As I uploaded pictures for this blog about trips I have taken in the past, I chanced upon these pictures which Marc and I took of the section of Madrid where I lived over my three year stay there back in the late eighties and early nineties. I could hardly believe the changes that had occurred.

I saw this building every single day on the way to school at the Instituto de Cooperacion Iberoamericana and back. There was no Metro station there then and I was pleasantly surprised to see one here on my last visit to Madrid. I usually just walked from either my dorm or my apartment. With or without the Metro though, I liked the view.

Not very far from the Ministerio del Aire was this Victory Arch ordered to be constructed and built by the Generalisimo Franco in 1956. Not far behind it is the MIrador del Faro also called the Faro de Moncloa or Faro de Madrid by many locals.

This is where I lived for two years in Madrid. I shared an apartment in this building with three other students.

I used to just sit and people watch here in the summer. What memories! It stayed bright and sunny in Madrid during the months of May, June, July, and August sometimes until 10:45 pm. I remember being so thrilled being able to walk around the city sightseeing, eating out with friends, and just plain chilling so late yet so sunny. It was the complete and total opposite of the routine I lead and lived in Manila.

How times have changed. These two tall and leaning Spanish skyscrapers were not here yet when I lived in Madrid. For me, Plaza Castilla then was a mere roundabout and a bus station from where people who could not or did not want to travel to their destinations by Metro went to in order to catch buses.