Madrid may not have the same allure as Paris, perhaps it’s the lack of an iconic tower, or a river that flows through its center, or perhaps if Hemingway’s A Movable Feast took place here, however Madrid does have Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, Picasso’s Guernica and Velásquez’s Las Meninas, vibrant cultural venues, lovely parks, fine cuisine, Cervantes’ home, and its share of tourists who are spotted easily (They are the ones dining before 10pm.).

Bellies can be filled day and night with classic tapas of tortilla or jamón (I doubt there are many nations that consume as much ham.) and thirsts quenched with cañas (draft beer poured into small glasses).

It is unusual to see a man or woman at a cafe or restaurant having a drink or dining alone, but I enjoy the tapas bars, outdoor cafes, and restaurants for sustenance and a glimpse of daily life.

I’ve attended several intercambios to meet people. Locals and tourists alike gather in bars to practice Spanish and English. A few are there to speak German and French.  Certain faces become familiar and sometimes conversations pick up where they left off.

I avoid the throngs of humanity on the boulevards and walk along the ancient backstreets whenever possible. There the balconied buildings are picturesque, quiet, and offer a reprieve from the scorching sun’s rays. Various odors fill the air, some are pleasant, most are ignored, yet the occasional potent waft of urine immediately alerts my senses.

Temperatures are frequently above 100 degrees. Fortunately shade, parks, and cooler nights offer a reprieve, as do the paper and filagreed plastic handheld fans. I was initially surprised to see men and boys flapping them too. It seemed incongruent with all the paintings I’d seen depicting only women’s hands.

Although nature has been tamed, wild green parrots are flourishing.

Gentrified, hip neighborhoods abound. Young, tattooed, pierced men and women populate these areas and are indistinguishable from the Brooklyn hipsters. Shops of stylish clothing, exotic flavored ice-cream pops, records, and organic produce nestle side by side with standard supermarkets pharmacies, laundromats, and Chinese grocerys that stock just about everything and never close. (I stood behind an Asian man in a supermarket buying six watermelons. The checkout woman asked without malice, “Are you going to sell those or eat them?” I had been wondering the same thing.)

Neighborhoods offer various means of employment. I’ve noticed women, mostly of a certain age, sit on chairs, cardboard boxes, and low windowsills, or stand along the narrow streets in sensible footwear chatting or alone, smoking languidly, wearing attire that belies their profession. Their negotiations are handled discretely while neighbors and shopowners go about their business. After a quick conversation a woman rings a buzzer, a door of the apartment building opens, a man follows her inside, and the door quickly closes behind them. Young women with very short shorts and very high heels, likely procuring different fees, linger in small groups along the main, wide, highly trafficked pedestrian malls. Police do not disrupt their technically illegal, but tolerated activities. The police do however keep the African men who hawk their wares from sheets with cords alert and ready for quick getaways.

I walk in neighborhoods with finely dressed men and women sipping cool cocktails in crisp shirts and dresses, despite the swelter. I sit alongside middle class families, couples young and old of same and different genders. I pass people begging or sleeping in the streets on makeshift beds accompanied by their dogs. Madrid too has a wide range of haves and have-nots-and its share of lost souls.

My Spanish (Castilian)  improves in small increments and attending classes has reminded me how little I know and how much more there is to learn. Sometimes my confidence falters, but this has not stopped me from speaking Spanish whenever I can, which is not as often as I would like.

Madrid has given me a chance to catch my breath, enjoy the plethora of cultural offerings, study Spanish, and get to know her.