Feb 23·edited Feb 23Liked by Étienne Fortier-Dubois
Étienne, I was in Madrid last December for 6 days, including for the parade on horses and high uniform in front of the Palacio Real on Spanish Constitution Day (accidental, I didn't know.) What I also didn't know was that Madrid was founded in the late 9th century (from 852 to 886) as a citadel erected on behalf of Muhammad I, the Cordobese emir, on the relatively steep left bank of the Manzanares. It was a military outpost for the quartering of troops. You can read more about it here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Madrid
Today, of the buildings and works of that civilization there remains only a piece of a wall and a closed off area downhill from the Cathedral and Palacio Real. I took a photo of it from outside as it was closed when we went. I found there were too many reference points, but none significant enough to 'feel' unique. We spent 4 hours in the Prado - Goya! - but also loved (in a strange way) the two hours we walked around El Retiro Park with the lake and the Monument to King Alfonso XII.
But I was most disappointed by the food in Madrid. In fact, I repaired to Italian restaurants in Valencia and it was only Barcelona where I felt some 'culture' live.
As a resident of southwestern Ontario, I giggled when you compared Madrid to Toronto. I have yet to set foot in Madrid, but I already have a notion of what it's like thanks to that comparison. I do plan to visit Spain's capital, but to be honest I want to go there to see places that are near it rather in it. El Escorial is one of them, but more so the Bourbon-built (or re-built) palaces like Aranjuez and La Granja.
1) Maybe Madrid's high immigration has something to do with your experience. You should read/listen to this excellent piece in praise of Madrid for counterpoint. https://cpsi.media/p/madrid-the-capital-of-capitalism
2) I was pro-Catalan independence until I learned how much autonomy the region already has constitutionally.
3) On Wednesday night I had a lucid dream in which I asked an angel, who looked like a normal black man from the Caribbean, in Spanglish whether Madrid was any good. He said, "There is scarcely anything human in Madrid." Probably not true, but interesting nonetheless.
We lived in Barcelona for a while and love the city but more for its joie de vivre than anything else. I agree with you about Madrid and its lack of significant sights but would argue that this is part of its attraction. It’s a real place, not a living museum piece.
With apologies to Shakespeare: Some cities are born great, some achieve grestness, and some have monuments thrust upon them!
Madrid is, compared to many, an unpretentious city.
It's also a lot younger than most in Europe. That is why your comparisons to Toronto or implicitly, say, Buenos Aires, are fitting. Perhaps it is akin to Chicago: a nice town stuuck in the middle. Global trade would make it more of an anywhere.
It is call a pyramid because of the image of the base of a building. It is represented as a triangle.
The triangle of Maslow would be more confusing, because usually triad and triangle represent a like between 3 things.
Étienne, I was in Madrid last December for 6 days, including for the parade on horses and high uniform in front of the Palacio Real on Spanish Constitution Day (accidental, I didn't know.) What I also didn't know was that Madrid was founded in the late 9th century (from 852 to 886) as a citadel erected on behalf of Muhammad I, the Cordobese emir, on the relatively steep left bank of the Manzanares. It was a military outpost for the quartering of troops. You can read more about it here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Madrid
Today, of the buildings and works of that civilization there remains only a piece of a wall and a closed off area downhill from the Cathedral and Palacio Real. I took a photo of it from outside as it was closed when we went. I found there were too many reference points, but none significant enough to 'feel' unique. We spent 4 hours in the Prado - Goya! - but also loved (in a strange way) the two hours we walked around El Retiro Park with the lake and the Monument to King Alfonso XII.
But I was most disappointed by the food in Madrid. In fact, I repaired to Italian restaurants in Valencia and it was only Barcelona where I felt some 'culture' live.
As a resident of southwestern Ontario, I giggled when you compared Madrid to Toronto. I have yet to set foot in Madrid, but I already have a notion of what it's like thanks to that comparison. I do plan to visit Spain's capital, but to be honest I want to go there to see places that are near it rather in it. El Escorial is one of them, but more so the Bourbon-built (or re-built) palaces like Aranjuez and La Granja.
Three things:
1) Maybe Madrid's high immigration has something to do with your experience. You should read/listen to this excellent piece in praise of Madrid for counterpoint. https://cpsi.media/p/madrid-the-capital-of-capitalism
2) I was pro-Catalan independence until I learned how much autonomy the region already has constitutionally.
3) On Wednesday night I had a lucid dream in which I asked an angel, who looked like a normal black man from the Caribbean, in Spanglish whether Madrid was any good. He said, "There is scarcely anything human in Madrid." Probably not true, but interesting nonetheless.
We lived in Barcelona for a while and love the city but more for its joie de vivre than anything else. I agree with you about Madrid and its lack of significant sights but would argue that this is part of its attraction. It’s a real place, not a living museum piece.
With apologies to Shakespeare: Some cities are born great, some achieve grestness, and some have monuments thrust upon them!
Madrid is, compared to many, an unpretentious city.
It's also a lot younger than most in Europe. That is why your comparisons to Toronto or implicitly, say, Buenos Aires, are fitting. Perhaps it is akin to Chicago: a nice town stuuck in the middle. Global trade would make it more of an anywhere.