Saturday, March 6, 2010
5:13 PM | 
Posted by
Ryś |
How to determine Madrid? How to determine any capital? Definitely this is the worse place - without it's identity - because of hundreds of thousands of external and interial emigrants who mix into the societies excluding at the same time the original inhabitants, who prefer to move to the suburbs. But because of this mixture, capitals are the best cities to find your place.La Capital
Although in the previous post I wrote, that the best way to get to know the city is to get lost there, I must add and appendix - do not apply to metropolis. Madrid is big - over 600 km2. And apart from the centre there is nothing worth seeing. Because of unpredictable weather I decided to divide sight-seeing to 2 parts. Western Centre of Madrid - firstly squares, then the rest. Madrid as every capital is very possessive so also here you have to find something special and unique. That is - the centre of Spain... if just Spain, it's the centre of Iberian Peninsula! It is attractive indeed, you walk along arcaded galleries, visit shops, when suddenly someone starts shouting at you. Nothing strange, probably you just walked into the film set of some Spanish soap opera. Tourist, tourist and one more time Japanese, and where are Japanese, there are pictures and oddly dressed people. Hence at Plaza Mayor you can see marines, knights, don Kichot, spiderman and spiderpig. Better to not to get hungry in the neighborhood of Plaza de Mayor or Plaza de Sol to not to empty your wallet. Next stop - Royal Palace and Royal Gardens - Camp del Moro. Nice architecture of the buildings which are partly open for the visitors. If palace, then few steps to the South and you are in the Cathedral. Go further more and see the San Francesco del Grande Basilica, unless it's closed. Walk back to the Sol and visit Santa Ana Square - there you can get nice tapas. When power is regained, it's worth to walk alone the Gran Via - centre of theatre, cinemas, fancy and less fancy shops something what can give you a semblance of Madrid's spirit. The best time to visit Gran Via is an early evening (9pm), and no, not because of the young South-Americans looking for customers, but to visit one of the theatres where every day there is rush because of famous guests in the audience.
View Larger Map
Where to eat and drink? Unless you have local "guide" - at home. My guide was Angel - friend from Erasmus, who easily found places, where una cana with tapas costs less than 2 Euros and where for few hours you can remind old good times of Hungarian parties.
Then simply take a walk on Paseo del Prado - distant with several meters Museo Naval, Museo Thyssen count, that some of the tourist will visit them. But they have completly other aim... If The Garden of Earthly Delights, Las Meninas or La Inmaculada de Soult can be called the pearls of art, then Museo del Prado is a necklace holding these pearls. I used, that EU students can enter the Museum for free* and spent there 3.5 hours. And although I never paid attention on art classes, concentrated more on war with teacher, than on analysing paintings, even such amateur as me could recognise these great works.
* Always in every place in Spain ask for the student discounts and don't be dishearted if the ticket clerk doesn't understand you**, phrase "¿Hay descuentos para estudiantes?" was the most fluent sentence ever said by me in Spanish.
**And again I have to make a digression - the language and the knowledge of foreign languages. Generally Spanish people don't speak any other habla, than their own. You can try, may not belive, but it's really hard to find someone who speaks good English, German or any other language, that I speak. When you ask "¿Hablas ingles?" and the answer is "un poco" or any other sentence in Spanish, than it means "No!". Fortunatelly all my Spanish friends who I met in this country were dealing with the language very well, giving me good tips about communicating with other people. And of course it's a shame for me that still my Spanish is very poco - ¡Mi culpa!View Larger Map
After few hours of art-treatment it's worth to spend some time outside, hence go to Botanic garden or straight to Parque del Retiro - these royal gardens were exclusive for hundreds of years, now are just waiting for your visit. The park is huge, but one thing is worth a quest. It is the only in the world, public statue of the devil. Fallen angel is a part of the fountain - unfortunately rain kept me from finding that. There is one more place which man should see in this area - it's Atocha Train Station - even if -as I adviced in the previous post - you are not going anywhere with this mean of transport - visit the station. Jungle - that's the word.
Toledo
Two days are enough to see Madrid - if you live in place away by walking distance from Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, you can go there - for 15 Euros you can touch the grass of the pitch where Cristiano Ronaldo ridicules the defenders, sit on the bench where Jerzy Dudek passes the towels to his teammates or take a picture with wax statue of Di Stefano in the Museum of Real. The same 15 Euros you can also spend on 1.5 journey to Toledo. As a rugby player I can't admit that I like football, so I went to the former capital of Castilla.Short advice to Orzech - when the coach from Madrid arrives, don't go out of the station, just find the platform of city buses (no 5,61,62) and go to the last stop (Ciudad vieja) - ticket costs 95 Eurocents.When you arrive to the Old Town - go to the information point to get free map. And no, not to plan the route, but to see on the reverse which tourist attractions are open. Then you can calmly get lost. Old town of Toledo is like a picture from Cervantes's novels. Even though it's close to Madrid, the atmosphere is completly different. Even the Japanese tourists are different. Toledo is adorable - great place for romantic date and for calm retirement. I spend just 3 hours on sight-seeing and next 3 on visiting churches, museums and galleries. But one thing is very special...
When you get to one of the lookout towers everything stops, shops and Japanese disappear, you are transferred to XVI century when the town was in bloom. It's not Spain anymore, it's Castilla - time to conquer New World!
Al final, quiero agradecer a todos mis amigos que conocí durante mi viaje. ¡Muchas gracias!: Lolek, Erik, Ángel, Víctor, Tatiana, Patricia, Elena, Sergio, Elena, Anyi, Leo, Carla, Elena, Eva María y otros ...
Labels:
2010,
Angel,
around the...,
Bartek Ryś,
Europe,
Lolek,
Madrid,
Spain,
Toledo,
Travel
|
0
comments
Thursday, March 4, 2010
¡Hola Andalucía!
After night spent at Airport of Alicante I came finally to Madrid - but more about the capital in the second part of the post. Short nap in Pawel's place and I was already waiting for the bus* to Granada.
*Here small advice - if anytime ever you are going to have a cheap journey around Spain and there are no more free seats in Ryanair flights (Yes, that's in fact the cheapest way of travelling in Spain - roundtrip from Barcelona to Madrid can cost 10 Euro) take the bus instead of train. First of all they are much cheaper (roundtrip ticket Mad-Granada costs 32 Euro and there is no fee for rebooking) and secondly you are avoiding unpleasant control which after March 2003 has been introduced in every train going to the capital.
Eventually we three - me, Pawel (who you already know, among others, from trip to Lvov) and Erik (Pawel's workmate, becario**) - set off in Granada, where adorable Spanish girls - Elena, Tati and Patricia together with Victor were already waiting for us. When you come to Spain - do it in February, it's a perfect time to see the cultural and thermal difference between Iberian Peninsula and the rest of the continent. And students are the perfect example, because then they finish exam sessions and are the most willing to party (and when they are not?!).
**becario - term describing not only the actual task of intern in the company, but also his status. As Pawel and Erik said, becario is a bit out of the rules and etiquette in companies. All the mistakes, inproper clothing, etc can be excused exactly with this word.
Hungry, but enjoying beauty of our hosts and good weather (in the night thermometer showed 12'C) we went to Tapas bar. And if someone has just few free hours in Spain and has a will to feel Spanish atmosphere, there is nothing else to do, but to go to any tapas bar. It's like all Spain, all customs, people, stereotypes, surprises, literally everything Spanish in one place and they have canas. Finally the clock struck midnight, so it was the best time to go for a party.
And the company for partying was no mean, because beforeparty took place in the apartment of students of medicine, where liberating Cuba we were checking our engineering skills. Party in the club with Spanish girls can be described with one single word - WOW!. There are just two nations for which dancing comes so naturally - Georgians and Spanish. And what's the best, they were so determined to teach me salsa, that I - a person whose feet and hips always quarrel with rythm - I was able to make few proper steps. What is very noticeable - apart from girls, who looked just gorgeous, 80% of local boys in disco just look the same. And I don't know if this is some trendsetting, or Granada-style, but they all wear blue shirts with white collars and have horrible, horrible hair-style -something between early Limahl and Danzel the only difference is the colour of hair. On the weekends - because that time I could experience, parties last till dusk. That's why before 1 pm it's hard to find people on the streets. We recovered also just afternoon, but it was a perfect time to see Granada.
What a city it is! Some say, that if you weren't in Sevilla, you didn't see a miracle. But if you weren't in Granada, you didn't see anything. Perhaps all the Andalucia, but definitely especially Granada is like an open book. Walking along the streets, passing next districts is like reading chapters of Spanish history one by one. It's enough to walk few meters to straight from Jewish Gates of Fajalauza walk in to Arab bazaar. I always said, that the best way to get to know foreign place is to get lost there because without guides and maps you can see much more. In Granada you can be led not only by your eyes, but all the senses are telling you were to go. Extraordinary mix of thousands of smells - of spices, food, shops and products sold on the streets can take you for a memorable trip in Granada.
What Big Ben is for London, Manhattan for NYC, the same Alhambra is not only for Granada, but for all the country. Honestly, I am not a big fan of visiting museums and generally the interiors, especially when I don't have too much time and the weather is great outside, so I left visiting this great fortress complex just for the case of rain. But if not from inside, then where can you go to see Alhambra? Of course to the St. Nicholas square. And as you can call Alhambra - the diamond of Granada - that square must be at least a piece of coal, turning to a diamond. Cyganeria, bohemia, call it as you want. I will not describe it, just watch!
It took two days and nights to see Granada, but only few hours to fall in love with this city. Speechless with delight we left Granada on Sunday's evening, the capital was waiting already...
Monday, March 1, 2010
Yes, the post about my trip to Spain is coming up, but there is one even more urgent case to write about...Ladies and gentlemen, although I am not a big fan of classical music, I hardly recognise the difference between Mozart and Beethoven and in the philharmonic concert hall I've been only once - on symphonic concert of Beatles songs, I still feel on duty to announce - Year 2010 is an official year of great composer - mr Frederic Chopin.
You can ask - what the hell do I have in common with this French guy? And this is a point - the day of his 200 birthday is an excellent moment to bring it to your attention, that Chopin was a great Polish composer. Of course, he prefered French women (who doesn't?), he migrated to Paris, but still almost all his marvelous works are influenced by Polish elements. Perhaps his surname still doesn't tell you anything - but let me remind the great movie of Roman Polanski - awarded with 3 Oscars - the Pianist:
The main hero - Wladyslaw Szpilman was playing the works of noone else but Frederic Chopin.
And even if you are not interested in classical music, it's still worth to visit opened today the Museum of Frederic Chopin in Warsaw. One of the most modern museums in Poland is full of hi-tech elements which can introduce the visitors not only to Frederic Chopin himself, but also the times in which he lived, and that time Warsaw and Paris.
In the end I recommend to check the album "Rock loves Chopin" - where conterporary Polish musicians made new arrangements of Chopins most famous works.
Update: To obligatory cd positions I have to add, recommended by K.O. - my classical music authoritate - Chopin Impressions by Leszek Mozdzer, who is notabene bonded quite strongly with Wroclaw ;).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Subscribe To
Posts
All Comments
Recommended
