My love for Madrid runs very deep. After living there during study abroad in college, I can easily call it my favorite city in Europe (which is saying a lot – Europe has many fantastic cities). Perhaps what makes it even more remarkable is how much it feels like home, still, when I visit.
There is something about being able to wander the streets of a city without often needing a map. And of course, being able to speak the language makes it feel more familiar. But there is an energy I get here that I get only a handful of other places in the world – a connectedness to a place – like I get when I’m flying into my home city of Chicago.
The last time I was there, in 2014, I had less than 48 hours to squeeze in all my favorite sites. A wander through Retiro + the botanic gardens, the impressionists exhibit at the Thyssen museum, lots of sitting in squares watching the people go by. Churros con chocolate, jamón, croquetas + tinto de verano. I ate very well in those 48 hours, let me tell you.
Madrid was just so very lovely in the springtime. After almost 2 weeks of wandering a very rainy Europe (see my postcards from Bordeaux, Salzburg, Munich + Paris for more from this same trip), the sun finally peeked through the clouds in Madrid + everything was blooming. It was as if the city was saying, “Oh, we remember you, welcome home.”
And I hope it feels that way for as long as I live.
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P.S. Last week I posted a video postcard from Madrid’s Parque del Buen Retiro, check it out here.
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