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Madrid, the capital of Spain, is laden with grand and magnificent architecture everywhere we turn. After a two-and-a-half-hour train ride from Barcelona, we arrived Saturday morning and headed straight to Palacio Real, also known as the Royal Palace of Madrid. The exterior of the palace is built with clean, beautiful white stone and structured into massive Romanesque columns and intricate carvings. We could hear the clip-clop of the sleek gray horses trotting casually in front of the arched entrance, with rigid soldiers on their backs.
The Cathedral de la Almudena is right next to the Royal Palace, with the interior a revival of the classical gothic architecture style. There is also a famous ancient grayish white gateway called the Puerta de Alcalá, similar to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, situated right in the middle of a roundabout with tourists flocking over for photos.
I toured two of the main museums in Madrid—Museo del Prado and the Reina Sofia. The former has an endless collection of 12-18th century oil paintings of biblical stories and the royal family, while the latter museum stores works of more modern artists (20th century) such as Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali.
To me, these grand and exquisite architecture styles and museum artifacts have always been so foreign, attractive, and stylish. Sometimes I wonder why I would trek all across the world to just admire and take photos of these man-made monuments. Yes, they are aesthetically appealing, but I certainly do not know much about the history or significance of these buildings to have such a strong passion and connection. I guess it’s just part of the process of understanding the world we live in, and to get a sense of how distinct different cultures are.
El Retiro, located near the Museo del Prado in the heart of the city, is a massive, leafy green oasis with ponds, fountains, plenty of benches to chill in the shades (equivalent to Central Park in New York City). It is extremely soothing to simply look at how relaxed people are, laying in the grassy patches with the brilliant sunlight slanting through the cracks of the trees. We all gasped in delight and awe when we saw a white, greenhouse-like building with spectacular gigantic glass windows and roman columns. Emma wondered if this was the location of “Sixteen going on Seventeen” in the Sound of Music. Later I learned that this is Palacio de Cristal (Crystal Palace) which was built entirely out of glass set on an iron framework. It overlooks a huge pond swimming with fish and turtles.
One other memorable attraction is the Templo del Debod—an ancient Egyptian shrine dedicated to the goddess Isis and originally built in the Upper Egypt, south of Aswan. According to Wikipedia, this temple was given to Spain as a gift of gratitude for Spain’s help in saving the Abu Simbel temples during the construction of the Aswan Dam. Since I studied Egyptian Archeology for a quarter at UW, I have learned to appreciate ancient Egyptian culture through new lens and a new mindset, so I was definitely fascinated to see this ancient historical site right in front of my eyes, even if its appearance paled in comparison to the countless splendid and majestic European buildings in the city.
Roaming Madrid for the two-day weekend during my study abroad program in Barcelona was undeniably an exciting and stimulating trip. The rooftop terrace at the Circulo de Bellas Artes serves as a luxurious bar/restaurant that has a fabulous vantage point the Madrid city skyline, and it was nice that the nine of us girls that went got to experience it as a whole group. My roommate Zhitao and I still prefer Barcelona as the place to live though; the cozy and laid-back vibes are more local and down-to-earth for us. Nonetheless, the impressive capital of Spain rich in art, architecture and history is certainly a city worth visiting in Europe.