6/2/2008

For all of you who have been holding your breaths, trembling with suspense, waiting to find out which squares you absolutely must visit in Madrid, all I can say is… exhale… your brain cells are missing oxygen… jokes aside, here are my final choices… if you visit each one of these squares you will get a full sense of Madrid’s soul, beauty and history…


7.Plaza de la Villa de Paris… very close to Plaza Colon, this Square/garden is a little reminder of Paris’ Jardin du Palais Royal… in a much smaller scale, but there is something about manicured bushes that reminds me of my days in the city of lover’s Bridges… so if you’re a little nostalgic as well, this is the place to go… and if you walk up the calle Orellana to the cross street Argensola, you’ll find a very delicious pastery shop named Niza which is purely French in its Baroque decoration…

8. Plaza de las Salesas
Maybe because it is close to my home and I am biased, but this is another of my favourite sighting at the beauty in Madrid corners… a perfect square, a garden, stone steps guiding to a beautiful church… reassuring steps of brides under your footprint, remind you that for every moment life stops there is another where life continues... and really, it is the luxury feeling of provincial within a sprawling urban capital which makes Madrid special…

9. Plaza del Marques de Salamanca
The square is beautiful, a large roundabout surrounded by 19th century buildings… but really I chose it as an ode to one of my favourite characters in Spanish history, whom the square was named after, and who was the force behind the building of the majestic Salamanca quarter in Madrid.
José María de Salamanca y Mayol (1811 -1883). Marqués de Salamanca, conde de Los Llanos, was an influential statesman who had ups and downs in many different business, including railway transportation, banking, investment, etc. At one point he probably had the largest fortune in Spain, but when he died he owed more than 6 million “reales” of the time. Look him up if you want to know the details of a man who acquired his noble title through achievement, and was known for turning enemies into business partners… What I like about him especially is that he went bankrupt for beauty, in this age of cutting corners in quality to make profit, I was extremely surprised to know that el Marques de Salamanca preferred to loose money in order to build one of my favourite neighbourhoods in Madrid… and Madrid should eternally thank him for it…

9. Plaza de Joan Miró… Off where the Paseo de Castellana becomes the modern section of Madrid, where the football stadium meets El Corte Ingles, there is a square that adds warmth to the modern right angles of contemporary construction. Some people love this side of town, where the financial district’s many suit wearing devotees run around, and the city has the hustle and bustle of New York. Personally I like this square because it has a large Miro’s mural, and Miró always makes me smile, and that is an understimated virtue of any work of art.

10. How about you decide which plaza should be added to the list?