Madrid

 Another early to rise, out the door at 6a to catch a 7a train to Madrid. Spain has a terrific transportation system that by all accounts is on time, and efficient. Tuesday we took the speed train to Madrid, the equivalent distance from Springville, UT to Los Angeles, CA in 2.5 hours. Once out of Barcelona, the train clocked around 295 kph which is 183 mph, although I was expecting to see the landscape in a blur at these speeds, it wasn’t. You really get the sense of an agriculturally based country, with acres of grapes, olive trees, wheat and corn fields, and fruit orchards. Closer to Madrid I noticed fields of sunflowers as well.

We rushed from the train to the metro so that we could get to the Royal Palace in Madrid, at 9a it was already hot in Madrid. Fortunately we had pre-purchased tickets, otherwise we would have been standing in a very long line in the sun. The palace is set on the top of a hill in Madrid overlooking the royal garden, which looks like a forest for all of the trees. The Manzanares river flows just below the gardens. The palace is one of the largest in Western Europe at 135,000 square metres and 3,418 rooms. Thankfully, not all the rooms are viewable or we would need to pack PJs and toothbrush. Below are images of the palace and the courtyard, along with the view from the portico overlooking the garden.

Outside of Palace

Inner courtyard looking toward Palace entrance

View from the Palace courtyard out to the royal garden and park

The first stop was the Royal Armory, unfortunately no photos are allowed, but I found a few images online. The impressive pieces to me were the suits of armor and the armor for the horses bearing the king. To imagine what the size and strength of the horse that must wear that metal plating, along with a man wearing a full suit of armor is unfathomable to me.
 

Oliver Gargan, Royal Palace of Madrid, Wikipedia Commons, Oct 2017

Oliver Gargan, Royal Palace of Madrid, Wikipedia Commons, Oct 2017

 

 

If the armory wasn't impressive enough, the inside is an amazing display of wealth and artistry. Rooms with murals on ceilings, gold leaf, and crystal chandeliers, nothing short of palatial. Below are a few of the rooms that impressed me.

The Grand Staircase that leads from the carriage entrance up the staircase to the palace.

The Gasparini Salon named after the designer, all of the walls are embroidered silk, which has a 3D effect because of the application of the embroidery. The corners of the room ceiling are plaster relief sculptures. It all has a very oriental motif. It served both as a reception room and as a dressing room to Charles III, who took up residence in 1764.

The Porcelain Salon are walls and the ceiling made of porcelain. Made in the royal porcelain factory, truly amazing to see.

 

The throne room

 

The music room, housing the only complete quartet of Stradivarius instruments (two violins, a cello, and a viola). The gifts were offered to King Felipe V in 1702 by Stradivarius, and the only set of decorated instruments that is known to be made from him. Originally it was a quintet, another viola, but both violas were stolen by French troops during the Napoleonic wars, one was recovered, the other remains missing.

We also saw the Spanish crown, extremely large, tough balancing that on one's head.

Following the palace visit, we had a few hours before our scheduled time at the Prada Art Museum. We stopped at the Plaza de Mayor, which was a main market of the town. Today it hosts a Christmas market, bullfights and soccer games. A small fountain is in the middle, and a few cafes. A young man from Africa, who spoke English quite well, tried to con us into buying bracelets, but we didn’t have any cash. That’s something I noticed around Madrid, and the beach in Mareno. A lot of refugees from Africa, selling hats, bracelets, towels, etc. What a hard life to go to a new country, try to learn a new language quickly, so that you can find employment, and earn money.

Plaza de Mayor

Looking for food, we were hangry from no breakfast, we found the Mercado de San Miguel which is a tapas market. Tapas are basically appetizer size plates. In the center of the indoor structure are bar tables, and surrounding that are individual businesses selling tapa size items. There was a BBQ place, hamburgers, fruit/smoothies, cheese, oysters, seafood, olives, empanadas, patatas bravas, bars with liquor/wine, ice cream, and coffee. Once you procure your table by stealth surveillance, you just move around and purchase/sample what you want, bring it back to the table and share. It can get a bit pricey, but it’s fun to try different things and share with everyone. I particularly liked the empanada stuffed with goat cheese, honey and grilled onions. The patata bravas were really good as well.

Mercado de San Miguel

Retiro Park was next to find a place to cool off, we hoped, while waiting for the food to digest and our turn in Prada. Unfortunately not a breeze was stirring in the park, and even in the shade of the trees it felt like 100°. We thought maybe by the lake, nope just as hot. Not our best day walking around in that heat, and not a whole lot of places to go to cool off. 

Retiro Park lake

Retiro Park monument

Street in Madrid near Royal Palace

 

Tired of walking, and of the heat we made our way to the Prado museum. Melting on so many levels, we made our way into the museum. Can I just insert here, that Spain loves stairs. Stairs up to the apartment, stairs in the metro, stairs up to the cathedrals, and up to the museum. If it was 5 stairs, no biggie, but we are talking flights of stairs. 

Prado museum

What bits of Prado we could drag ourselves through was interesting. We saw Titian, Goya, Velazquez, and Rubens. They also have Durer, Raphael, Bosch, Rembrandt and El Greco and so much more. But we were all tired, hot and hungry, just ready to take the train ride back to Barcelona and out of the heat. I wish we had more time and energy to have spent at the museum. I enjoyed some of the paintings they had showing both versions of, one was the first draft along with the final piece. Interesting to compare and contrast the two versions.

Our last meal in Madrid was some of the best pizza and lasagna we’ve had anywhere, the Oven Mozzarella Bar. Highly recommend it if you are in Madrid.

Back to the train for a 3 hour ride, longer this time because the train stops along the way to drop off and pick up. Liesel and I were looking for something to do, so we made a mini playing card set. I had paper from my sketchbook and we enjoyed a game of Donkey. I would say the passengers might think us strange, but fortunately a large family with 3 little kids made the most noise. We arrived back in Barcelona around 11.30p, as usual exhausted.

Madrid train station