Yesterday, I went for a lovely walk to Madrid’s Casa de Campo. Situated to the west of the city, it used to be the hunting grounds for the Spanish Monarchy. It covers a staggering 1,722 hectares – compare that with Retiro Park’s 142 hectares and Central Park’s 340 hectares – and you could say it gives the city a great pair of lungs! The park was given to the people of Madrid on the 1st May, 1931 under the Second Republic and now provides a wide variety of activities to Madrileños – mountain biking, triathlon, walking, running, etc. 

I actually went to the park with my son and daughter and my father-in-law in order to ride the cable car. The Teleférico runs from just inside the park to the edge of another park, Parque del Oeste and offers wonderful views of the Royal Palace, the Cathedral and old Madrid. The ride took us around 11 minutes and covers a distance of about 2.5 kilometres.

Having received such a lot of rain over the past couple of weeks the Casa de Campo was a beautiful green colour. I was actually quite surprised to see so few people there, seeing as it was a beautiful Saturday in April. It seemed like the perfect place to unwind from the bustling city centre of Madrid and have a picnic under the pines with a cool glass of beer. According to my father-in-law the place has got much better since the clampdown on cars entering the area. The only cars I saw around the cable car were those which were transporting cyclists to a cycle race. And boy, does this look a fun place to go for a ride or do some mountain bike racing.

If you’re looking to get to the park, the easiest way is to get the Metro to Lago or get the cable car from Argüelles.

For quite some time I have been aware of, and admired, the photographic work of Ramón Durán, through the popular website Flickr. Ramón is a doctor and urology specialist who works at one of Madrid’s hospitals. In his spare time he takes some quite stunning photos. Here are a selection of his Madrid photos which he has edited using HDR (High Dynamic Range Imaging). Clicking on them will take you to Ramón’s photos on Flickr, where you can get descriptions on the photos and how he created them.

       

The other day I had an interesting comment added to one of my web posts. Here it is:

I am looking for a good description of the personalities of the various sections of Madrid in order to determine in which neighborhood I’d like to stay. Any ideas?
Thanks

Never one to shy away from a challenge, I decided to do a little bit of searching and came across a couple of good sites which offer information on the various barrios of Madrid. The obvious starting point was Wikipedia which has a basic overview of some of the more popular ones in its Madrid Wiki page. The Spanish version of Wikipedia also details 8 of the barrios in its barrios de Madrid section.

I also came across a superb supplement in the online newspaper 20 Minutos (in Spanish), which is called La Tierra de los Mil Barrios or Land of the Thousand ‘Barrios’. It offers a detailed overview of the barrios both in central Madrid and the suburbs and is accompanied by photo galleries and statistical details – many also have visitor comments.

Let me know if you come across any good barrio guides.

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I read an article a few weeks back which was talking about the fact that the practice of knife sharpening was dying out in some developing country and thought to myself: "well, it’s still alive and kicking in a first world country (Spain)". Ever since I first came to Madrid I have seen these men sharpening knives on the streets all over Madrid. They always carry a sort of whistle with them, which they blow to catch the attention of (mainly) housewives and will then, for a small fee, sharpen the knives. In order to do this, they simply peddle away and sharpen the knife on the circular stone which stands between the handlebars.

The above picture was taken on c/ Arenal, just a few steps away from the Plaza de la Villa.

This year the Madrid City Council will be moving the Christmas Ice Rink away from the centre of the city to the heart of Madrid’s business district. The idea is to try and spread the Christmas events over an even greater area – there will also be a children’s ‘fun factory’ (factoría  de ocio) in the Plaza de Colón.

The ice rink will be located at the foot of Torre Picasso and will open on the 22nd December and run until the 8th January. It opens at 10 in the morning and closes at 9 p.m. Torre Picasso was, until recently, the tallest building in Spain and is the home for many multinational companies. Nearby, you will also find the largest belén (nativity scene) in Europe, which is made up of 1,200 pieces and covers an extensive area. You will find that the large department store El Corte Inglés is located near there, as is Habitat, and the shopping centre Moda. There are also a number of shops in Orense street.

Metro
Santiago Bernabeu or Nuevos Ministerios

This year the Christmas lights were lit on the 26th November – probably the earliest that they have ever been lit. This year the city council have opted for 2.5 million bulbs – 500,000 more than last year. The areas of Gran Vía, Alcalá and Recoletos will have a snow theme, Puerta de Alcalá and Cibeles, "tongues of fire"; Mayor, a ceiling of light; Chueca, Confetti, and Colón, illuminated water.

The Palacio de Comunicaciones will be specially lit up for the Christmas period (20th December-7th January) and Nativity scenes wil light up the outside walls, from the 21st to 29th December, of the following religious buildings:

Parroquia de la Virgen de la Paloma y San Pedro el Real
Pza. de la Virgen de la Paloma
Basílica de San Francisco el Grande
Pza. de San Francisco
Real iglesia de San Andrés
Pza. de los carros
Basílica Pontifica de San Miguel
c/ San Justo, 4
Iglesia catedral de las Fuerzas Armadas
c/ Sacramento, 11
Iglesia de San Nicolás de Bari de los Servitas
Pza. de San Nicolás
Parroquia de Santiago y San Juan Bautista
Pza. de Santiago, s/n
Real Monasterio de la Encarnación
Pza. de la Encarnación, 1

Related Articles
Christmas Nativity Scenes and Markets in Madrid

Here’s an article, entitled 360° Virtual Tours of Madrid, that I wrote last year but which many new visitors might find of interest. It talks about a Madrid-based website which displays great, virtual 360° panoramas of some of Madrid’s most famous landmarks, such as the Royal Palace, the Plaza Mayor and the Reina Sofia Museum. The website is called Madrid Virtual  and it is run by Carolina Borgesi and her husband Germán González Garrido. 

Just over a month ago I took a walk through the streets of La Latina (Metro: La Latina) – one of Madrid’s oldest and most enchanting barrios. eThis is somthing that I often do as you never know what you will encounter in its small streets and alleyways. Aside from the great bars and restaurants like La Taverna de los Cien Vinos and El Madroño, you will find wonderful buildings, squares and churches.

One of the most curious places I came across this day was Imprenta Cicerone, I think it was in c/ Águila. As you can see by the picture it looks pretty plain on the outside but inside it housed a treasure trove of old and new bullfighting posters – there were stacks of posters laid out when I walked past and some on the walls dated back 50 years. I couldn’t tell if they were for sale – if anyone does know this, please let me know.

It appears that many of the old buildings (and disused shops) in La Latina are getting a facelift and I’m sure that this will mean more bars, restaurants and smart shops. An old "Chocolate con Churros" shop was being turned into a bar as I wandered around and an old tavern was getting a lick of paint and a new bar!

Just crossing Carerra de San Francisco you can see the impressive church of San Francisco el Grande, which was completed in 1784 and has one of the largest domes in the world – measuring 33 metres in diametre – and has 6 side chapels. Inside you will find paintings by famous Spanish painters Goya y Zurbarán. It may look non-descript from street level but just take a peep inside and you will see that it is anything but.

On the other side of the street you come across a nice little square called the Plaza de Carros (carts) – which acted as a stop for carts/carriages in old Madrid. There are quite a few nice bars around here – you may even want to have a drink at an outside table. The church which is adjacent to the square is called San Andrés and dates from 1662 – it was the the first resting place of Madrid’s patron saint, San Isidro.

To the right of the church (East) you can see the Museum and House of San Isidro, which houses a well where he was said to have performed one of his miracles.

Heading north from the Plaza de Carros I came to the down to the Plaza de la Paja. The Plaza de Paja was the old Moorish area
of Madrid,  where the most important muslim market was held. In
Medieval Madrid it was the place where the nobility had residences –
the Spanish Queen Isabel la Católica, for example, had a palace here.

I have walked through this area many, many times but had never seen a door in the brick wall at the far end of this Plaza – it reminded me of the book ‘The Secret Garden’. Entering this door you come into the Jardín de Anglona – a garden which stands directly next to the Palacio de Anglona and which was restored a few years ago by Madrid’s City Council.

It is so surprising to see such a small, pleasant
garden in the middle of old Madrid. Not being a gardening expert, I
would say that it is very simple with a small number of trees and
benches, neat little lawns and some shrubs! – an ideal place to stop
and contemplate c/ Segovia and the old buildings that surround it or, alternatively, just read a book.