A weekend in Madrid

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

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!

 

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.

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”.