Madrid? Or just the Gran Vía?

Photo © hazy.eyes on Flickr

I do love Madrid just as much as the next person.  In January 2008 I spent a weekend visiting a friend who took me to all these hot places (he was studying law and did some DJing as well), which I was completely under-dressed for, but he had an apartment right near the Palacio Real and even though there were some awkward moments, the experience overall was pretty fun.

Downtown Madrid is wonderful.  The museums, the ambiance, the busyness...it's an incredible city.  Even on a Sunday morning at 6 am while leaving a club the city is still busy.

But one of the things that aggravates me about the city is the fact that the only pictures that people seem to post (and like, when that can be seen) are those of the Gran Vía/Calle de Alcalá.  It's always pictures of the same strip, the strip around the Edificio Metrópolis (on the left in the above image) on the Calle Alcalá which meets the Gran Vía (which is straight ahead in said image).  The reason this aggravates me is because there is so much more to Madrid than this small strip.  There's the Puerta del Sol a few blocks down on Alcalá (Alcalá comes from the Puerta del Sol), there's the Palacio Real.  The Palacio de Comunicaciones and Cibeles.  The Puerta de Alcalá.  The Prado Museum.  The Thyssen-Bornemisza Gallery.  The Reina Sofía.  Atocha train station.  Plaza Mayor.  And that's just in the Sol district.  Madrid is a big city.  It's the largest city in Spain and the country's capital.

There is so much more to see and do in Madrid than just what's on the Gran Vía.  And I just feel that focusing on this small section of the city is like saying that Times Square is the only monument in Manhattan, or that the Golden Gate Bridge the only monument in San Francisco.  Or the Eiffel Tower the only monument in Paris.

I do honestly love Madrid.  I may love Barcelona more, but I still love visiting Madrid when I get the chance (which I haven't had since January 2008).  I just wish it were appreciated more for what it is as a whole than just four or five pretty buildings on the corner of two major streets.