A tale of two soccer-mad cities
Barca, Madrid paradise
For sports fans, Madrid and Barcelona are dream cities to tour as they house two of the world’s best players for the past decade: Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
On a recent visit to both cities, one could sense a rivalry that extends well beyond the playing field, beyond the El Clásico that is Real Madrid vs Barcelona. Madrid is an ancient city boasting a wonderful landscape of trees, parks, restaurants and shopping malls.
I spent five nights in Spain’s capital city and an entire day in Barcelona after we were advised to cancel plans for an overnight trip there to watch a Barca game, because of the Catalan independence referendum.
Due to more time spent there, Madrid had a slight advantage. It offered serenity and excellent weather in what was the start of a European autumn. That meant days were longer, with the sun setting at around 8.30pm, which explains Spain’s culture of having dinner only after 10pm.
While ancient sights such as a grand temple, apparently donated by Egypt to Spain’s monarchy in the second century before Jesus Christ, and a well-manicured, huge Parque del Buen Retiro (Park of Pleasant Retreat) are sights to behold, it was the football offerings that best impressed me.
Madrid has four football clubs in Spain’s top division – Real, Atletico, Leganes and Getafe – and we were able to visit the training bases of the former two, while Leganes offered a media pass to watch their match against Atletico.
Our tour guide was a staunch Real fan who peddled the canard that Real have the best in everything, but after visiting Atletico’s newlyopened Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, you sensed his exaggeration. The Metropolitano is a glorious venue adorned with high-tech amenities – heated seats on the bench, excellent dressing rooms with screens bearing the face of each of their players above the lockers, and an electronic advertising ring all-round the stadium.
It will now surely be a mustsee for most of Madrid’s 12million tourists per year.
The iconic Santiago Bernabéu, which houses Real, is also a joy to behold. We had lunch at the Bernabeu’s inhouse restaurant, from where you can comfortably watch the match while downing a meal.
The Real Madrid store, where fans can get all sorts of team regalia and memorabilia, is a busy area throughout the week, not least on match day.
Real players and some sporting celebrities, we were told, preferred to dine at the Txistu restaurant. The walls inside are adorned with pictures of famous sports people, such as Rafael Nadal and ex-Spain coach Vicente del Bosque.
In fact, after winning the World Cup on South African soil in 2010, the entire Spanish side booked out the Txistu and celebrated there. The pictures are there to testify. Expect to pay a fortune for a three or four-course meal though – a minimum of R600.
Over in Barcelona, they have what Madrid doesn’t have: the sea. Barcelona is also a more modern, developing city with skyscrapers and beautiful weather too. The city can be accessed by train or direct flight from Madrid, which takes about 45 minutes.
The main attraction for me in Barcelona was the Nou Camp, Barca’s 105 000-seat stadium. It is a monument of success and history, and the highlight for me was walking up the tunnel where Messi and company go through on match day. Pity we couldn’t watch a live match there.