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by Manos Angelakis
After meandering around a landscape dotted with sleepy villages and fragrant orange, lemon and bergamot orchards, almond and olive-tree groves and vineyards that produce some of Europe’s best wine, we finally return to Madrid.
Madrid is perhaps the liveliest city in Europe. Streets lined with bars, restaurants and sidewalk cafés where you can enjoy a few tapas or full gastronomic extravaganzas day or night. Shops and boutiques where the latest fashions can be purchased. Leafy parks and boulevards. And people; friendly, hospitable, urbane, artistic, wonderful people that open their hearts to visitors in a welcome that few others extend to persons they just met.
 There is a French saying: The more things change, the more they remain the same. Madrid, like all big cities, is in constant evolution. But, it also attempts to retain and revive its grand past, a historic and artistic heritage seen mostly at the center. There is continuous rehabilitation of gorgeous Neo-Classical, Baroque, Belle Époque and Deco buildings lining the boulevards, streets, squares and parks throughout the old part of town, while at the same time creating a modern infrastructure. Madrileños also try to retain their quality of life. The pavements and streets are so clean, it is absolutely incredible. The pace is much more relaxed than in other capital cities. Siesta is still observed, though not as vigorously as it used to be. And people, at all socioeconomic levels, are still very interested in culture and the arts.
Perhaps, the main cultural axis of the city is the avenue of art, the Paseo del Prado (also continuing north as the Paseo de Recoletos and the Paseo de la Catellana), a tree-lined boulevard along which the main art museums (The Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection and the Reina Sofia Art Center) are located as well as the Archaeological Museum and the National Library. Nearby is the Museum of Decorative Arts, an incredible collection of decorative objects including over 4,000 ceramic pieces, 15th to 17th century carpets, jewelry and furniture. Such monumental landmarks as the Fuente de Neptuno (Fountain of Neptune) and La Cibeles Fountain are along this avenue as well.
 The Paseo del Prado, starts in front of the Estación de Atocha, Madrid’s main rail station. We were there after 3/11 and there were makeshift memorials at the glass rotunda that is the entrance to the station, yet we did not see the massive uniformed police and military presence one sees in places like the Grand Central Terminal, in New York. I saw one policeman making his rounds, and I also saw some plainclothes personnel - you could tell by the bulges under their jackets. The station’s coffee shops and bars were crowded with travelers having coffee or a tapa while waiting for their train to depart, there were commuters and students milling around; the atmosphere was very pleasant without the palpable fear generated by heavy-handed and very visible security.
The Barrio de Salamanka, the district east of the Paseo de la Catellana, symbolizes like no other the transformation that took place in Madrid at the end of the 19th century. It was where the politicians and intelligencia lived at the time and was the center of a technical (first automobiles, first trolley buses) and architectural revolution (apartment buildings replacing palaces). Today, it is the high-end commercial center of Madrid and the location where most luxury firms, both Spanish and international, are situated. In stores, like Delitto & Castigo, one can find fashions from such names as Dolce & Gabbana, Emilio Pucci, Gaetano Navarra, Jean Paul Gaultier and Ungaro to name just a fraction of the designers carried. At espacio Diedro one can get from jewelry, to men’s furnishings, to table settings, in a gallery-like environment. Fariña & Almuzara create their own jewelry designs; unique precious stone pieces that are outstanding examples of elegance and luxury. And Lurueña as well as Yanko, have men’s and women’s shoes from the best Spanish firms with the most original designs.
One of Madrid’s attractions is the food. Gourmets and gourmands gravitate to Madrid from the rest of Europe and the Americas for the diversity and variety of its eating and drinking establishments, from tascas to temples of haute cuisine. Casa Botín, for example, around the corner from Plaza Mayor, is one of the oldest restaurants in the world and their roasted suckling pig and baby eels in garlic sauce have not changed for the last 100 years! Zalacaín, in Salamanca, at Álvarez de Baena 4, is a much newer world-class restaurant with an imaginative Basque-Continental kitchen and a superb setting. There is also The Goya, at the Hotel Ritz; grand surroundings, impeccable service, excellent cuisine. But one  should not discount such establishments as the Museo de Jamón, which was first described in a Madrid article of a few years ago and has now grown into a chain of tascas/meat-product-stores with a dozen locations around town. Or La Panera, a little whole-in-the-wall tasca near the Puerta del Sol, that serves “Cocina Asturiana” to go with their beer. One evening we overdosed  there on stuffed, batter coated and deep fried red pimientos, the freshest oysters on the half-shell, albóndigas, filetes de boquerón al ajillo with white potatoes in a vinaigrette, baked mushrooms with cured ham stuffing, pickled octopus, matrimonio (2 boquerón filets and 2 salty sardine filets) on a slice of fresh baguette, queso Manchego con membrillo (Manchego cheese with pressed Quince preserve), all washed down with copious amounts of cerveza. Another day, we went for a late lunch to Cervecería Alemana, which does not seem to have changed one iota since my last visit there; we again had fino and racións of albóndigas, boiled and thinly sliced octopus in an olive oil and parsley dressing, Jamón Serrano and tortilla española.
Plaza de Santa Ana is now home to more than a half-dozen other bars, tascas, restaurants and ice cream parlors; they all seemed to be packed with local patrons -- and it was a Monday afternoon. We also tried the prix-fix lunch at the Café de Oriente; for 10 euros per person, all inclusive, they offered a starter, a main course, coffee and dessert, a very decent lunch for the price considering that food prices have tripled throughout Europe since the euro implementation. We usually ended our peregrinations at Chocolatería San Gines with thick hot chocolate and churros.
Madrid has a number of 5-star hotels and a new one, named Urban (previously the historic Rivas palace converted to hotel in a $25 million acquisition and renovation), is coming on-line by the time this article will be published. Foremost amongst these properties is the Hotel Ritz, (www.orient-expresshotels.com) Madrid. Located just yards from the Prado Museum, on the east side of the Paseo del Prado, the Ritz is one of hospitality’s Grand Dames. (click here for the hotel review published in a previous issue). Nearby, on Plaza de las Cortes 10, is Hotel Villa Real,(www.derbyhotels.es) a member of the Derby Hotels Collection group. We spent three nights there, before moving to the Ritz, and it was a very nice experience in a smaller, intimate property. (Click here for additional hotel review).
 We did all the tourist things in the week we were in Madrid. We spent a day in the Prado, and only saw one third of the masterpieces hung in the galleries. We went shopping for gifts and wine to take home; we found beautiful artifacts and very high quality wines at very competitive prices (only one euro more than the duty free at the airport) at el corte inglés www.elcorteingles.es, a department store off Puerta del Sol. We visited the Royal Palace, open to visitors after the Royal Wedding that took place a week before our arrival. We spent time exploring Plaza Mayor, Madrid’s main square, a great quadrilateral with nine gates that has been the stage upon which some of Madrid’s most important events took place. We went to a Flamenco performance at Las Carboneras a tablao flamenco and restaurant that my wife, the flamenco aficionado, thought was very good. We walked from our hotels along the Carreta de San Jerónimo and the Arenal to the Plaza de Oriente visiting on the way monasteries, churches, gardens, the Opera (Teatro Real) and any other place that our tired feet would take us.
We enjoyed Madrid tremendously. I wish we had a month at our disposal to fully explore this wonderful city. But even with a very short visit, a great time was had by all.
©JulyAugust 2004. All rights reserved.
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