Madrid – A typical capital

If Barcelona is a bizarre artist, Madrid will be an office worker with a classic style. Madrid to me is a very peaceful and quiet city of a model capital with classical buildings and everything neatly arranged.

Madrid's busy shopping center is sparse at 8am on a Friday. As can be seen, the streets are very clean and tidy.

What I like about Madrid is that the city places a lot of emphasis on urban green. Furthermore, the trees are also planted with colors and arrangements.

The sparseness is a luck for me to enjoy the magnificence of Plaza Mayor, a Spanish version of Red Square.

Mercado de San Miguel (Saint Michael Market) still had no customers at that time.

Unlike Barcelona, where the Catalan flag is often flown in public places and even in the homes of the people, in Madrid the Spanish flag and symbols are hung everywhere. This partly shows the opposition of these two regions, that one side represents Catalonia demanding the separation and the other represents the Spanish royal government with the desire to control.

Santa María la Real de La Almudena (Almudena Cathedral) and the Spanish Royal Palace also have very few visitors at that moment.

Many areas of Madrid are in high position compared to the rest of the city so it is possible to have a panoramic view of the city from these positions. However, what disappoints me is that there is no place that facilitate visitors with a panoramic view of the city from these high positions.

As a famous Spanish specialty, Jamón (Spanish ham) is sold in every corner in Madrid. I've even seen Jamón restaurants combined with beer or coffee.

It seem that famous buildings of Madrid are located on one long street, from the Royal Palace, Plaza Mayor to Plaza de Cibeles, Mercado de San Miguel to Puerta de Alcalá. I felt a bit bored because Madrid lacks the a “distinctive highlight”. For me, the architecture in Madrid is similar to many other European cities without its unique features. This is a minus point to this city, I think.

As a Barcelona fan, Real Madrid FC is seen as the rival club. However, I still want to visit Real Madrid FC's Santiago Bernabeu stadium to satisfy my discover wish.

The stadium is under a massive reparation so appearance are very “industrial” and people have to queue in the sun for a long time to get into the stadium.

The only thing inside the museum that impressed me was the 13 Champions League trophies, the pride of Real Madrid fans and also the record that other team want to break.

The grass field is also being repaired so it did not look very attractive. In addition, I felt that Real Madrid's blue stadium lacks a bit of the highlight to be considered a football "mecca".