WOW!!!!! This is going to TOTALLY BLOW YOUR MIND!! Thanks to replay (see him between me and Antonio HERE ) for telling me about it - there's a GREAT new "virtual" website on the 'net. Really. It'll make you squirm in your seat!

I've spent the last hour virtually/visually "paseando por las calles de Madrid (translation: "strolling through the streets of Madrid) at http://fotos.qdq.com .

You can either simply click on the FLASH Madrid map and start your journey there and click on the directional arrows to see IN PHOTOS every 20 meters or so going forward, backward, looking left or right, turn corners. As you "walk" the map on the right shows your progress. You can also enter an address and actually SEE that address!! Great for checking out the area surrounding a hotel or neighborhood in which you're considering to live, I'd think. WOW! It's SO cool!! Check it out! You'll love it!

And if anyone is worried about using a Dial-up connection to the internet, don't. All the photos shown are about 14-16kb each so it's fast loading too! WOW! SO impressive! I saw my ladyfriend's house and walked through her neighborhood where I always stay when I'm in Madrid! HOW COOL IS THAT?!

Enjoy! Saludos, MadridMan

[ 01-27-2002: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Wow, that was EXCELLENT!! I want to go back and "visit" all the time now! I couldn't really get my bearings on this visit; I think I need to pull out my map and figure out what's where.

Ten minutes later...I just went wandering down Preciados (it's not quite as fun as shopping there!), through Sol, and off to the Plaza Mayor! I'm sitting on a bench there now!! There are a lot of pigeons, as usual! How COOL!!!

And I just walked by the Prado, too. I think I will check out Cibeles and the Parque next. EXCELLENT!

Thanks for the URL!!

Tara

[ 01-27-2002: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

I can't believe it, I just took my first stroll through Old Madrid! If only the technology could allow us to smell the tapas drifting onto the streets, garlic permeating my nostrils (but I guess then you'd smell the diesel too). Not having visited Madrid yet, (in MAy, MAy, May), one of the first things that struck me was all of the renovating going on. Almost every street had scaffolding or coverings on the building facades. I see a lot of graffiti too which is something I have read about. But it also looks like the type of city I love to wander, full of nooks and crannies in the endless street network. Would I be correct in assuming that these photos were taken in the heat of summer as it looks so hot and not overly busy with traffic and pedestrians? There is also a similar website for Paris - I believe it is the local French Yellow Pages that allow the same vitual stroll. Could one exist for Seville or Barcelona?

Great site MM, thanks for the link!

Dargus
Madrid in May!

Very cool site. The pics were definitely taken during the summer. I just checked out where we went to dinner last night... Maceira on Calle Huertas, 66 and in the picture, the restuarant doesn´t exist...the local is under construction. Maceiras on Huertas just opened up recently...makes sense to me!!! Thanks for sharing MM!

It looks to me like the photos were taken during really quiet times of the day, too, because some of the places I would have expected to be bustling (Sol, the Plaza) were pretty empty. And when could someone stand IN THE MIDDLE of some of those streets, I wonder?

And how do I get a job wandering around taking photos like that?

Oh, cool (I have the photo map in another window, so I am bouncing back and forth)--if you go to that link (above), then type in "mayor," then click "plaza mayor," you end up under the arcade in the plaza--and you can click to continue forward past the shops. Neat! I found the shop where I bought some great yarn for a knitting project.
Tara


Tara

[ 01-27-2002: Message edited by: taravb ]

I agree with everyone, what a useful tool!!! I find it very interesting for various reasons but above all, very helpful, for instance, my ex-bf wants to buy a new house/flat, with this he can see the 'fachadas' of the places beforehand, and everything that surrounds those buildings.

As we say here, 'Replay/Rafael es una maquina'!

HOLY CHORIZO! Replay and MM, Now I will NEVER get anything done at work!!! Thank you!!!

WOW!!!

The man deserves an award.Wonderful!

I found some details about the company that carried out this project:

HISTORY OF SNV
-------------------

• From 1994, the concept of an exhaustive city inventory is developed and tested till the end of 1995.
• For that, a whole Paris district is photographed.
• At the end of 1995, SNV is created.
• At the end of 1997, Sopromec Participations comes to support financially SNV.
• At the end of 1999, SNV signs a contract foreseeing the realization of seven new French big cities.
• At the end of 2000, SNV becomes Wanadoo's subsidiary (France Telecom group)
• At the beginnin of 2001: SNV goes abroad by realizing Madrid (Spain)

---

Here it is the list of cities that have been already photographed:

Saint-Mandé, Paris, Boulogne-Billancourt, Lyon, Marseille, Toulosse, Nice, Nantes, Lille, Strasbourg, Madrid.

---

Details about the "making off" Madrid:

Duration of the project: 6 months
Number of photographers: 20
Number of photographs / day: 350 each
Total number of photographs: 700,000
Total number of streets: 131,000
Updated: yearly!!!

---

In the works.... Barcelona!!!

[ 01-29-2002: Message edited by: Antonio ]

I've just logged off of the Fotos site (it really is incredible) and would like to ask the Madrilenos here if there is more than the normal amount of construction and renovating going on in Madrid right now? I still can't get over how so many streets have scaffolding and large waste bins next to the buildings.

I will also mention that after browsing the streets I have been most intrigued by the La Latina district. It just seems to have a style to it that I like - so Spanish and medieval looking and not overly rundown looking (although I've always liked a bit of peeling paint atmosphere New Orleans style)-with the elusive corners that would surprise you when strolling. There seems to be a lot of greenery with trees and exotic looking shrubs around every corner. Is this a safe area to hangout (day and night)? What about the bar scene here - not big dance clubs but intimate bars where one can feel at home and chill out?

Dargus
Who still hasn't froze to death in this prairie cold spell!

dargus, everyone here knows I'm no Spaniard (UNFORTUNATELY!! $#@%*&! ), but it seems MOST of those photos taken for the above site were in, probably, August, when MANY Spaniards take holiday/vacation which would explain why many streets are devoid of any traffic.

This, being the HEIGHT of summer, is also the perfect time for obras/renovations and so that's probably why you see SO much scaffolding. Still, like most cities, the summer months are when MOST of the renovations take place. Better to PRESEVE than NOT!

Saludos, MadridMan (going on his 5th??? glass of Spanish wine)

Hey, MM, have a glass for me...

I also noticed that many of the shops were closed up (had the metal doors down), so many of the photos must have been taken either early in the morning (would that work with the light? probably in summer...) or during siesta.

Not drunk like MM, just bored and procrastinating--
Tara :p

Tara,

As I waded through various addresses I wanted to see, it seemed like the shadows indicated all hours of the day, but most likely before 10 AM, and/or after 4 PM. That tells me they probably were shot on Sunday mornings. A logical time where people aren't out and about too much, but definitely in summer, based on the length of grass, and the trees.

What I wonder about most is how many people were involved in the project, and how long it took. It had to be an enormous undertaking, and the coordination by addresses to the shots taken had to be a nightmare.

Wolf (Playing Sherlock Holmes - )

[ 01-28-2002: Message edited by: Wolf ]

Yeah, Wolf, the thought of keeping those photos organized properly is mindboggling. I imagine the person with the digital camera had to be coding them to a map or something, but given how confused I got as I clicked on the "turn around" button or on the "subir" and "bajar" buttons over and over again... well, I'm impressed!

<hick!> :o

So do people in Spain still use the expression "estar piripi" to describe MadridMan's current condition?
:p

Y como se dice "hiccups" en español?

[ 01-28-2002: Message edited by: taravb ]

Piripi and majara!!! and so am I!!!! You are a generous person, MM!!!! What a great present!!!!

Hi!

Wrong thread, I know, but MMan started it!(just kidding)
Hiccups=hipo

We do say estar pirípi, but also:
Borrachera, melopea, cogorza, merluza, castaña, ciego, pedo, pedal, estar bolinga, tajada, mierda(sorry!), colocón(from drugs also), estar ebrio, sufrir intoxicación etílica(ha,ha!), etc, etc, etc....

These are all the definitions I can think of at 8AM!

Oh brother! What have I done? hehehe.. Hey! I'm totally sober (now), okay?!

SO! Back to QDQ.com's foto-every-20-meters site , isn't it fantastic? I was strolling through the streets of my ladyfriend's neighborhood, saw some of the bars I like there, then down the hill of Paseo de Extremadura and looked over my shoulder at the bottom to see one of my favorite neighborhood bars (Rincon de la Noia), crossed the Río Manzanares with that WONDEFUL view of the Palacio Real & La Almudena & the dome of the San Francisco El Grande, then UP the hill of Calle de Segovia, passing under the Aquaducto arch and now.... now... you're entering OLD Madrid. Mmmmmm... Continuing up the narrow, winding street, you eventually reach... the Plaza del Puerta Cerrada (THIS is where I typically get the bus to go "home" when I'm in Madrid) and Casa Paco... or the plaza JUST below the entrance to the Plaza Mayor on Calle de los Cuchilleros. Turn around and go back down Cuchilleros, cross Calle de Segovia, and now you're on the Cava Baja.... :p .... MY GOD this site puts me in heaven.

Wow! QDQ.com must be REALLY new! I plugged it into www.Google.com and got NOTHING!

Enjoy! Saludos, MadridMan

[ 01-29-2002: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

MM

Can I give your name and number to my course tutors? You realise that NONE of my assignments will meet their deadline now!?!?!? Will they accept my reasons?

And to think, we were having a tutorial in Study Skills today called 'Time Management', and I told the tutor that I NEVER wasted any of my time . . . . and that Mature Students don't need this module! Perhaps I was wrong.

Jo

Grafitti (sp.) - I come from a place where grafitti is not yet out of control but it's certainly become a civic issue in the past couple of years. While browsing the Fotos site I see grafitti in the majority of places and it seems to be mainly on the metal doors but some areas have it on every wall. Perhaps these are the poorer districts (ie. similar to the Bronx or parts of L.A.), I don't know, I've never been to Madrid and don't want to make false assumptions. I had heard about this in Madrid but admit to being shocked at the amount of it (I consider it a blight on the urban landscape - there are others who consider it street art). When in Paris two years ago I was also shocked , and disappointed, at the amount of graffitti that had accumulated in the left bank in just the two years between my visits. Is this a concern or an issue in Madrid? Or am I overreacting to what I observe on little photos on a website? Graffitti, especially an overabundance of it, just seems to make a place look seedy and unkept. Any comments on this?
Thanks!
Dargus

La Latina is a great little area for a great night out.If you get into the backstreets rather than the main Cava Baja/Alta streets youll more than likely be the only tourist in the place.We enjoyed a restaurant called Taberna Los Austurias and were given a couple of Tintos on the house!