Dreamer's Tales of Madrid
Updated: Aug 1, 2022
They, who went after the industrial progress and were overwhelmed by that, are now trying to follow the call of the wild. They are us.
All my life I lived in the smaller city of Tallinn where life was moving at slower pace and shorter distances. And when ending up in Madrid, I felt like something huge and overwhelming fell on me. Standing at the rooftop of Circulo de Bellos Artes watching the sunset, I experienced one of those overwhelming moments, the good ones, where a new chapter of my life was starting to unveil to me.
There are a few classic places in Madrid where everyone one would go to discover the city. These were the top places that enchanted me.
1. Siete Tetas park (Cerro del Tio Pio)
Why do I love this place? It's quite away from the city center, in the district of Vallecas, and the park is scattered across 7 hills where you have the whole city deployed in front of you. For a photography enthusiast there's a temptation to explore the perspectives with a telephoto lens. And most probably there will be some people at the hills asking about your camera with genuine curiosity and what sort of pictures you take with that.
The below shown perspectives aren't the most typical that one would capture from these hills but if you are attracted to geometry of the city, as I am, you will spot these triangular rooftops. There are 4 years between the two images from the same place. The first one taken in 2017 in the month of October. Second one - in January 2021 when Madrid city was hit by historical Filomena snowstorm. Snowy rooftops in Madrid is not the kind of scene you will see on the annual basis.
But you can always go for the classic view with Piruli (Torre España) and 5 towers, add some sky drama and it can't go wrong.
With a street view and dramatic light it can't go wrong either.
2. Casa de Campo
If you are introverted, like me, and crave for more open space after submerging into urbanization and city crowds, this is a place to go. The park is tremendous and invites you to contemplate tall trees and even witness rabbits running around.
As a kid I always thought of the trees as some mystic creatures full of wisdom who knew a lot about the world and kept this knowledge in secret for ages. What if the trees could talk? They'd probably tell the whole story about us...
If you start exploring the park from station Lago, you can continue to the east of the park, through the alley of tall trees up until Teleferico.
From there you will have a panoramic view with a mix of greens and urban elements like attraction park.
3. Manzanares Park
Surprisingly, this place happened to be in vicinity from where I lived in Madrid for nearly 3 years. Often beautiful things can be just around the corner, you just need to look around. The park is popular among sportsmen, video makers, dog lovers and family walks...and occasionally photographers too.
Walking uphill will allow you to see a panorama like this one. The hill in the view is called locally "Cabeza de Ariadna" or "Ariadna head". This view opens up from Cerro Coyote, the hill just behind it.
Truth to be told, during pandemic I took a good deal of photos in Manzanares park where I was constantly looking for new inspirations. It taught me to recognise new perspectives, different story angles without having to be far from home.
Here is another series of images for the telephoto lens shot from Cerro Coyote.