My first real trip to Spain went well from almost every standpoint. The only bummer was the Newark airport plane switches that bookended my trip. (Airport machinations went well but NWK's view of the New York skyline was clear and depressing). Madrid, Europe's highest capital at 2000 feet, once thought itself to be the center of the world as well.
I arrived in Madrid on schedule and caught the airport bus to Plaza de Colon (Colon is Christopher Columbus's last name in Spanish. I was later to find that nearly every Spanish city had a Plaza de Colon).
This, my first day in Spain, was the only one where the rain hassled me as you can see from the clouds in the background of this Neo-Gothic spire built in 1885. Old Chris is supposed to be facing West towards the New World he mistook for India. I couldn't get him to turn around and so the silhouette is about the best I could do as I had no luck getting the sun to change its position either, at least anytime soon:
(Never fear, this statue is identical to the one in Barcelona and you'll get to see if I got a better shot there in the Northern Mediterranean sun).
A more modern Columbus memorial was added recently to the Plaza but it is too ugly to photograph, being mostly blocks of concrete with modern lettering.
Walking though the plaza, one passes this nice berm/waterfall which hides the complex below which includes a bus terminal, exhibition halls, and an art center. Like Paris, Madrid can work on many levels, although I didn't get to visit its sewer system. (Don't feel bad, you Americans, you had your underground railroad and you Aussies, I am told, have an entire continent down under.)
To the North is the city's most fashionable shopping district (I probably wouldn't get to that even if I had three years to visit Madrid.) On the south side of Plaza de Colon is the National Library and Archeological Museum which I felt compelled to photograph since I lived on top of its equivalent in Paris.
This building contains many items from Spanish excavations but my three-day stay was too brief to allow a visit.
By this time, I was on a roll (as was my small wheeled suitcase) so guided by the city maps sprouting from commonly-placed kiosks, I made my way on foot towards my hotel at the town's center (and indeed Spain's center as all distances are measured from there) the Puerta del Sol. I figured I'd get a cab when fatigue and time zones caught up to me, but the distance turned out to be quite short. In no time, I was traversing South down the broad and well-gardened Paseo del Recoletos (no Paseo del Rey, but hey, who's complaining).
Soon I came to Plaza de Cibiles in the heart of what is called Bourbon Madrid since the Bourbon kings that replaced the Habsburgs redid this area in the 18th century. At the junction of Paseo del Recoletos with the equally posh Paseo del Prado lies the Plaza de Cibiles with its fountain (fuenta) to the Roman nature goddess Cybele (Sibyl in Latin) sitting on a two-lion-power chariot. This fountain is often considered to be one of the symbols of Madrid (citizens risked their lives during the civil war to protect it with sandbags); it was designed by Jose Hermosilla and Ventura Rodriguez. As you can surmise from all the traffic sign paraphernalia in the picture at the top of this page, this statues lies in a very busy roundabout.
The Cybele fountain anchors one end of Paseo del Prado; at the other end is another fountain, again designed by Ventura Rodriguez, this one dedicated to another roman god: Neptune.
Several major buildings surround this roundabout, but I was most impressed with the early 20th century wedding cake masonry called the Palacio de Comunicaciones (sounds much better than the main post office which it is).
Soon I reached my hotel, donned my raincoat and headed backwards to the Paseo del Prado to visit one of the finest museums in the world, the Prado.
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