Raining in Spain

Madrid, Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th May

We had to get out the rain coats and umbrellas as the rain started to fall and is expected to continue for several days. Not mainly in the plain either, but also to the north where we are heading  next (which is actually where most of it falls, with no regard to Eliza Doolittle).

On Saturday we completed the third of the major art museums - the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. The Reina Sofia is a museum of recent art including many Picasso and Dali works. The most famous, and the centrepiece of the whole museum, is Picasso's "Guernica". It shows the effects of the aerial bombing of Guernica in northern Spain by the German air force at the start of the Spanish civil war in 1936, and is considered to be a political / anti war statement. It's hugely significant as "art" as well as having historical importance for the Spanish people. Shamefully I had never even heard of it.

Much of the work on display was tough to understand, but a few "clicked". A favourite was "A World" by Angeles Santos. Incredilby she was only 18 when she painted it in 1929.

A quick late lunch of the famous Boccadillo Calamares (deep fried squid in a roll) and it was time to pack and move on to a different hotel to join the Northern Spain tour group. A new mind set required for the next 10 days as we'll need to fit in to the group plan... 

Sunday was like being at home in Wellington - raining all day and about 12 degrees. Enjoyed a short city tour in the rain, including Madrid's Plaza de Torres or bullfighting ring (always reminds me of the Tom Lehrer song "In Old Mexico"). Enjoyed a short re visit to the Prado in the rain. Enjoyed a visit to Joaquin Sorolla's (famous Spanish artist!) house in the rain - now an art museum.

And then enjoyed a long walk in the rain to soak up the vibe in the Camberi district.
Apparently the Camberi really hums on a fine day, but today it was quiet. Fortunately the old Camberi metro station which has been turned into a metro museum was open so we went there. There was a queue to get in, but that didn't put us off. There were no paintings. All the work on display had been done by engineers. Good to have a change!

Let the art begin

Madrid, Thusday 5th and Friday 6th May

Madrid has three famous art galleries, sometimes referred to as the golden triangle of art, which are must see's for so inclined visitors.

We began the art athon on Thursday with the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and bought a ticket that gives entry to all three of the main galleries, thus commtting much of our remaining time here. The Thyssen displays around 1,200 paintings originally from the collections of the Thyssen-Bornemisza family. Now over half the paintings are owned by the Spanish government with the rest on long term loan from the family. It was very impressive, including art from the 15th century through to modern times. I even recognised some famous impressionist works by Monet, Degas, et al.

For a change of pace we then moved on to the Parque del Buen Retiro, an ex royal park that is now the central green (ish) space in Madrid. It is a European style park, with features like boating ponds, exhibition buildings, immigrants selling sunglasses etc.

In the evening we sampled the tapas scene at the market near Plaza Mayor. The Plaza is is one of the night life action spots with bars, tapas, and general social night life through till the early hours. We sampled a few tapas - sangria, paella, Galacian raw fish surimi style, baklava, deep fried prawns. The last couple weren't particularly Spanish! It was crowded, lively, busy, noisy - a real extrovert experience!

Friday we visited the church of San Antonio de la Florida to see the Goya frescoes. The church now has an identical twin church next door which is used for church services, freeing up the original for visitors to look at the art!

Next stop was the Museo Nacional del Prado, one of the biggest art museums in Europe. It shows about 1,500 works (of a much larger collection of around 4,000) including many masterpieces by Velasquez, Goya, Rubens, Titian, Rafael, Sorolla, Caravaggio, Brueghel and others. Even though we had warmed up our art muscles the day before, it was pretty mind blowing - 7 hours of trekking through nearly 100 rooms of paintings and sculptures. Sounds great? Well it was, but with such a huge amount to take in it did become a bit of a blur.

Other people queuing at the Prado - our pre purchased ticket let us skip the line 

Finished of the day like a true Madrileno with churros! Anyone for sugared doughnut sticks dipped in liquid chocolate?

And the trains...we managed some rides in between tourist sights. It's an interesting metro system, with a very extensive network. The stations we used were quite small, only allowing 4 car trains. All of the trains we saw were made by CAF, the Spanish manufacturer which also produced the new Auckland trains. The track gauge is 4' 8 7/8" - not standard gauge of 4' 8 1/2" - interesting!?

Madrid, the beginning

Wenesday 4 May, Madrid

It certainly was a long journey getting here and we arrived a bit tired, even after a business class leg from LA to London where you were very well looked after, and even got to lie down to sleep. But we're here in Madrid now, nearly back to normal, and getting stuck into our touristic responsibilities.

The Hotel Preciados where we are staying has turned out to be a great choice. It's in a superb location in downtown Madrid on the pedestrianised Calle Preciados (Preciados Street). We have a quiet room with a view out to a nearby wall. More importantly it is less than 10 minutes walk from many of the most famous sights such as Palacio Real (Royal Palace). We've been walkng everywhere so far but will (of course) start to use the metro trains for anything longer.

Hotel Preciados

Today we visited Palacio Real, finding out on arriving that on the first Wednesday of the month there is a changing of the guard ceremony involving lots of marching soldiers, horses, gun carriages and military music. So it was bonus to see that. The Palacio is HUGE, bigger than Versailles. It was built in the mid 1700's during the height of the Spanish empire. It has over 3,000 rooms. Fortunately only 23 are open for public viewing.

We paid an extra 4 euro for a live tour guide which was great value. The guide reminded me very much of Hetty (NCIS Los Angeles). She was the same height (4' 9"), same looks, and same uncompromising attitude. One of our party was reminded firmly, "Your camera should be off! No photos allowed! I told you that before!"

While waiting for the Palace to re open after the changing of the guard ceremony we checked out the Cathedral Nostra Santa Maria la Real de la Almudena (conveniently next door to the palace). The cathedral was only finshed in the 1980's, after 110 years. It has interesting modern stained glass windows, and great views of Madrid from the cupola.

By the time we had looked through the Palace, the armoury, and the Cathedral next door, it was about 6pm and still 28 degrees so we headed home for a late siesta before going out again to eat at about 9pm (an early Spanish dinner time).