Madrid is thriving once more. Credit: Songquan Deng / Shutterstock
Madrid, one of Europe’s largest capitals, has long been oddly overlooked – rather like the quiet guest at a dinner party who ends up being the most interesting person there. Rome has basked in admiration for millennia, London and Paris for centuries, Berlin for decades. Madrid, though, is a comparatively recent arrival to the limelight, now nudging confidently towards Europe’s top tier.
Unlike its grander rivals, Madrid is not the ancient soul of its nation. It only became the capital in 1561, when King Felipe II rather abruptly set up court there. His reasoning remains a mystery: maybe because of its central position and lack of troublesome local power – very little helps!
Early Madrid was dismissed as little more than a provincial outpost, yet it teemed with life – from medieval peasants rinsing offal in streams in the 13th century to King Felipe IV travelling by gondola through underground waterways for secret trysts in the 17th.
The old accusation that Madrid merely lives off the rest of Spain is equally misleading. As Spain’s empire expanded, so did Madrid’s cultural brilliance. Its golden age produced extraordinary talent (Velázquez, Cervantes, Lope de Vega) and even as Spain’s global influence waned, the city continued attracting remarkable figures like Goya.
Today, Madrid’s thriving once more, drawing tourists, talent and ambition – and quietly asserting itself as the capital of the Spanish-speaking world.
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Nora Johnson’s 14 critically acclaimed psychological suspense crime thrillers, including the latest ‘The House of Secrets’ (www.nora-johnson.net), all available online at Amazon etc. Profits to Cudeca cancer charity.
