Travels with V
Madrid
Flamenco – Spain's hot blood
Madrid part three
Flamenco dancing was born in Andalucia, a part of Spain that was a cultural melting pot in the medieval ages, when arabic, romani, jewish and spanish were blended into a spicey mix. Today the Flamenco has developed into a highly sophisticated improvisational dance where the dancer expresses her/his personality using elements from a more than hundred years old tradition.Â
You can’t describe Madrid and not mention the Retiro park, an oasis right in the middle of the city. In reality it’s actually not much more than a big pond with a great surrounding garden. You’ll find a bombastic monument for the king Alfonso XII and some exhibition halls. The Madridians love their park and on weekends you’ll see lots of families rowing boats on the pond, having a drink in a cafĂ© or strolling around bying souvernirs.Â
On our last half day we had set our minds on the TelefĂ©rico de Madrid, a cableway to a hilltop in the enormous Casa de Campo park, with great views of the city. But unfortunately it was too windy that day and the TelefĂ©rico was closed. So instead we wandered around a nearby rosary with roses from every corner of the world. Each one has a little name tag with the name of the grower that has interbred it.Â
To conclude: Madrid is a town that you immediately feel that you want to return to. It just has so much to offer to the visitor, architecture, art, food, bars for the thirsty and tapas joints for the hungry.Â
