Christopher Howse

The right way to see Madrid

It's not the idealistic, innocent city you might walk through at first. It's more interesting than that

A street in Madrid: there is something more interesting behind the sunny façade… [Getty Images/Shutterstock/iStock/Alamy]

I got Madrid utterly wrong for quite a long time. It’s a lovely city to walk in, and I thought it was idealistic and innocent, like Don Quixote. But its strength is the easy-going tricksiness of a Sancho Panza. It is a little like Toledo or Seville in the picaresque 17th century.

I’ve only been robbed once, not violently, but it should have been more, so foolishly trusting was I, leaving my bag unattended or my jacket on the back of a chair. Not that Madrid is dangerous. You can saunter southwards from the marvellous Museo Sorolla (the house of the striking Sargent-like painter, stuffed with his canvases) in Paseo Martínez Campos, through streets of non-chain shops, down to the latitude of the Prado.

On the way there are bars or cafés — the concepts overlap. For the Spanish have invented meals to fill in every hour of the day: rich, rich breakfast chocolate with oily dough-stick churros; a sort of elevenses with savoury bits and pieces; a long lunch from 2 p.m.; merienda at teatime, with cake or pastries; more bits and pieces during the paseo when everyone potters around before dinner at 10 or 11 p.m.

On this southward stroll, there’s a street that stands for the right way to see Madrid. Just inside the elbow in the east-west Gran Via lies the Calle del Desengaño. There is some tarradiddle told to tourists about the street’s name. But the notion of desengaño is an awakening from deceit, the counterpart of the proverb la vida es sueño — life’s a dream. If tricksters use engaño, deceit (as does all the world), then desengaño is the eye-opener: the right way to see any city. Goya lived in this street, and he could see things all right.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in