Hi! Have you been to Madrid the capital of Spain? 
Actually I have!  It was a good 30 years ago, though.  I can't say I recall it clearly.
30 years ago? Your travel history truly dates back,  The city has  almost 3.166 million inhabitant
I recall that it seemed much more metropolitan than the other cities in Spain where I visited.  Back then, it reminded me of New York City, but with fewer lights.
Manzanares in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid (which comprises the city of Madrid, its conurbation and extended suburbs and villages); this community is bordered by the autonomous communities of Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political, economic and cultural centre of the country. The current mayor is José Luis Martínez-Almeida from the People's Party.
The Madrid urban agglomeration
the book's opening has the narrator expressing an outlook that is typical to Murnane's writing:Twenty years ago, when I first arrived on the plains, I kept my eyes open. I looked for anything in the landscape that seemed to hint at some elaborate meaning behind appearances.My journey to the plains was much less arduous than I afterwards described it. And I cannot even say that at a certain hour I knew I had left Australia. But I recall clearly a succession of days when the flat land around