Visiting Madrid this week on invite from a college friend who's moved his family here for the summer -
More thoughts from Madrid–
By day three my
postcard guy recognizes me; he’s an older gentleman manning a newsstand near Madrid’s Atocha train station. I stop to buy from him on my morning walk into Central Madrid. “Cinco,” I say, buying another round of postcards. He smiles, knowing I can’t really speak Spanish, “Gracias,” and takes my payment. In his other hand he holds both a lit cigarette and a small espresso which he sips between greeting customers.
The postcards I buy every morning are also for my college buddy who’s meeting up with me for another morning of sightseeing while his children are spending mornings in a Spanish immersion program. This morning’s visit is to the Palacio de Cibeles (Cybele Palace), a downtown landmark established in 1919 as Madrid’s main post office and telecommunications headquarters but now serving as the City Hall.
The Palace’s eight-story high viewing deck provides panoramic views of Madrid, a city of over 3 million residents, extending for miles in all directions. In the below picture, the street veering up from the roundabout is the
Gran Via, also known as
Spanish Broadway and home to government headquarters buildings, such as the Banco de España, as well as a number of Spain’s most architecturally significant buildings.
