El Retiro Park, A Stroll through Chamberí, & A Zarzuela Show!!
I decided to spend today doing some things off the beaten tourist path. Sure, tourists go to these places, but so do lots of locals.
I started in the Parque del Buen Retiro, often just called El Retiro, is Madrid's equivalent to New York's Central Park. It used to be available only to the monarchy but was opened to the public about a hundred years ago. The two best parts of the park, in my opinion, are the lake and the crystal palace. You can rent row boats to go out onto the lake. I briefly considered it... but could you imagine the complete catastrophe that would be me solo-ing it in a rowboat??! With spectators no less??? The palace was built after England built one for a world's fair. Spain was so impressed it wanted to build its own. Very pretty!
Then I walked through one of the least-visited neighborhoods of Madrid, Chamberí. It was really nice! Just not a lot of museums or cultural sights that would attract tourists. I really liked the architecture - nice old, refined apartment buildings and plazas, some of which needed a little tlc.
In the evening I went to a Zarzuela concert. Zarzuela is Spain's equivalent of America's musical theater. All Spaniards there as far as I could tell. The show was part of Madrid's summer-long "Veranos de la Villa" public concert series, and was open-air in a park facing the royal palace. The evening consisted of two short musicals that started, Spanish style, at ten pm and ended after midnight. There were whole families there with their kids (you could tell some had been dragged along against their will). It was really fun, at least for me!
Royal Palace at night:
