Sanmao not only influenced me, but also influenced an entire generation’s attitude towards love, travel and life. The first time I was curious about the world and the first time I learned about Spain came from her.
When I was a teenager, I was full of yearning for Madrid. The city where Baroque architecture and football are intertwined is also the place where my favorite Sanmao and Jose met. Since then, Madrid has been imprinted on my heart with passion and romance.
As the capital and one of the representative cities of Spain, Madrid has carried many years of Sanmao. This time I am going to visit the city where she once lived and loved: Madrid, to look for Sanmao’s footprints.
Market of San Miguel - Basilica de San Miguel - Parque del Retiro
This steel and glass building The structure is really eye-catching.
This modern-looking building is actually the Market of San Miguel, the most famous and popular market in Madrid with a history of more than 100 years.
Walking into the San Miguel Market, I was immediately stunned by the elegant environment here. The tall space design, transparent glass walls, clean and neat shelves, and all kinds of colorful products and snacks are dazzling.
Apart from being surprised, I was even a little envious. Although the market tends to be positioned as a food stall, the people walking through it are not the housewives carrying vegetable baskets, but people standing casually, holding wine glasses, sipping red wine, eating tapas and chatting. It is a very contented scene. .
The market is colorful and every corner attracts people's attention. There is no doubt that they use various expensive decorations to attract attention. Although it is exaggerated, it is a great experience.
The attractive fruit drinks are red, orange, yellow and green, colorful and beautiful. They don’t look like drinks, but more like handicrafts on display.
This kind of olive skewer is stuffed with various fillings. It looks small and delicate and is mouth-watering.
Every product here is extremely exquisite. They are not piled in piles, but neatly arranged in an orderly manner, and the prices are clearly marked, so that people can understand when buying and eat with confidence.
In addition to vegetables and fruits, you can also choose from oversized paella, freshly cut ham, fresh oysters, oversized octopus, delicious caviar, olive skewers with various fillings, etc. Get it here. But it is said that because it has been transformed into a tourist attraction, the price is slightly more expensive than other places.
After strolling around the market, I feel that I still have more to learn. After all, there are many things that cannot be seen with the eyes and cannot be photographed. Just one market can be surprising, and the charm of Spain is far more than that.
There is also a cathedral with the same name near the San Miguel Market. The Basilica de San Miguel was built in 1745. It is a Roman Catholic church with graceful lines in the 18th century Baroque style. It is the seat of the Apostolic Representative of the Holy See in Spain. The most famous thing is the stone carvings inside and outside the church.
At the door of the church stands a bronze sculpture of a young man holding an open book in his hands and one leg on the steps. Don't know what the relationship is between the two.
I encountered countless churches along the way, but only a handful of them went in to visit them. Passing by the Convento de las Jeronimas del Corpus Christi, we saw a group of people gathered at the door. Out of curiosity, we also walked in.
History The very long Geronimo Monastery is particularly beautiful, but not many people visit. Walking into the monastery, it's like entering another world, surprisingly quiet.
It is said that the monastery contains many priceless works of art.
The Iglesia de San Pedro El Viejo was first built in 1847 during the Spanish rule. It was the earliest church built for worship in the city. The bell tower of the church is in the Mulhad style. It can be seen at a glance that this must have been a Moorish mosque, which was later converted into a church.
The colorful Madrid has been gradually formed through thousands of years of cultural inheritance and replacement. Many streets, alleys, squares and buildings in Madrid actually hide little known secrets.
The Iglesia de San Andres is one of the most exquisite churches in Madrid. It is built in Renaissance style with Gothic-style vaults. It looks very majestic among the surrounding modern buildings. This is the resting place of San Isidro, the patron saint of Madrid.
There is a very unique place on the streets of Madrid that attracts me very much. This is its street sign full of cultural color and artistic appeal, including celebrities, scenery, and various artistic logos.
I think Madrid is like an abstract painting by Picasso, with colorful colors that attract the eye. Walking on the street, from time to time there will be a whole wall of colorful spray paintings appearing on the street corner, presenting a colorful Madrid to the world.
Driving past a Roman-style triumphal arch, the navigation showed it as Puerta de Alcalá. As one of the few remaining ancient city gates in Madrid, the Alcalá Gate was built in the 18th century and is made of white granite. It has 5 door openings, 3 domed arches in the middle, and a stone lion head on each door; There is also a small flat-top door on each side, with overlapping bouquets of flowers engraved on it; above the top of the door squatting six warriors with helmets covering their faces and flags draped over their bodies.
Not far from the Puerta de Alcalá, we found a parking space, crossed the road, and walked from the Puerta Felipe IV into the Parque del Retiro. Retiro Park is Madrid's central park and the largest urban green lung.
Retiro Park is a royal garden built in the 17th century under the order of Philip IV. It was originally a palace where Spanish kings used to live in seclusion and rest. It was later converted into a park and opened to the public in 1868.
Rechi Park is also the place where the love story between Sanmao and Jose began, and it is also the place where Sanmao loves to go.
The Palacio de Crystal Palace and the artificial lake are undoubtedly the most beautiful scenery in Retiro Park.
The Glass Palace in Retiro Park, filled with the atmosphere of love, is a famous palace-style building in Spain. It is mainly made of iron and glass. It is completely transparent and dreamlike.
You know, this transparent palace is not a modern building. It was built in 1887. The designer was inspired by the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London. It was a very fashionable palace at that time.
This building, which combines metal and glass elements, is a huge greenhouse. It was mainly used to display flora and fauna from the Philippines.
Looking at it from a distance, it looks like a huge birdcage, exquisite and noble, and the main structure is decorated with Spanish-style colorful tiles. In Spain, beautiful and infectious colored tiles and mosaics are widely used in building exterior walls.
Walking into the Crystal Palace, standing in the center, letting the sunlight shine through the four unobstructed glass walls to every corner of the palace, letting warmth surround me... in my mind Imagine that, under the sunlight, this charming building looks like a dream.
This style that combines metal and glass elements makes the entire Crystal Palace as mysterious as if it were in a fairy tale, making people yearn for it.
The Crystal Palace is so beautiful that it eclipses the nearby Palacio de Velázquez.
Not far from the Crystal Palace, this tawny building is the Velázquez Palace.
Both buildings are the work of the same architect, his name is Ricardo Velázquez Bosc, but please be careful not to confuse him with the famous painter of the same name. , they are two people who are not related in any way.
Palazzo Velázquez is a characteristic palace built in 1883 for the National Exhibition of Mining, Metallurgy, Art, Ceramics, Glassware and Mineral Water.
The flying lions with wings on both sides of the gate are very similar to the flying lions of San Marco, the patron saint of Venice. Now, it is lying in front of the Velázquez Palace, with its mouth open, as if it is shouting something with all its strength?
The decorative art of Palazzo Velázquez is very strong. The exquisite tile puzzles and surrounding blue porcelain tiles all exude a fascinating artistic atmosphere.
Leaving the two palaces and walking not far away, there is a pool of beautiful water in Sanmao's mouth. Looking from a distance, the lake is rippling with blue waves, and cruise ships are swimming leisurely on the lake... Rechi Park is also named after this beautiful water in the park.
There is a large group of monuments by the lake, the solemn Monumento a Alfonso XII.
The monument group was built in 1922. The monument is about 32 meters high. At the top is a bronze statue of Alfonso XII, riding a horse and looking up into the distance; there is a semicircular column under the monument.
King Alfonso XII is a monarch revered by the people in Spanish history. His most important contribution was the adoption of the 1876 Constitution, which established the two-party political party system in Spain today. It is said that this monument was built in 1922 at the request of Alfonso XII’s mother. Its scale and artistic level are first-rate.
Looking from this angle, there are sculptures of angels and saints on each side of the white rectangular stone base; a bronze plaque of "King Alfonso XII" is inlaid in front of the stone base.
Under the low railing at the top of the semicircular colonnade are reliefs like comic strips, showing the king's great achievements in industry, agriculture, art, science, army, navy, etc.; There are two rows of very dazzling snow-white round stone pillars standing below.
On the near-water platform directly in front of the King's statue, four majestic bronze lions guard the water; under the bronze lions there is also a bronze sculpture of a mermaid and a dolphin fighting each other.
Looking at the couples on the lake, I don’t know why, but I always feel that Sanmao and Jose are among them. After all, Jose, who was in love for the first time, launched an offensive against Sanmao here.
There are many sculptures and fountains in Retiro Park, but the shape of each fountain is different, and the spraying method is also different, especially when the water jumps up and encounters the sun, a stream of A brilliant rainbow appeared quietly.
One of the highlights is the fallen angel statue El ?ngel Caído, one of the only devil statues in the world. I have seen countless beautiful statues of angels, saints and celebrities, but I have never seen this statue of the devil. I am very curious about what the devil looks like.
The Fallen Angel Statue shows the image of Lucifer expelled from Heaven, which to those who believe in demonology is the entrance to Hell.
We walked and walked, looking at the shade of green trees, which was very comfortable. Inadvertently, we discovered that the roads and squares in the park are named after current Spanish-speaking countries, such as Bolivia Avenue, Venezuela Avenue, Nicaragua Plaza and Panama Plaza.
Suddenly, we saw a group of trees that had been pruned to look very unique on the roadside. Looking at it, I have to be in awe of the Spanish gardeners.
Lichi Park is somewhat similar to Tuanjie Lake Park or Zizhuyuan Park in Beijing. It is a good place for locals to relax. Unlike in China, there are no noisy square dances here, but locals doing exercises in groups.
When I walked out, I saw this curved mosaic bench, which immediately reminded me of the Plaza de Espa?a in Seville.
This kind of bench, made of ceramic tiles with bright colors and a strong artistic sense, can be seen everywhere in major cities in Spain. It can even be called a standard feature in squares.
There is actually a public library in Rechi Park, which is really unexpected. The meaning of Retiro Park is really rich.
Madrid is an ancient city exuding a literary and artistic atmosphere. Here you can travel through time and experience the rise and fall of a dynasty. Although this land has now become extremely modern and civilized, it still exudes a charming light due to its perfect integration with history.
Madrid, incredible! It is different from the classical and rigorous Eastern culture; different from the grandeur and romance of European culture; different from the freedom and openness of American culture...
Madrid is incredible! Its mystery is not the kind of fantasy mystery, but it is so open to the heart but inaccessible; I want to love you and understand you, but I always feel that I am separated by thousands of mountains and rivers...
Maybe this is Madrid, its splendid history, its gorgeous art, its unrestrained enthusiasm. Only through personal experience can we get a glimpse of it.
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