Madrid Walks
Centro, the historic center of Madrid, is very walkable. Our hotel’s location in Centro was ideal for exploring the city on foot.
Our hotel was on the Gran Via (Great Way), so we walked on that boulevard every day. There were dozens of beautiful buildings, in a variety of styles - Neoclassical, Art Nouveau, and more. Many of them had roofs with statuary and other interesting details, and I had to remind myself to look forward instead of up as I walked.
The Gran Via ended at the wide Calle de Alcalá, one of the oldest and longest streets in Madrid. At the Circulo de Bellas Artes, we paid 5€ for access to the large rooftop terrace, where we could appreciate Centro’s distinctive buildings and rooftops from a better angle.
At the major intersections on Calle de Alcalá, traffic is routed around distinctive plazas. One was Plaza de Cibeles, with ornate, stately buildings surrounding the fountain where Real Madrid fútbol fans celebrate big victories. Beyond that was the Puerta de Alcalá, the majestic royal gate near the entrance to Retiro Park. That’s as far as we walked (this time).
At the other end of the Gran Via was Plaza de España, one of Madrid’s urban parks (like Paseo del Prado and El Retiro). Plaza e España had an impressive monument to Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote. After Plaza de España was Parque del Oeste (West Park), where we walked up the hill to the Templo de Debod. It was odd to see ancient Egyptian architecture in the middle of Madrid, but I liked the story behind it. The Temple of Debod was a Nubian shrine built in the 2nd century BCE. In 1968, the Egyptian government gave the temple to Spain as a gift for helping to save it from destruction by the Aswan Dam. Now the temple is a popular gathering spot for locals, especially at sunset. The views of Madrid from that hill would have been more beautiful on a less hazy day.
I already mentioned some iconic places in Centro in an earlier post, but we walked through some places repeatedly, like the semicircular Puerta del Sol with pedestrian streets emanating from it like the sun’s rays, and Plaza Mayor with its charming little side streets. These familiar sights offered endless photo opportunities as the light and crowds changed over time.
We certainly covered a lot of ground on our walks, but there will be plenty more to explore and discover on future visits to Madrid.
