All of the planning (here and here), the time leading up to my first trip to Europe in 12 years, and I’ve arrived in Madrid. But between exiting the plane, going through customs, making my way to the metro station, riding underground to my destination, and coming up out onto the streets … I wanted to capture my first impression, and this picture above is my first view, some apartment buildings on Plaza de Tirso de Molina. I know, it’s nothing too exciting, but the style is not like anything one would see in New York City, or locally in New Jersey. Maybe it’s just my excitement at being someplace new, but it had an “Old World” feel to it, and what one might call “Mediterranean colors” (warm terracotta orangish-brown, pale and deep yellows) that gave off European vibes.
I had made arrangements with the Airbnb host to stop by earlier than official check-in time to drop off my suitcase so that I could start exploring Madrid unencumbered. But I was even a little earlier than my arranged meeting time, so I pulled my roller suitcase around Plaza de Tirso de Molina to take in the local views while killing a little time before going to the Airbnb. Below are some more of my first impressions.
It’s funny, I’m in Madrid and yet this restaurant makes me feel like I’m in Paris – maybe it’s the art, which reminds me of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and his art inspired by the characters seen in the cabarets of Paris in the late 19th century.
Madrid has no shortage of ornate, beautiful vintage wooden doors, like the one below. I found myself photographing doors like this throughout Madrid, and will show you more of them in a future post. It’s hard to know how old doors like this really are, but my guess is that they’re on the much-older side, one just doesn’t see doors made like this anymore, another element adding to the Old World feeling.
But not everything is “Old World” in Madrid, which probably goes without saying. Here’s some fun street art, including a mosaic piece that has the pixelated or “8-bit” graphic style of the French street artist known as Invader, although I don’t think this is an Invader piece. If anyone can identify the artists whose work is pictured here, please share in the comments section below.
For an artist exploring a new city in a different country, just this initial range of visual inspiration had me excited and ready for so much more!