Te dejo Madrid
con tus avenidas amplias
tus edificios y palacios resplandecientes
Te dejo Madrid
con tus mil sabores
patatas bravas y albóndigas
queso manchego y aceite de oliva arbequina
escaparates luciendo la pata negra
cenando a media noche
las calles repletas de gente
Te dejo Madrid
con tus tesoros nacionales
el Prado con "Las Meninas" de Velázquez
las imágenes de la guerra en el "Guernica" de Picasso
"Muchacha en la Ventana" de Dalí
la poesía de Lorca
Te dejo Madrid
por las calles sinuosas del Rastro
las antigüedades del mercado de sellas y monedas
la pasión del flamenco
y con un brindis a Don Ernesto bajo la sombra
de los árboles que rodean la Plaza Santa Ana
Te dejo Madrid
pero tu no me dejas a mi
(Título prestado de la canción “Te Dejo Madrid” de Shakira).
Click on any image to view on a larger screen.
Edificio Metrópolis: The beaux-arts style Metropolis office building.
Plaza Mayor: Beautiful public square that has hosted bullfights, executions and trials during the Inquisition. The statue in the middle is of King Philip III.
Random window.
Congreso de los Diputados: Spanish Parliament.
Don’t forget to look up! Random beautiful buildings.
Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales: Doors to a monastery for widowed royalty. The plain exterior walls hide the many riches that the royals brought with them.
Apartments near the Royal Palace.
Doors at the Catedral de le Almudena: Madrid’s cathedral.
Muralla Árabe: Remains of Moorish and medieval city walls.
Outside the Palacio Real. The palace has 135,000 square meters of floorspace and 2800 rooms.
Catedral de la Almudena: Exterior is neo-classical; interior is neo-gothic.
Close up of relief at the Catedral de la Almudena.
Ceiling inside the Catedral de la Almudena.
Courtyard of the Palacio Real.
Exterior hallway at the Palacio Real.
I leave you Madrid
with your wide boulevards
and your resplendent buildings and palaces
I leave you Madrid
with your thousand flavors
spicy fried potates and meatballs
manchego cheese and olive oil
black hoofs on display in shop windows
dining at midnite
the streets bursting with people
I leave you Madrid
with your national treasures
“Las Meninas” by Velázquez at the Prado
the images of war in Picasso’s “Guernica”
Dalí's “Woman at the Window”
Lorca’s poetry
I leave you Madrid
through the circuitous streets of the Rastro
the antiquities at the stamp and coin market
the passion of flamenco
and a toast to Hemingway beneath the shade
of the trees that surround Plaza Santa Ana
I leave you Madrid
but you do not leave me
(Title borrowed from the song “Te Dejo Madrid” by Shakira).
Agujas 