“‘The young gentleman is soft, sir, very soft,’ said Drudge. ‘He is not used to this sort of thing. We’ll have to help him along…Then they plodded on for many more miles.'” CS Lewis, The Pilgrim’s Regress
Many months ago when plans to travel in Spain were in their infancy, and our research encouraged us to spend 3 days in Madrid (a top destination), we booked into a small hotel in the centre of the old town. I’m uncertain where my presuppositions took root but I had always thought of Madrid as a sprawling, noisy metropolis that was better travelled through than stayed in. If my graduate studies have taught me anything about presuppositions, it’s that it’s good to have them challenged. I can either defend previous held ideas with good reason, or adapt them to a better argument.
All that to say, Madrid is what I expected. Maybe I am soft and unaccustomed to big city sprawl. Maybe I’ve hit a wall and am feeling some travel fatigue so need some helping along. I’ll give it that. But maybe the city does lack charm and being here feels a little like plodding along. I am looking forward to old world Toledo a few miles down the road.
But all was not lost in Madrid. Here are just a few things we observed: a higher than average police presence, a stamp and coin market, touristy “Segway Human Transporters” for rent, street buskers, children dressed in their Sunday best, soccer garb, a hearty welcome for Syrian and Iraqi refugees, an impromptu choir practice accompanied by pipe organ at the “Catedral”, and a lovely, warm sunshiny day!
