The Prado Museum

Yesterday, after breakfast in our room, we walked about 20 minutes to the Museo del Prado, one of the best art museums in the world. Because we had bought tickets online for 15.50 euros each, we didn’t have to line up at the ticket office and could go straight to the Jeronimo entrance that is for ticket holders only. We lined up a few minutes before the museum opened at 10 am. It didn’t take long to get through security and inside.
We rented audioguides for 6 euros each. The museum is huge and has dozens of different rooms. There are some sculptures and fine furniture but most of the artwork is paintings. Many of the European old masters are represented. The Prado is the home of major works by major artists like El Greco, Hieronymous Bosch, Goya, Rubens and many others.
Photography was only allowed outside and in the foyer so we took few photos. However, once again, we were amazed at what we saw. There were a few Roman sculptures from the 1st century AD but most of the art was produced between 1100 and the present. There were some miniature paintings and others that were about 5 x 6 metres. The detail was astonishing.
In 4 1/2 hours, we covered most of the museum. We were exhausted. It was time to go back to our room, open the balcony doors and enjoy some beer, wine, cheese, bread and olives. Later we went out for a walk around the Puerta del Sol area but it was a cooler evening and we didn’t last long.

The Royal Palace

On Monday morning we walked just down the street to a restaurant that specializes in churros and parros. Our hotel, the Hostal Patria Madrid, has an arrangement that their clients get a slight discount there. For 6.40 euros, we got 8 churros, coffee and a cup of hot chocolate (like pudding) to dip the churros. It wasn’t healthy but it tasted good.
Then we walked about 15 minutes to the west to the Royal Palace. We had to line up for about another 15 minutes to get in. At every tourist site here, there is security just like at an airport. However, that didn’t take long.
Once we were in, we got audioguides. It took a few minutes to figure out the sequence but once we had that organized, we started through the palace. This is the 3rd greatest palace in Europe, after Versailles near Paris and the Schonbrun near Vienna. This palace has about 2,000 rooms and is still used for state receptions, dinners and ceremonies. There are about 24 of the most important rooms that are open to visitors. No pictures are allowed inside the rooms.
The fenced and gated plaza in front of the palace is impressive on its own. To the west is a huge park that was once private but is now public. Inside the palace, we followed the set path and listened to our audioguides. Some of the smaller rooms were quite congested because there are a lot of tourists here every day. However, the bigger rooms weren’t too bad. We can’t imagine coming here in the summer when it’s 35-40C and extremely crowded. We were glad we waited until October.
The opulence and grandeur of the palace is hard to believe. Every room is decorated and furnished extemely elaborately. Royalty has its perks. There’s also a huge collection of medieval arms and armour.
After about 2 1/2 hours, we’d seen all of the areas open to the public. We walked back to our room for a short rest and then went to a Peruvian chicken restaurant, oddly enough, to eat. On our way, we took a photo from our tiny balcony and one of me standing across the street from our hotel, which is right behind me. Later, Anita took a photo from our balcony at night.
After we had eaten, it was dusk. We strolled the pedestrian streets around the Plaza Puerta del Sol for a couple of hours watching different buskers and enjoying the whole scene. We spent about 20 minutes watching a great busker orchestra composed of 6 violins, 2 cellos, a stand-up bass and an operatic singer. All of them seemed to be very good, very well trained musicians. They drew a crowd that was about the same size as the nearby line-up for lottery tickets that went around the block. We also watched a mariachi band of 8 or 9 musicians for a few minutes but it wasn’t really to our taste. There’s no end to the buskers and street vendors around the Puerta del Sol.
Finally, we went back to our room. For the following day, I bought tickets online to the Prado art museum, one of the world’s finest.

A Madrid walk

This morning after breakfast in our room, we walked to the Plaza Puerto del Sol and looked at a few restaurants. The trouble is that, being Sunday, everywhere near the Plaza is packed.
We started following a self-guided walk from a guidebook. At the south side of the plaza is a government office that is notorious for being Francisco Franco’s police headquarters. Apparently an inordinate number of those being detained and interrogated “jumped” from the windows to their deaths while trying to “escape”. This plaza is also where the war against Napoleon started in 1808. Napoleon had imposed his brother as the king of Spain. There was a protest and Napoleon’s soldiers massacred the protesters here. This is also the centre point of the highway system of Spain or kilometre zero.
This morning, the plaza was all set up for a rally protesting violence in Spain’s continuing political issues. It looked peaceful but with the huge crowd and large police presence, we thought it best to move on.
From the Puerta del Sol we walked a few blocks to the Plaza Mayor, built in 1619. It has been the site of bullfights, royal events and many trials and executions during the Spanish Inquisition. Those found guilty during the Inquisition were paraded around the square wearing billboards listing their sins. Then they were either slowly strangled or burned to death. It’s quite pleasant on a sunny 20C Sunday, though.
From there we walked a few steps to the Mercado San Miguel, a glass building full of food vendors. It’s very busy on a Sunday. We bought a bocadillo de calamares (squid sandwich) and then at another booth, a glass of white wine. As we shared our snack, we started talking to a Japanese couple next to us who spoke fairly good English. They work for an airline and were here for meetings and getting in a little sightseeing. They have travelled the world and have been to Canada several times. They even took a tour to Yellowknife to see the northern lights. Canada’s natural wonders are very attractive to the Japanese people.
We walked a few more blocks to the Cathedral of Almudena, next to the Royal Palace. We didn’t go in because the crowds are too much on a Sunday. Maybe tomorrow.
Later, we walked back down near the Mercado San Miguel to a small Chinese restaurant. Anita has a sore throat so we thought some soup and some noodle dishes might be easy to swallow. After we ate, we wandered around the Plaza Mayor a bit more enjoying all the buskers and artists. Back at the Plaza Puerta del Sol there was still a huge crowd so we didn’t bother staying there. The time changed in Spain last night so it’s getting dark a little earlier now.

To Madrid

Yesterday we checked out of our hotel, put on our packs and walked a short distance down to the taxi stand in front of the El Greco art museum. The waiting taxi took us to the train station for 8 euros. The small Toledo train station is old style and very beautiful.
While we waited for our train, Anita heard a couple of tourists speaking English so she approached them to chat. They started by saying, “We’re American but don’t hold it against us”. Many American tourists we have met over the last few years are extremely embarrassed by their current government. This retired couple, from St. Louis, said that if Trump wins another 4 years, they’ll consider leaving the country. We’ve heard that before. They’d like to move to Canada, except for the winter.
We rarely meet Trump supporters. According to this couple, staunch Republicans might go on an Alaskan cruise or something but they’d rarely consider just traveling on their own through Europe or anywhere else. That seems to be true.
Our train travelled only 1/2 hour to the Puerta de Atocha station in Madrid. The main line train area isn’t as grimy as the Cercanias commuter train section. This is the station that was bombed by terrorists in 2004.
Once we disembarked, it took us about 10 minutes to find our way through this huge station to the taxi stand. For 10 euros, a taxi took us to our hotel, the Hostal Patria Madrid. We’re about a 2 minute walk from the Plaza Puerta del Sol, the very heart of Madrid. All of the major sights in Madrid are within walking distance.
Once we were settled, we walked down to the Plaza Puerta del Sol and up one of the pedestrian streets to the Gran Via, a main shopping street. Since it was Saturday afternoon, it was extremely busy. There’s no doubt we’re in the big city now.
However, we found a restaurant that seemed to be similar to the pub food chains in Canada and had a late lunch. The food was good and the price was reasonable but we’ll probably look for something a little more Castilian in the future.
We also eventually found a supermarket in the basement of a shopping plaza, where we bought our usual supplies. We have a kettle and a refrigerator in our room so we’re all set for breakfasts.
Today, because it’s Sunday and likely very busy, we plan to follow a walking tour from one of our guide books and save the major palaces and museums for early next week.

A walk around Toledo

Today was another warm, sunny day. We decided that we were museumed and churched out for awhile since we’ll no doubt go into some in Madrid. For a change, we just wanted to walk around the back streets of old Toledo and enjoy the beautiful weather.
The streets are very narrow and winding, which would be okay if they were pedestrian only but such is not the case. There are many pedestrians but we still have to share most of the narrow roads with cars. The professional drivers in taxis or delivery vans are quite patient and skilled. Most of the locals are good but a few can be a little too aggressive for the narrow streets. The tourist drivers are usually way out of their depth and often don’t know where they’re going, which is understandable. The result is that you have to watch and listen carefully for approaching cars all the time. Some streets are so narrow that drivers have to pull in their side mirrors.
One of the earlier finds this morning, was a church that Isabella and Ferdinand had built in the midst of the Jewish quarter. They were making a statement. That was before they forced the conversion of about 1/3 of the Jews, the exile of about 1/3 and the murder of the rest around the year 1500 AD or so. In many places in Spain, Jews, Muslims and Christians had lived together peacefully for centuries. Such harmony is fragile, as we can see nowadays.
On one outside wall of this particular church we could see some shackles and chains hanging. These had apparently been used on Christian prisoners by Muslim Moors during the Crusades.
We were doing pretty well at finding our way around. At one point, we rode one of the two banks of escalators down the hill and back up again. These escalators go to hotels and parking lots below the hill. Big buses don’t have the room to manoeuvre on the top of the hill so many pedestrians have to get to the top somehow. The escalators help. The one we rode had six different escalators to get from top to bottom.
After a couple of hours, when we were back in familiar territory, I still took a wrong turn and got lost for a few minutes. When I eventually figured out where we were, it was a long way from where I had thought we were. In our experience, Toledo is second only to Venice for the maze of streets and the ease of getting lost.
After we regrouped in our room, I bought a beer in a little store and we went down to a small plaza to sit in the sun for a while. Then we walked up to the Mesón Palacio restaurant for lunch. For 8.95 euros each (about $13.50 CDN) we got a 2 course main meal plus dessert, bread and a beer or wine. We’ll be sending in a good review. This is a great little bar/restaurant serving typical Castilian food. They have a different set lunch menu every day that has about 4 choices for each course. Although it’s not on the main tourist trail through the old town, it’s always packed with a mix of locals and tourists enjoying the good food, fast service and reasonable prices. In the pictures, Anita is first enjoying the pisto manchego, then the pollo al chilindron and finally some type of custard and simple strawberry cheesecake for dessert.
To end the day, we walked around and sat in little plazas here and there to enjoy more sunshine. Tomorrow we take the train to Madrid.

Alcazar of Toledo

Yesterday was the sunniest, warmest day we’ve had since we left the coast of Almeria. According to the news, there has been heavy rain and flooding in other parts of Spain and France during the last 10 days or so of  a mix of weather where we’ve been.
We walked up through the Plaza de Zocodover, the main square, to the Alcazar. The Arabic word for fortress is “al-quesr” so that’s why all these old fortresses have the same name. Although this one has been through the usual incarnations, it is now Spain’s military museum. It was only 5 euros each to get in, which was a bargain considering the extent of the displays.
We first saw an old car riddled with bullet holes in which some politician had been assassinated. Beside that display was a door out to a plaza where a helicopter and some big guns were located. We went out there first because we craved some open space. Toledo is a great place to visit but it’s very constricted. It’s difficult to get an exterior photograph of any important building because there’s no space. We’re used to open vistas so we find this a little claustrophobic.
After some sunshine and open space, we wandered through the whole museum eventually. We learned of Spain’s history through the displays of battles and conquests from the Visigoths to the present. It was very interesting but by the end we were ‘museumed’ out. We took photos of some of the weapons and armour of which there were lots. We also took a photo of a painting of Queen Isabella receiving Columbus after his voyage to the new world, where he presents some treasures and some captives. Beside all of the European battles, there were many displays of Spain’s colonial adventures in the Philippines, throughout the Americas, Africa and even Vietnam.
The Alcazar itself is massive and the displays were very good. The real things, like a Royal tent from 1534 used by the king on the battlefield, were intermingled with very lifelike re-creations. This museum houses an incredible amount of artefacts
By the time we had seen the whole museum, we were exhausted. We walked up to the Mesón Palacios restaurant for a tapa and a drink. After regrouping in our room, we had some tapas and a 1/2 racione of the stewed beef with bread that we like at the Almucen 51 bar.
During another walk around in the late afternoon sun, Anita took a photo of a bakery display she liked of nuns baking. Toledo is also famous for marzipan. Finally, there’s a photo of me in the street just outside our hotel. It wasn’t long before we were done for the day.

The Cathedral of Toledo

This morning, in the little hotel restaurant right below our room we ate the breakfast that’s included with our room rate. It was a fairly typical basic hotel breakfast with juice, coffee, croissants, cheese, ham, butter and jams but it was okay and it gave us a good start to the day.
At 10 am, when the Cathedral opened, we picked up a couple of complimentary umbrellas from the stand at the front desk of the hotel and walked down to the ticket office in the rain. For the entry fee and audio guides, we paid the seniors’ fee of 9 euros each.
We spent over 2 hours in the Cathedral. To see the building itself would have been worth the price of admission but we also saw some incredible artwork. As usual, the Visigoths had some type of church on this site, then the Moors had a mosque and finally the Christians built this cathedral over a span of 250 years. Behind the high altar is the Transparente, a Baroque masterpiece of sculpture illuminated by a hole cut in the roof. We would find it hard to believe that such art exists without seeing it.
In the treasury is a 10 foot high tower used to transport the Holy Communion wafer during the parade of Corpus Christi. The 5,000 individual pieces are made with many diamonds, emeralds and rubies inset in 400 pounds of gold plated silver and an inner section of 35 pounds of solid gold. A little excessive perhaps but quite a sight. There were lots of other rooms and chapels full of art.
When we finally got out of there and came back to our room, Anita wasn’t feeling well. She rested for the afternoon while I went out for a bite to eat and a wander around, trying to figure out where things are. At one point, I took a picture of the view over the river to the surrounding hills.
Tomorrow isn’t supposed to rain so we’ll probably walk up to the history museum in the Alcazar, the old fortress.