Sunday in the Park

Weekends are a great time to slow down and indulge in local culture. A visit to the market, a walk around the park, and a leisurely brunch are great ways to get into the flow of life, in any city around the world.

My first Sunday in Spain was lovely. I woke up, dressed, and took the subway to Tirso de Molina. I stopped at a cafe and spent about 45 minutes enjoying café con leche and pan con tomate in the plaza while people-watching. From there, I walked toward El Rastro, Madrid's Sunday street market in the La Latina neighborhood.

I spent about half an hour browsing the stalls at El Rastro. Guidebooks sell it as a quirky antiques market, and maybe there are still sections that reflect that, but for the most part, it's full of clothes and touristy knick knacks. I bought an Audrey Hepburn tee for €10. Another cute shirt I'd looked at, and told myself I'd buy if it was still there when I came back, was gone.

From there, I got on the metro at La Latina, where I saw/heard the best street performers ever. There was a guy at the top of an escalator playing the guitar with what sounded like a backing track. As you rode down the escalator, you realized the violinist at the bottom was his accompanist. The sound carried really well, creating this rich audial experience in which one instrument or the other sounded like the lead, depending on where you were located. It was so cool. I tipped the guy at the bottom, who played Danny Boy next, lol. (Despite my red hair and freckles, I have only a small percentage of Irish heritage.)

I took the metro to the northwest corner of Retiro Park, where I walked from the Cibeles monument on down to the Prado Museum. I'll go more in depth in my post on Madrid's three big art museums, but needless to say, the Prado is not only the top art museum in Spain, but is one of the top in the world. It's more akin to DC's National Gallery than to the Met in size, so I was able to see every room in a few hours, spending five or ten minutes with each of my favorites.

Following the Prado, I took the hot climb uphill to Retiro Park. I used Google Maps to find the Palacio Cristal, which has become instagram-famous over the past few years. It was built for an exhibition in 1887, much like the structure of the same name in London. The one in Madrid, however, has remained where it was built and is still in one piece.

While it used to be a greenhouse, today the Palacio Cristal hosts modern art exhibits. The one when I was there was unobtrusive enough to be completely ignored. (Spot the clear pipes in the picture above? That was literally it.) Every other person was snapping selfies or pics of their friends, so I had plenty of people for a photo of me.

Following all that selfie snapping, I walked toward another one of the park's landmarks, the Fuente del Ángel Caído. Supposedly, Madrid is the only city in the world with a monument to the Devil. The fountain depicts the moment Lucifer was thrown out of Paradise, and was placed in the park in the late 1800s.

My last stop of the afternoon was the Estanque Grande, Retiro's grand man-made lake. The lake was built in the 1600s and was the site of mock naval battles and other spectacles and pageants. Today, on a sunny summer Sunday, people enjoy rowing around the fish-filled pool.