Madrid
Yes, the drive from San Sebastián to Madrid was long 5+ hours, yet, it gave us the chance to see more of Spain’s changing topography, more windmills, sound familiar; and read sections of our guide book. – Attempting a quick study of Madrid and Barcelona’s culture and history as well as its painful period under Franco’s rule.
Beautiful drive
Windmills in the distance
We decreased the amount of times, we’d call out to Grace and Emmie in the backseat to look up and “take a look” or “you should really look out the window” to only the truly spectacular scenery. The girls read and watched an Irish movie, Sharon had loaned us, The War or the Buttons and loved it.
Driving in Madrid with its narrow streets speckled with short metal posts to discourage drivers from parking on the sidewalk, made it certainly a challenge. We couldn’t easily pullover. I missed our airbnb host, Laura’s email attachments with the local map, but after locating the apartment what we really needed to find was parking. We had few photos of street maps for and near Laura’s apartment and after speaking with her on the phone, she gave us a few suggestions; however again the challenge was to navigate through the neighborhood maze. I remember, Kate mentioning the challenge of driving and need for comic relief on their family trip to Spain.
Laura was friendly and accommodating; the apartment decorated with cool and interesting art and furniture, some of her own in fact giving it and comfortable and stylish appearance.
One view of our apartment in Madrid
The door leading to the balcony
Look what Grace found a small window connecting her bedroom to the hallway.
Learning The Museo Reina Sofia had free entry on our first evening, we dashed there to spend time before dinner. Naturally, we were looking forward to viewing Picasso’s Guernica we’ve heard and read about… And of course we had just been to the Picasso Museum in Barcelona. The curator arranged the collections to include film from the same decade with the paintings- helping the viewers to understand the social circumstances of the time period. Exploring the collection from 1900- 1945, we browsed Spanish artists and such as Dali, Alberti Gris, Miro, and others. As we approached one of the other galleries, the larger group of people congregating indicated we had arrived at Picasso’s Guernica. We lingered and stared. Quite powerful…and moving especially after learning the motivation and reason for paining this masterpiece and the fact that Picasso would not see it return to Spain.
~ Palacio Real de Madrid
A beautiful clear and sunny day to stroll around the Palacio Real de Madrid plaza and wander its grandiose rooms, armory and Royal Pharmacy. The Spanish Palace is impressive and lavish! Listening to the audio-tour, and walking from room to room, I noticed how Spanish Kings would add to the palace’s collections of art and riches but also wondered if they were simply trying to outdo each other…Perhaps a bit of both. It turns out, however, a few of the monarchs genuinely adored their fathers and grandfathers; one converted his grandfathers’s bedroom into a shrine dedicated to him. We noted influence and fascination with the Orient, several palaces not only this one included elements or rooms dedicated to the Orient. Rooms hung tapestries in the winter and paintings in the warmer months. Makes sense- with attempting to keep these large rooms warmer. Hanging throughout the palace are paintings by Velázquez, Goya, Rubens, El Greco and Caravaggio.
Palacio Real de Madrid
In front of Palacio Real de Madrid
Why not a second photo of us…
Prado – Another fantastic museum. viewing many of the great masterpieces. We try to balance the right amount of time, what ever that means, because one can easily spend hours, days in museums.
A Mad Hatter at the Prado- Couldn’t convince Grace or even Emmie to have some tea with him.
Highlights included:
-Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights,
-Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, The Third of May 1808 in Madrid: the executions on Principe Pio hill, Saturn devouring one of his sons & Dog half-submerged
-Peter Paul Rubens, The Three Graces
-and the most famous of Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez’s works, Las Meninas, or The Family of Felipe IV
Dog half-submerged by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes
Bought an abstract print of a bull by a local artist selling her work outside the museum. Yea!
Plaza Puerta del Sol– The heart of the historic center. Here we noticed various street performers and adored the recommended bakery/coffee shop La Mallorquina (a Madrid institution, opened in1894). Went twice actually-it’s very reasonably priced and fantastic. Lucky to find a spot at the counter with the daily commuters. This place is bustling with locals and tourists, and it is obvious the staff are not new; they know what they are doing. Standing at the same area of the counter for both visits, we had the same waiter. He must be used to tourists snapping photos because when he saw me raise my phone, he graciously looked over and smiled- One might even call it a pose. We tried the rosquillas, kind of like a doughnut tontas (plain) & listas (with icing) and one other; its name escaping me and delicious coffee and steaming chocolate; the second visit we sampled other scrumptious treats, one being similar to coated french toasts. A fond memory!
Some of the best street performers in Plaza de Sol.
Our friendly waiter at La Mallorquina.
Mercado de San Miguel – An old market that has been recently renovated. Similar to other markets like this, as you can buy fresh produce, cheese ad other provisions, but different than the one we visited in Barcelona as it has more of an emphasis on food and tapas bars. Of course playing to all our interests and satisfying the exploratory need, we tried a few different things; fruit skewers, smoothie, oysters, spanish omelet, wine..
Mercado de San Miguel
Oysters at the Market
Our oyster sampler plate at the market
The oldest door in Madrid
The oldest door in Madrid- the Moor influence is seen in the archway.
Convento del Corpus Christi – This was a fun experience; we read about in our guide-book and had to try… We buzzed at the wooden door that says Venta de Dulces (Sweets for Sale) and entered with another Spanish woman, and although anticipated going through the steps of ordering cookies from this sisters in this cloistered convent on our own, we did have some help. A cleaning woman must have heard us and despite the signs directing, she led us to room with the special Lazy Susan where we attempted to understand the dulces of the day, there was a menu too. Between the assistance of the woman working there, the Spanish woman also visiting for the first time and the sisters of Convento del Corpus Christi, we purchased some tasty tea cookies with candied fruit in the center by putting our money on the Lazy Susan. They were not serving the almond cookies we had practiced ordering and recommended in the guide book; this experience also felt special since Emmie attends Corpus Christi school in Dublin.
Corpus Christi convent where the Hieronimus nuns make cookies.
Walking tour- Informative. Met in Plaza de Mayor and walked by some places we had already been, and new ones as well; it is nice to hear about a place from a local’s perspective.
Plaza de Major
On our walking tour
The painted tiled street signs- Historically the literacy rates were low, so pictures were necessary to help people navigate. They are beautiful and tell the story of the street’s name.
Painted street signs
Emmie was thrilled to use some of her birthday money to purchase a Real Madrid shirt #7 with Ronaldo’s number!
Success with shopping- Emmie with her Real Madrid shirt!
Up the next morning a little wandering around and a quick breakfast at the Mercado de San Miguel before heading to Toledo.
last visit to Mercado de San Miguel
A Year in Ireland 