Following Goya's Steps in Madrid... San Isidro

Today is San Isidro's feast, Madrid's patron saint. Thousands of people take part in a pilgrimage to the shrine of the Saint, a small hermitage near the Vicente Calderon Stadium. San Isidro supposedly worked here as a laborer tending his master's fields. One of the many miracles he performed was striking the ground with his staff to let a crystal clear spring water flow from the ground. Tradition dictates that today everyone must drink from this fountain, which has healing powers. 

San Isidro's fountain

The place to see this feast in all its splendor is the Pradera of San Isidro, a meadow near the banks of the Manzanares River which is now a public park. People then enjoy a picnic, where a variety of food stalls offer all the typical dishes of Madrid.

You can find Goya's statue in the spot where it's said he painted two of his most famous paintings about this feast: "The Meadow of San Isidro" and "The Hermitage of San Isidro" both found at El Prado Museum. If you use your imagination and get rid of the modern buildings, the view from the meadow is almost the same as when Goya painted these pictures.

Books in Freedom

Whenever I visit a new city, I check out what's to do for free. Madrid is no exception. As most big cities go, it's packed with these kind of activities. But while I was visiting the Chamberi district, I happened to run into a unique free place. Its name is Libros Libres (Books in Freedom) and its put in place a really innovative concept, or is it? It gives out books for free.

With the crisis looming over our heads, it's surprising that a bookstore wants to give away books, but that's the way it works. The concept is pure solidarity and the process is very simple. You browse, take as many books as you want at no cost, or pay whatever you feel like or leave books of your own. That's it!

In this dreary economic climate we are living in, isn't it just great that something so simple as books and reading could hold the key to a better and more educated world? It's certainly an antidote for the crisis! Things that make you go hmm...

Libros Libres is located at Covarrubias 7 in the Chamberi District.

Libreria Libros Libres

Platform Zero: Madrid's Ghost Metro Station

As I was searching for a bookstore in the Chamberí district, I happened to run across a modern, steel-and-glass structure on the corner of the street that read Chamberí museum. Always keen for an adventure, I stepped into the spiral staircase never suspecting that it led down to Madrid's ghost metro station. The Chamberí metro stop was one of eight original stations that opened in Madrid in 1919, on a line running from Cuatro Caminos to Puerta del Sol. The station closed in 1966 due to the fact that it could not be adapted to take the new longer trains as the metro station was built on a curve. 

Four years ago the station was reopened as a museum after being restored to its past glory still featuring the original decoration, gorgeous tiled adverts and furniture from that era. What makes this museum special besides being free is that it makes you feel like if you stepped back in time. Of course, there are all sorts of ghosts stories surrounding this place. I didn't see any, but the station does retains a ghostly vibe as you might expect. While in the midst of letting your mind wander to a bygone era, all of a sudden you can get a glimpse of a modern train whizzing by in front of your eyes bringing you back to the present. Such emotions can only happen in a place like Madrid!

 

 

Metro People Watching

The year doesn't begin in January. If you think it does, it's because you don't live in Spain. The year really begins the first Monday of September. It's when most Spanish people face reality and go back to work as their long vacations become distant memories. Most people feel a sense of doom or what we call post-vacation blues. So is it weird that I wasn't feeling them as I rode on the Metro (subway) that first Monday morning? Maybe it's because I was too busy looking at the mix of people that ride this famous public transport system. It's funny how people's attire change as stations change. And since around three million people ride it daily, you can bet that it will be a new adventure every time you ride it.

Mid way through the year

Holy Cow! How did we already get to June? Wasn't I only just making New Year resolutions? But the seasons change by nature’s own design. And I know I haven't been posting as regularly as I should, but that will change shortly after the summer has come and gone. As for now, have a great summer!, Ta Ta...

Another Holiday?



Don Quixote of La Mancha

Today is the day of the region in Castilla La Mancha and it's a holiday. Each region in Spain has it own day, thus it's not a holiday anywhere else. So what happens during this day? Absolutely nothing, at least not in the town where I live. All shops and businesses are closed.

Public holidays in this country are a dime a dozen. Spain has one of the highest number of bank holidays in Europe. (This is without counting "puenting", which I'll leave for another blog entry.) Spanish people are all for taking off as many days as possible from work. It always amused me when I used to work in the Spanish public school system how my peers were eager to see the published school calendar for the upcoming year, count how many holidays there were and if they were on a week day. If a holiday falls on a Sunday it isn't moved to a Monday like in the US.

My question is, how can Spain ever come out of the economic crisis we are facing when it seems like at least once a month there is a holiday?

15 M, A Year After

So today is the first anniversary of 15 M, a movement created here in Spain by people who call themselves "indignados". At first I was excited by this movement who seemed to act in pacifistic ways to acknowledge there is something wrong going on in this country. But then there were government elections and I thought something would happen in the urns, but lo and behold, the PP (right wing, conservatist group) won. WTF?? So it seems this movement had no effect in the voting and is once again gathering in Sol (Madrid) and other important Spanish cities, but what for? I don't get it...