Madrid

I spent an interesting weekend in Madrid a few years ago, a city of broad streets and expensive shops and beautiful museums. Physically as well as economically, it is the heart of Spain, most of its rail and air connections to the rest of the country coming via the city. Situated on a high plain, the city is surrounded by rural areas which many would say are the ‘real’ Spain. It has the feel of a major capital city, with broad open streets, some modern buildings but others that date back to medieval times. And it is a shoppers paradise! In winter it can be very cold and in summer, too hot for many of its citizens who escape to the southern coastal areas where though still hot, there may be the promise cooler breezes.

The city’s pride was tested but not broken by the appalling bombing attack by al-Qaeda associates in March 2004, just days before the General Election which brought the Socialist Party to power. That appalling terrorist attack was concentrated on the railway terminal, at a time when many of the travellers were poorer people on the way to work, some of them immigrants. 191 people were killed and 2,050 wounded. The perpetrators were local Islamic extremists and the trial of suspects is being held as I write. Forty-one of the dead came from thirteen countries outside of Spain.

A visit to the city must include some time spent in the Prado Museum , which has one of the world’s finest collections of European art from the 14th through to the 19th centuries. There are some fine sculptures here and many drawings, but it’s the picture gallery that gives the museum such international distinction, with an emphasis of course on Spanish art. The Prado has the world’s finest collection of the works of Diego Velazquez and Francisco Goya, and many other major artists are represented too. The building itself is a delight and walking through the galleries is like a cultural feast.

Madrid is a city of museums – there are over thirty of them spread around the city and you need to decide which to visit or you could quickly have gallery-fatigue. Like many major cities, if you can viewing the sights it is preferable to do so by foot; I always think that that’s the best way to get the real flavour of a place, and if it means you see less you may also engage more with the people and their life.

B.R.

Related links:
Guide to Madrid
Hotels in Madrid
Restaurants in Madrid

Copenhagen

As I write, this is a city very much in the news, and in a different way than one might suppose. In this normally solid and respectable metropolis, there have been riots and unrest during recent days over a red brick building with a history. ‘Youth House’ is a hundred years old, was originally a community theatre for the labour movement, visited once by Lenin, and more recently a popular meeting place for left wing anarchists and musicians, and a centre for anti-capitalist activists. Squatters set up house there ten years ago when there was talk of it being sold. Despite their efforts a right wing religious group bought it in 2000, and last week the government began forcibly to evict the squatters. There are pictures in the papers this morning of the building being demolished.

We had a very different experience of the city when we visited it eight years ago on a freezing cold March weekend, the only colour against the handsome grey buildings being the soldiers in their red and blue uniforms as they changed the guard by the royal palace. The famous Tivoli Gardens in the heart of the city was closed for the winter period, and is in fact open for only five months of the year. It claims to be ‘one of the world’s most thrilling entertainment complexes’, and its miniature gardens with 100,000 blooms must be a splendid sight in mid-summer.

We visited the National Museum, housed in the Prince’s Palace and full of fascinating historical and contemporary artefacts and information. There was a relaxed and welcoming feeling to this and other galleries that we visited, although sometimes we felt almost alone as people, clothed in heavy winter wear, hurriedly went about their business. The city spreads itself around an impressive port and you are never far away from the sea. When we were there a bridge and tunnel were being completed to unite the cities of Copenhagen and Malmo in Sweden. It was opened in 2000 by the monarchs of both countries, and as a result Copenhagen has become the centre of an enlarged metropolitan area. Apparently the bridge has not been used as widely as had been hoped by motorists, but trains are doing good business. Notoriously expensive to live in, some Danes have moved to Sweden where property is cheaper, and commute to work in Copenhagen daily.

No visit to Copenhagen is complete without seeing the Little Mermaid, appropriately and unobtrusively sited near to the sea. And of course we saw the statue of Hans Christian Anderson whose fairy tales are legendry, one of which was the inspiration for the mermaid. We took the obligatory photos as we stood beside both statues.

Another lovely city and with a distinction all of its own.

Bryan