First Day in Madrid - I am off (and so is my body clock)

Well, it is 7.15 am and I have been awake since 4am (after getting only 2 hours of sleep), so I will try to use this time another way.

I woke up at 6am Friday after just 6 hours of sleep, thinking I had eluded jet lag (I’m not exactly fatigued now, I’m not quite sure what I am or when it will catch up with me). No matter what it was, I was raring to go, so go I did. Never mind buses and subways (however cool and thorough they are here - veritable catacombs of frequent, fast people-missiles), when in a new place I am a walker. And damned if I did not walk the heck out of Madrid today - 11 miles all told.

Madrid’s hands are overflowing with beauty and bustle. This city is a walker’s paradise. As opposed to American cities, which are designed for vehicles, Madrid was clearly designed for...well, not vehicles. There are roads of course, but the ways are serpentine, and much space is devoted to simple ambulation (and, to a limited extent, motocicletas). Getting lost is supremely easy...as much as I have poo-pooed technology and its flattening of mystery, I have to say I am grateful for mapping apps in such a labyrinthine place as this.

I wasted no time getting out of the house and on my way. By the way, I am staying with a lovely, friendly mother and son who are extremely patient with my broken Spanish - the son even takes time to speak English with me when I get especially lost. Speaking of lost: even with no destination, Madrid is a constant reward. El Parque del Buen Retiro, Gran Via, Calle de Alcala, pick a path, any path, you are bound to encounter rows of majestic buildings with towers, cornices, parapets, you name it. You will meander down serpentine alleys, squeeze through narrow lanes and emerge through arches into yawning plazas, amble past fountain after fountain, crane your neck to take in monument after monument. I don’t know if the city speaks for the people, but if it does then Madrid cherishes its history, its complexity and richness, and it goes all out in the aesthetic department to prove it.

(Pardon my squint - small price to pay for a beautiful, sunny day)

My first formal stop was el Palacio Real - for a very long time the home of Spanish royalty. The only places that pictures are allowed are the Plaza de la Armeria (courtyard) and entry stairway.

I’m sure part of the reason is to protect the countless paintings, frescoes, and other delicate pieces of art, but on a personal level the prohibition acted to instill in me a sense of awe and reverence. I tried, with difficulty, to imagine life as a royal, or as a subject. The depth of human history, and the vast differences in how life has been lived over time, struck me as I walked from one opulent chamber to another, noting via recorded tour what a rare privilege it once was to even enter some of these spaces.

Each chamber (calling them rooms feels insulting) was a study in opulence but also dense historical and artistic meaning, and each had a unique flavor. Marble floors and columns, frescoes on almost every ceiling, tapestries or paintings hanging on most walls. These spaces throbbed with color - one room yellow, another red, yet another a velvety blue.

My favorite room was the Chamber of Charles III, also known as the Gasperini Room. Entering, I felt as if I had been transported to some wizard’s lair, where living plants had been fused with wood and marble. The walls were overgrown by decorative tendrils and the dominant color in this room was green. Arcane curios to which my imagination applied obscure purposes barely balanced the restrained chaos: such as a richly-detailed mosaic table, the surface of which was comprised of tiles so small I could not detect them, or the Shepherd’s Clock - an actual automaton that is over 250 years old and still works (alas, its powers were not on display today).

I say favorite, but as if I were in Borges’s Library of Babylon, the palace seemed to offer infinite delights and diversions, making it hard to decide which aesthetic chapter to immerse myself in. The Royal Chapel? The Porcelain Room? The Throne Room? The Royal Armory? Perhaps one day you can pick your own favorite.

For the next couple of hours I wandered - partly with the aid of a Lonely Planet suggested walk, partly based upon whim and curiosity. I saw the beautiful Muralla Arabe, or Muslim Walls of Madrid. A small park preserved some unearthed ruins from the walls of the original fortress, which was built in the 9th century, and from which Madrid first emerged. Reading on Wikipedia later, I learned that these walls are present in several spots, some still buried, some actually in use to support modern edifices. The ruins in this park framed a courtyard whose prominent feature is a lovely, geometric pattern of tiles.

(Much of the north face of Plaza Mayor is decorated by paintings of human figures - they have a celebratory feel)

Later I stumbled quite unexpectedly into Plaza Mayor. This is over 120,000 sq ft of space, surrounded on all four sides by long, tall rows of buildings and completely sealed to vehicular traffic. Only people are here - diners, strollers, bubble-blowers, street performers, people-watchers (who, me?). While reading more about it later, the depth of history again struck me. Here was a place where executions once took place during the infamous Exquisition. Fortunately, today, it is a bright and peaceful place full of families, friends, and solitary wanderers such as myself.

I made many other discoveries today. One of the nicest, and most practical, was just how friendly and helpful the locals are. In el Parque del Buen Retiro, I was even offered marijuana three times! Is that the vibe I give off? But seriously, I learned (as I expected) that however passable my understanding of written Spanish is, I am nearly helpless during conversation. God bless the bilingualism and general multicultural awareness of Europe...or perhaps I should say, God bless tourism? But either way, I have been grateful many times over for the patience and grace of Spaniards.

I will leave you for now with my favorite moment of the day: sitting in a restaurant, having a true Spanish almuerzo experience - two courses plus dessert - occasionally trading a smile when I caught someone’s eye, sitting in total linguistic isolation and yet feeling, in my outsider status, completely at peace. I was discovering, I was learning, my basic needs were being met and then some. That grin stayed on my face for my whole lunch.