th century style train station into a colonial-tropical haven! The humidity hits you in the face as you walk in (its so dry in Madrid - especially in the summer) and you look up to see palms and other tropical trees and plants. Look down you see little terrapins swimming in the pond below. The whole grand setting of this iron-wrought train station gives it that glamorous colonial appeal. You feel like someone out of a Kipling novel. We found a bar on the top of the station over looking the gardens; this too was done in colonial style and had a kind of Indian theme to its architecture. We sat on the terrace drinking our cool beers enjoying the view of the palms below us forgetting we were in Madrid; and that we had been transported back in time and across the Indian Ocean. Its not the most beautiful garden I have seen in my life, nor is is the most beautiful in Madrid. However its most unlikely setting does add a kind of quirk appeal to it though. If you are ever passing buy do pop in and take a beer!

Gallery Review - Museo del Prado

Madrid is definitely a city to do if you are into art; as it is the home to three amazing galleries: The Prado, The Thyssen-Bornemisza and The Reina Sofia. All three galleries are very different to each other; with the Prado hosting art from the renaissance times up until the early 19th century, the Thyssen is good if you want impressionists and art from the 19th century (but the collection is very varied and contains old and modern art too), and the Reina Sofia is entirely modern art. When people ask me which is the best one to visit its hard to say - it entirely depends on your taste in Art. All three are worth a visit if you can, and are conveniently located within five minutes walking distance of each other.

Out of all three of the museums though, the Prado un-doubtably has the most impressive building. With its neoclassical facade and statues looking out onto a glamorous tree lined boulevard, the Prado is an impressive sight even to pass in your car. Inside it is filled with some wonderful artistic treasures too. The ground floor is mainly Renaissance art - especially Italian. Here you will find Raphael and Botticelli. It also houses Renaissance German and Dutch paintings too so if you are in search for some Durer or Bosch this is the place to look.

Botticelli - The Story of Nastagio degli Onesti

Bosch - Garden of Delights

My personal favourite is the classical sculpture rooms. Filled with treasures of Grecian and Roman art from all over the mediterranean. This is the reason I have been to the Prado a grand number of five times! I have a definite weak spot for Greco-Roman statues so this place was like artistic heaven for me. Most of the statues are in such good condition as well with beautiful detail. Absolutely devine!

On the upper floors you come to later art consisting of Caravaggio, Titian, El Greco, Rubens, Rembrandt etc - you get the idea. As well as a lot of Spanish art like Velázquez and Goya.


Sometimes they also have temporary exhibitions in the central part of the ground and first floors. I was very lucky last summer to catch the Picasso Exhibition there which focused on his reinterpretations of famous paintings including the one featured on the right (originally by Velázquez - Las Meninas).

Some Beautiful Pictures of Downtown Madrid

Perusing through the blog of one of my friends I came across a link for a website for a photographer called Alfredo Garcia. I was bowled over by his pictures of Madrid and are by far the most beautiful I have seen. I have taken a small sample to show you here of the area just around Plaza Cibeles. This square is one of my favorites in Madrid especially at night, in fact I think Madrid is the most beautiful at night. You can see why I am so enchanted with it from these photographs. There are many more of his photos on the website I have linked in this entry or in my general links on the side panel. Do check them out they are just wonderful!

Palacio de Comunicaciones (aka the post office)

Cibeles Fountain

Plaza de Cibeles looking up towards Gran Vía

Enchanting Metropolis by Night
(Now see why this is my favourite building ;-) )

Not your normal Sunday - care for a little Hedonism?

While most people enjoy a nice relaxing day in front of the telly on a sunday, I opted to do something a little different to my usual Sunday afternoons. My friend had invited me to go clubbing at the "Space of Sound" - an all day nightclub just above the station Charmartìn. I had been meaning to check it out, and I have never been clubbing during the day before so thought great could be loads of fun.

It was one of the most surreal, interesting and fantastic experiences I have ever had from clubbing. It felt weird, if not slightly wrong walking into a club at 2pm on a Sunny Sunday afternoon but as soon as I walked inside I was transported into another world! A world of an electronic dream and a ravers paradise! To not talk about the clubs and bars in Madrid would not give the correct impression of Madrid, and for me personally its nightlife (or daylife in this case) is a big thing in my life here. Sometimes a good dancing marathon to an awesome beat is as good as destressing as a day of relaxation in front of the sun for me.

Space is probably the most jaw dropping club I have been too. I have not been clubbing like have done in Madrid before, but this place took my breathe away. I forgot the time, the space where I was then. Time did not exist inside here. You are hit with the amazing electronic sound as you come in through the door (while I am a goth/rocker by heart, I am a sucker for pretty much all electronic music!), music with so much depth and intensity that you do not only hear it but feel it through your body, and all of this without being deafened. There are amazing laser shows, dancers, fiber optic lit coffee tables next to really comfy sofas, space age looking bars and most importantly of all - lots of people just having a great time!

The thing I liked about this club is people came there to be free, no one cared what you looked like or how you danced. You didn´t get sweaty, nasty guys humping your leg, nor bitchy girls glaring at you because you are not trendy enough. I went in t-shirt, jeans, no make up, messy hair and no one treated me any different. It was a really liberating experience to feel like I was not being treated as a piece of meat and I could truly be myself. The atmosphere was euphoric and you did not want to stop dancing until 8pm. Sometimes I just stood back and admired the amazing laser shows and sat on the comfy sofas with my eyes closed and let the music wash over me. It was rather surreal to pass the front door when you would go to the toilet to see the sunny outdoors, which to me seemed like the dimensional gateway to reality. Certainly and odd experience but much worth it. Absolutely pure, liberating hedonism. I loved it, and would certainly go again! The best thing about it being in the afternoons is by the next day you are refreshed and ready to work again. I feel like I have just been on holiday.

An adventure today which started out in La Latina

Fed up with the poor quality of the vegetables at my local supermarket, I decided to seek out a typical Spanish style Mercado (market hall). Combined with the fact I had to go to La Latina to pick up a parcel I decided to try out the Mercado de la Cebada. Walking past the Puerta de Toledo and the Cathedral San Francisco el Grande to get to my local postal depot and do my shopping made me realise how lucky I am to be living in Madrid!
















I met with my friend at La Latina and we went to the Mercado. The Mercado is a massive market hall full of stalls of fruit and veg, butchers, fishmongers, cheese sellers - essentially everything! I brought a lot of nice fresh veggies from there, so I was happy. Its nice to know that it's not far from my house. We then went and relaxed with a beer on a plaza nearby looking out to another old Spanish style church on a medieval square. Sitting out there watching the world go by, having a good conversation and blowing bubbles in the sun was just delightful. It's times like this that I appreciate and love about living in Southern Europe. Time seems to go so slowly! We had Patatas Alioli and a glass of Rioja later. Yum.

I had planned to go back to my apartment, clean, relax etc. but my friend mentioned a deadly word to me - "Ooh a hot chocolate would be nice!" as we passed a cafe which said "Hay chocolate caliente". My mouth started salivating at the very thought, but she and I admitted - her hot chocolate is the best! However we would have to travel across Madrid to her apartment as she lived in the North, I in the South. I also had tonnes of shopping so we decided to walk to my house, dump my stuff and go. Our next problem was how to get to her house...

A normal person would have taken the metro, however I thought we could change lines at Atocha and take the bus from my house. It was rather impulsive as the bus was right there when we got to the main road so jumped on it. When we got to Atocha the metro entrance nearest to us was closed, the nearest one was up on the Paseo del Prado. It was very nice in a way though, as my friend had not really seen Atocha (or appreciated it really) from a walker's perspective. Walking up the paseo we decided to take the bus up the Castellana and get off at a stop near her house. Becoming distracted at Nuevos Minesterios due to an outdoor market which was there we alighted from the bus and went to explore... eventually we got to her house and had the best hot chocolate. My legs are tired, but I love to walk around the city. Taking the local bus can also be a treat as you get to see the city and get some perspective of where everything is located; using the metro all the time it is all just names and doesn't mean anything.

Bar Districts

One thing Madrid is famous for is its bars and nightlife. A night out for cañas y tapas is a typical Madrileña experience. But in Madrid there are so many areas to choose from and so many bars to pick! I thought it would be a fun idea to summerise the bar districts in Madrid and some places worth seeing.

Sol:

This is the very centre of Madrid, the mile 0 for Spain. But apart from being very central there are a lot of old winding side streets with tonnes of great bars for cañas y tapas. Its easy to get lost in the windy old streets behind sol, but there is plenty to choose from. A favourite street of mine is Calle de Cadiz which contains many good tapas places, which are fairly cheap and also tend to give a decent tapa with your caña/cerveza (Spanish beer, small and refreshing). A tapa is something you get in all the bars. Its basically a small snack which is given if you take wine or beer to prevent you from getting drunk. Bad bars just give crisps or olives, but the good ones give you canapès, empanadillas (little pasties with tuna and tomato inside), a little Iberian selection of cheese and ham etc.

If you want tacky and touristy but cheap - check out the "Cañas y Tapas" bar next to Plaza Mayor, it serves pretty much all your standard tapas, in different sized portions, so you can buy a lot of small dishes to try a variety or a big one to satisfy your appetite (or your group's appetite!). You have to sit/stand at the bar, but this is very Spanish style, the bar itself has a nice authentic feel to it.

La Latina

La Latina is in the old part of the city. Full of charm and character; just walk down from Plaza Mayor and you are pretty much there. Its an interesting mix of classy bars, traditional cervezarias and hippy places. La Latina is very trendy, but also very chill. Its not a place to do rowdy pubcrawls, but more like going out for a beer and chilling with friends. I like this area a lot, especially the fact its 15 minutes walk from my house!

Lavapiès

I could call this the downmarket version of La Latina, but that is not entirely true. Lavapiès has a more down to earth and ethnic feel than its trendy neighbour. Its full of very casual student type hippy bars, as well as the traditional bars as well. Its very vibrant as its full of all sorts of interesting characters and bohemians. It has a high immigrant population so its also a good place to get some ethnic food! The places in Lavapiès are cheap and nice. Good if you are a broke student.

Chueca/Tribunal/Alonso Martinez

I am going to lump all these 3 into the same catagory as they are all very close to each other and I don't know where one ends and the other begins. If you go north of the Gran Vía you will come to these neighbourhoods.

Chueca is the gay district, and is also really trendy to go to. Full of crazy clubs and bars its a great place to go and just party on down. Everyone is so liberal there its great! Asides from hardcore party clubs and swinging bars, there are also some nice chilled out elegant bars with comfy couches and chandeliers.

Right next to Chueca is Tribunal and Alonso Martinez. This too is full of a lot bars, and mainly the type catered to students. They are grungy, cheap and great fun. You can order a mini mojito (take care! Mini means a litre) and sit on a beer drum instead of on chairs with the urban decoration of graffiti adds to the ambiance. You can get lost in a drunken oblivion amongst the bars and pubs there, hang out with other grungy students/young people who are on the street drinking cheap beer out of plastic cups. If you want a messy pubcrawl where your brain feels raped afterwards - this is your area!

However saying that near Alonso Martinez there is a very nice chilled out bar called Aereia (I am not 100% sure on the spelling) where you can get great cocktails, ethnic food, slob out on a futon and listen to chilled out music. Nice place to go to unwind in the evening, and also functions as a restaurant during the day.

Bilbao

Go a bit further north from Tribunal you come to Bilbao. Not the city, but the district. This too is also a very nice area to explore tapas and some bars. Its a good place to start the night off with some beer and tapas and then venture into the nearby areas of Tribunal/Chueca.

Huertas

Just off the Paseo del Prado is calle de Huertas. This street leads up to the area near Sol/Plaza Mayor and is also a good place to go at night, particularly if you are looking for live music. The Café Populart is a good venue if you like Jazz because every night from 11pm onwards there is live music there from different artists and bands of jazz, blues etc. Its free entry, but it gets really packed some nights! Especially on weekends. If you like your cocktails I highly recommend La Trocha just a few meters down the street where they serve the best caipirinhas!

Memories of my first Night in Madrid

I am not entirely sure where to start with this, so I guess its obvious to start with my first night I arrived here last Summer.


I arrived at Barajas airport where my friends had met me to give me a lift to my new flat. When I greeted them I offered the very British handshake to which they replied "no no no, you are in Spain now you will greet as the Spanish do". So I was introduced to the traditional Spanish greeting of the two kisses on each cheek. Its not so uncommon and unusual for me, in Hungary they do the same, but only to friends you already know - not to people you meet for the first time. But I like it, I think it helps overcome a lot of awkwardness between new people when they meet and everything feels more open.



We dropped my stuff off at the apartment and drove downtown to a street Fiesta. Coming from the North of Madrid, you have to pass the Castellana which is a long main road running from the north to down-town as far as the Prado and Atocha station. Madrid at night is really when the city is at its best. All the buildings are lit up beautifully and gives more detail to the delicate intricacies of the architecture, it has a more glamourous feel to it. I love Recoletos and the Paseo del Prado with its tree lined boulevards and its elegant prominades. Recoletos is filled with elegant, classy cafès which look like something out of the 1920s.











Then continued down to the Paseo del Prado passing Plaza Cibeles, until we came to the district of Lavapiès. This is an old part of the city, with old flakey townhouses (but I love this type of flakeyness - so much character!) It really has such a bohemian feel to it, I absolutely loved it. The street was filled with stalls to buy food and drink. The streets filled with people either sitting outside cafès or bars taking a beer or in the square making "botellòn" (taking their own drink and just drinkinig together one the square). The air was warm and musty, I love the feeling of the warm air in the summer's nights.

The Prologue

I have been playing with the idea for sometime to write a journal about my life in Madrid. Not as in a personal journal about MY life, but about experiences in this city, its flavours, its ambience, its character. I have wanted to do this project of "travel writing" since I have arrived in Madrid but never actually did so. Now I am going to try to achieve this.

This will not be my personal journal. I have one on livejournal already so if you are interested to peruse that ask me as its locked to friends only. This blog is intended to express my experiences in Madrid, about its places, events and general life here from the perspective of an English/Hungarian girl.

I hope you can join me here in my adventure in getting to know this wonderful city.