It dawns in Madrid, normally sunny, always bright. The city seems calm and is just beginning to stretch. It only seems that way, since just a moment ago, some were walking their way back home, nocturnal animals for duty or for pleasure ... Nevermind, as on any other morning the earliest beats of a great city begin, the creaking of the bars, the first engines, distant conversations and, in a bucolic foreshortening, even the chirping of the sparrows. So, yes! the smell of the coffee finally arrives... And so the smell of bread, churros, the fruits of the market, the flowers of the kiosk, the perfume of that woman who runs to catch her taxi. Everything has passed very quickly, and then the Sun reaches its highest point and everything is flooded with colors: the bright blond beer, the dark red wine, the intense copperish vermouth, the green of the olive and the blue of the sky. They are mixed with all kinds of tastes, being ours, or brought from anywhere in the world: impossible to tell the variety (we better imagine it as a ‘tapa’ and its infinite forms). You need to stop, just a moment, let the calm envelop you. The city, once again, seems asleep, and the sky is slowly tinted, now with almost obscene purples (it loves to play clueless). Tribal rhythms begin to roar, in any language, like jazz or rock, dressed in leather or silk, the night falls in Madrid and persuades you ... Do not resist, enjoy your senses!
To enter a traditional tabern in Madrid is to start enjoying all your senses with the colours, tastes, smells... (Madrid at your Feet)
During late 19th and early 20th century, Madrid experienced an important growth thanks to merchants and bourgeoisie, as seen in many colourful modernist shops and buildings (J.A. Gallego Vázquez)
For the madrileños, any small corner is suitable to set up a terraza and enjoy life with friends and goods; this one at Pretil de Santisteban (Madrid at your Feet)
During the summer nights, young madrileños
used to go out on the nights to collect verveine leafs... That's the origin of the cheerful verbenas
on the streets (Alberto Frías)