¡Viva España! – More on My Time in Madrid

Saturday –

On Saturday, we woke up and decided to walk over to the Royal Palace of Madrid.  Along the way, we stopped at both Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor.  Puerta del Sol is located in the very heart of Madrid and has a statue of a bear and a madrone (strawberry) tree, the symbol of Madrid.  Our hostel was quite close to the Puerta del Sol, and every time we walked by it, it was full of people!

 

{The symbol of Madrid}

{Characters all over the plaza}

The Plaza Mayor is only a few blocks away from the Puerta del Sol, and it is an enormous rectangular square filled with traditional shops and cafes and apartments up above.  The painted facades of the buildings were so pretty!  I tried to get a better picture of the facades, but there was a huge tent (that was housing a ham festival…of course) blocking me.

 

{Plaza Mayor}

We made our way over to the Palacio Real in order to go inside the palace.  Seeing the palace was one of my absolute favorite things we did in Madrid!  The Palacio Real is the official residence of the King of Spain in the city of Madrid, but it is only used for state ceremonies today.  The palace is 1,450,000 square feet and contains a modest, oh, 2800 rooms.  I was absolutely blown away by the detail of the interior of the palace.  Every nook and cranny of the interior, even corridors, was decorated with gorgeous art, tapestry, porcelain, and furniture.  The amount of gold used in the palace made it feel rather ostentatious to be honest.

 

{View of the front of the Palacio Real}

{Overlooking the Campo del Moro Gardens}

{A picture we snuck of the staircase leading up to the palace interior}

Next to the palace was the Catedral de La Almudena, and at the time we went to visit the church, there were more nuns there than I have ever seen in my entire life.  We were not sure exactly what was going on, but it must have been a service for these nuns who seem to have traveled to get to Madrid.  And I could see why they would want to come to this cathedral.  It was absolutely stunning, and the architecture and interior were quite different from the churches I have seen in Italy.

 

{So many nuns!}

{Inside the church}

{Absolutely gorgeous!}

That evening I had a ticket to go see a flamenco show, but unfortunately I was not feeling well enough to go and had to give up my ticket.  The girls I was traveling with still ended up going, and it looked like a fabulous show.  Such a bummer.

 

{A peek into what I missed}

Sunday –

On Sunday, we saw two full art museums as well as an exhibit of Delacroix paintings at the Obra Social “la Caixa.”  By seeing the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen on Sunday and the Prado on Friday, we successfully saw all of the museums in the Golden Triangle of Art!

 

{Outside the Reina Sofía}

 We started by seeing the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Spain’s national museum of twentieth century art.  The museum is mainly dedicated to Spanish art, and highlights of the museum include extensive collections of Spain’s two greatest twentieth century masters, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí.  The most famous masterpiece in the museum is Picasso’s painting Guernica, and unfortunately, photos were not allowed in that section of the museum.  The museum itself was absolutely huge, and we did not make it to every floor but focused instead on seeing some of the more important works.

 

{Picasso – Dead Birds}

After seeing the Reina Sofía, we spotted a Starbucks and had to have some as an afternoon snack!  I have yet to see a Starbucks in Italy, but there were quite a few of them in Madrid and Paris.  While it was a bit pricey, it was a fun treat.  I got a coffee and a piece of white chocolate and Dulce de Leche cheesecake.

 

{Enjoying my Starbucks snack}

We continued our sight-seeing by stopping at an exhibit of Delacroix paintings which ironically were on loan from the Louvre in Paris.  We just happened to run into the exhibit on our way to the Parque del Retiro, and I am happy we took the time to see it. 

The Parque del Retiro was absolutely gorgeous, and I loved being able to tell that it was fall with the changing leaves and the burnt orange, brown, and red colored trees lining the trails in the park. 

The park belonged to the Spanish Monarchy until the late nineteenth century, when it became a public park, and it is incredibly large and extensive.  We lucked out by going on a Sunday too—on Sundays, there are a lot of street performers including magicians and break dancers. 

The park was clearly a popular place to be, and we saw many people picnicking, riding bikes, running, strolling, and roller-blading.  My favorite part of going to the park was renting a little rowboat and rowing around the lake.  There were so many boats in the lake, and it was fun meandering around the lake while attempting to steer clear of the other boats.

 

{Struggling to row the boat}

{In front of the lake in Parque del Retiro}

After seeing the Parque del Retiro, we walked by the Plaza de la Independencia on our way to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. 

The Thyssen museum was previously a private family collection and features works of art from almost every historically important artistic movement. 

Monday –

Most of Monday was spent in Toledo (which I will detail in another post!), but I spent that evening in Madrid.  To celebrate Halloween, we just went out for a low-key evening.  I did not end up dressing up, but I found it so funny to see the way people dressed for Halloween.  In California, dressing up for Halloween often entails risqué and not the least bit scary costumes.  In contrast, people in Madrid had actual scary costumes, and it was interesting how many people had their faces painted white. 

Tuesday –

On Tuesday, I went to the Biblioteca Nacional de España and attempted to see the Archaeological Museum as well.  While the national library was beautiful on the outside and featured a number of exhibits, the exhibits were not that interesting to me.  Mainly because everything was in Spanish, and while I understand quite a bit of Spanish, the technical terms being used in these exhibits went right over my head.  I had high hopes for the archaeological museum, but unfortunately it was closed for renovations and was not due to open up again until later in the year.  Too bad.

 

That afternoon, I got the chance to see one of my friends from my sorority at UCLA, and it was so nice to see her and catch up!  She took me to this delicious bakery by Puerta del Sol, and I had a palmier covered in chocolate.

 

The rest of the evening was spent grabbing a quick dinner and planning for Paris.  We went to bed early in preparation for a rather early flight and a long day of sight-seeing in Paris.  More on that to come!