This past weekend I went to Madrid. Since my DH is away on
business I took the train and went to the capital city to visit my mum.
Madrid is a must-visit place to a lot of people due to its
history, architecture and its night life but for me the one two reason to visit
Madrid are:
1º My mum
2º A music concert that allows me to see my mum
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| My mum at the Tandoori Indian Cuisine |
For me in particular, Madrid is not so attractive. I know a lot of
people, especially young fellows who are totally enchanted by Madrid and that
wouldn’t even think about leaving the
city, but that’s not me. Honestly and risking to offer a highly unpopular opinion
I dare say I like Barcelona better, but before explaining why I like Barcelona
better, I would rather say why I'm not attracted to Madrid in particular.
One of the things that put me off Madrid is the people on the streets.
People from Madrid seems to be a bit bitter to my countryside taste. It is so
difficult to find a smile in the crowd! It seems that the “madrileños” have
forgotten its “castizo” roots. Walking on its streets all you see is people
rushing from one place to the other, frowning and in their own bubble, pushing
forward and avoiding all eye contact. People in Madrid seems to have forgotten
how to say “Hello”, and “How are you doing?” Maybe it is because I'm use to the
people from Andalucía where most of them are open, welcoming and very pleasant.
It doesn't matter if you are in Malaga, Granada, Sevilla or a white
little village, you can rest assured that you will find most of its inhabitants
will be willing to grant you a bit of their time and for sure you will receive
a smile. If you don’t believe me try asking for direction in Malaga and do the
same in Madrid and you will notice the difference. … And this comment comes from
a South American woman who is used to the politeness of the Southern countries
of the New Continent!
Nowadays Madrid is not cheap and in some occasions not hospitable, not
very much “Client-oriented” as other big cities in Europe such as London, Berlin or even Rome. There’s
an article in the Huffington Post mentioning
this facts among others as reasons why
Madrid has been the only tourist destination in Spain to have lost visitors in
2013 (Source: “Foreing
turism slows down in Madrid” ).
Madrid is a city that looks old
and in a rush. Everyone is rushing from one place to another. Children, adults,
seniors and even dogs!
One of the peculiarities that grabbed my attention what the people that
goes to the parks to walk their dogs. You can be in a park with maybe a dozen of
people walking their dogs and you’ll be lucky if one or two grants you their
greetings and don’t even think about making small talk with other dog owners,
the Flying Spaghetti Monster forbids! And this is a fact that hasn’t been noted
only by me this weekend I took my mum’s dog for a walk in the park, other
people have also mentioned it to my mum as well. It seems that you need to
belong to a certain club or your dog needs to be of a proper breed in order to
mingle with the owners of the dogs… and if you, as me, comes from a South American
background or have the looks of a philipino or African, most of the people immediately
assumes you are the maid or the service people and treat you as such…. That really
so snobbish and not nice!
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| Walking Rita in Madrid |
If you take your dog for a walk in Malaga be sure you will be greeted,
granted smiles and your dog will be patted and greeted as well. For sure. The context and the people are totally different.
I know I can’t make generalizations. Those are never fair to anyone. I
know that you find black and white and grey everywhere but it seems to me I
have been blessed to be living in a place where people care for each other and
where being polite is not yet forgotten.
But don’t get me wrong, not everything seems bleak in Madrid. The
capital city is a cosmopolitan place with people of all over the world walking
its streets and visiting its historic landmarks and the night, especially on
weekends, is colourful and full of life. You can encounter all sort of tourists
eager to learn about Madrid. It is the non-touristic places that I refer to in
this post, and that’s what sadden me about it all, because is in the
non-touristic places where you learn about the true blood that runs in the city
veins.
It is quite interesting to sit down and study how our different
upbringings and countries of origin conditions how we interact with the world
that surrounds us. While someone from Madrid seems to look the world through suspicious
eyes, you can see on the same streets people from Africa with joy in their eyes,
people from Asian countries looking down
to their feet, South American people loud and mostly polite, Nordic people with
curious eyes and English people your typical tourist.
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| Park in front of my mum's flat |
In my opinion, not that anyone have asked for it, I think that Madrid
has a lot to offer and its people would benefit quite a lot if only they would
be a bit more polite. As my grandfather used to say: “It doesn't hurt to be polite”.
Only 5 numbers to go! 
