Hoofing It In Madrid: Walk a City to Know It
by Robert McGarvey
Fitbit tells me that since I landed in Madrid 15 days ago I have walked 94.84 miles and by the time I leave at month’s end I suspect I will have added another 100. Yes, it’s true that I like walking but I walk in a city to get to know it. Nothing does that better than shoe leather.
Every city I have grown fond of I have walked a lot. Dublin, Belfast, Venice CA, Berlin, Manhattan, Washington DC, central Phoenix, and recently Madrid. A big plus to the Lavapies barrio of Madrid where I’m based -it is quite hilly. Central Phoenix by contrast is a flat mesa but in Lavapies there is a constant up and down. Hard on the legs for the first week but they get stronger.
Of the 50000 residents of Lavapies perhaps half are not Spanish and some 88 countries are said to be represented in the barrio. In that respect it is an atypical Madrid barrio but its long history – it dates back to the 1500s – makes it madreleno at its core.
Other than a taxi ride from the airport to the Airbnb where I’m staying I have not been in a car. I have logged four heavy train rides – round trips to Toledo and Avila – and two Metro rides. I also was on a tour bus in Toledo. But for me feet are the way to discover what is really happening in a city.
I walk with no particular plan except to keep my eyes open. And I usually see much that tourists rarely do.
In Lavapies I have discovered the city has a substantial homeless population – some even sleep on mattresses on the sidewalk. The official number is 28,000 in the country, with Madrid having 4000+. Phoenix, where I live, has as bad a problem, maybe worse. But the question that always is on my mind is why. Everybody knows the cure for maybe 90% of homelessness is housing and that’s not that hard to provide. But Madrid like Phoenix doesn’t and both hope we simply won’t see the homeless but it’s difficult not to when you walk the city streets.
There are those who blame Airbnb for the homelessness but I don’t buy it. What I see in Madrid centro is widespread gentrification as neighborhoods, notably Lavapies but also in adjoining barrios, that had been lower income are sprucing up and real estate prices accordingly are soaring. This has been a 20 year process, although it now appears to be heading into its last act. People will be displaced, some will become homeless. A ban on Airbnb won’t cure the problem. Housing will, nothing else.
In walking Madrid I have also discovered that the city employs an army of street cleaners who hose down sidewalks and streets daily, broom up debris, and daily produce a sparkling city that within hours will be covered with litter, everything from discarded clothing to beer bottles and cigarette butts (about twice as many Spaniards smoke compared to the US).
Lavapies also seems to have armies of police who come in two flavors, national and municipal, and in any hour walk I will see around a dozen. In one case three responded to what I guess was a shoplifter and four responded to take into custody two teenage fare evaders on a train. A reality: Madrid has a very low crime rate. The streets are quite safe (but do watch out for pickpockets and backpack carriers need be aware of crooks who slash a back with a knife and, yes, I have seen sad, slashed backpacks). The police patrols probably play a part in the city’s safety if only for their visibility.
Another fact about Madrid centro: just about every short block has a coffee shop. Most are tiny, just a few tables. Indeed, the building that houses my Airbnb also houses a coffee shop and the coffee is pretty good. (See photos below.) All also sell cakes and cookies and Spaniards do eat them and nonetheless have an obesity rate perhaps half ours. No, I can’t explain this either.
Most blocks also have a bar, also usually small, perhaps with 10 stools at a bar or one variation I saw had no stools and patrons stood up to drink vermouth, usually sweet, usually much better than the products we see in the US, although Martini rosso seems to have a big market presence here despite its unexceptional flavor. There’s a tiny bar housed in my building – see La Turra below. Spain’s alcohol consumption is about twice the European average which you would have guessed if you’d walked the morning streets with me.
Another reality, at least about the Lavapies barrio, is the human density. Sidewalks are narrow and always full. The streets are narrow cart tracks from the 16th century. Cars drive slowly, not much faster than the people walk.
Remember that: it is fine to walk slowly in centro Madrid. Don’t rush. Nobody else is and probably you can’t anyway.
