Cal and I are checking out of this wonderful hotel.
The Hotel Mediodia
On our way...enjoy the day!
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
...Madrid cont'd
What do you always eat in Spain...
The proprietor thinly slicing a serving of jamon right off the leg. Notice the red cord tied above that little cloven hoof.
Cute.
We move on to the Mercado
Yikes, what the heck kind of fish
is this?
Que bonita!
This place is great!
Mike, you would have thought you had ascended into heaven. There were so many kinds of olives.
Mas olivos!
...our last day in Madrid cont'd
...a few more pictures of Santa Maria la Realde la AlmudenaI
in Madrid.
It was easy to tell the difference from the newer constuction and the old by the color of the stone.
Line entertainment...he was great...we danced!
The Royal Palace, finally...
This was an awesome experience!
The palace has 1,451,000 sq ft., I'm not kidding!
It was built on the site of a 9th century Muslim fortress.
It has 3,418 rooms!!! It is the second largest palace in Europe after the Louvre Palace.
No pictures allowed. Sorry!
Time for lunch...
Fish stew, roasted pimentos verde, croquettes, potato tortilla...
...and beer, what else!
Cal and I love this brand of Spanish beer called Mahou.
Our Last Day In Madrid
We will be sad to leave such wonderful city!
I think we made the most of our last day here. We walked to the Plaza Mayor, The Royal Palace and The Botanical Gardens. This crying man/baby was performing along with a lot of other unusual characters, in the center of the rather large Plaza Mayor.
Cal picks up a sailor and he loses his head over her...
...me too. Oh, well. He's not really my type. I think he might be an air head.
The Plaza Mayor measures 423' x 308' and has 237 balconies of residential housing facing in on the Plaza. It was built during the 17th century. It's multifunctional uses have included a market area, as well as for bullfights and executions. The ground level houses shops and eateries under porticos that support three stories of residential apartment homes. It's also a major tourist attraction!
In the center of the square is a statue of King Philip III
Our next stop took us to the Almudena Cathedral, where we waited in line to see The Royal Palace.
The cathedral was started in 1883 and finished in 1993. Wow!
It is thought to have been built on the site of a medieval mosque.
Friday, March 29, 2013
On the streets again!
The crowds forming for Semana Santa which was canceled due to rain.
These guys were a mix of Jazz and what seemed like Dixie. They were stationed outside of Starbuck's. Of course we are only buying local and pass on the coffee.
Madrid has great graffiti art on a lot of the roll up shop doors. This one is a take off on the young girl in Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez.
This one is a copy of The Kiss by Gustav Klimt.
A collection of Spanish fans.
Mike, I found a souvenir a just had to have. I will be looking for the local FedEx today. Find a place for it before I get home...OK?
We must start our last day in Madrid now. We have a lot more to see and do before tomorrow when we take the high speed train to Sevilla to meet up with Kathy and Bob.
I will post more tonight.
I'm having a wonderful adventure!
Hasta Luego!
Lunch
We found a great place for lunch.
First things first, beer.
The proprietor was so proud. The singular beer he served was Modelo Especial on tap.
Tostado con humus, pimento y tapenade.
The other tostado as you can see is jamon served with potato chips topped with olivos. Mike you would love it here!
After our lunch we walk to the Thyssen Bornemiza Museum.
Hiperrealismo is the exhibit we try to see, but it is sold out. We end up buying tickets for the "Impressionism and Open-air Paiting From Corot to Van Gogh" exhibit. We were able to buy tickets for Realissimo show on Sat.
Van Gogh - Landscape Under A Stormy Sky
Corot - Storm Study
This was a great exhibit of artist's lesser known paintings to me in the "Open Air" genre.
3 sculptures by Rodin
It's Good Friday and the crowds gather to view the Semana Santa procession of Easter. Penetentes carry statues of the Virgin Mary followed by a brass band. Unfotunately, Madrid's Semana Santa in our area was caceled because of rain.
Good Friday in Madrid!
Good Friday in Madrid and it's raining. ..I'm lovin' it! It's not too cold, but brisk and refreshing. It seems to be just the cure for sleep deprivation. We head out to grab some breakfast before walking to the Prado Museum. We stopped at a small store for water and the worker was just removing these croissants from the oven. They smelled heavenly, but we held out for a traditional Spanish breakfast of tostado (toast), tomato marmalade and a fried egg. And, lots of hot coffee.
Full and happy we started walking toward the Prado only to discover a long line of people already waiting to purchase their ticket. Not to worry this is Spain and we are on their schedule. While in line Cal asked me if I knew the Spanish word for pillow...no, of couse not, I only know baby Spanish. I asked the family in front of us if they knew...looks of confusion. I even used my audio translator...after all they were speaking Spanish...they were Spanish...duh...well they weren't Spanish, they were Italian.
Good for a laugh all around.
This is the Prado:
...and the line
The Prado is an amazing museum. It's overwhelming to say the least. Here are some of the artists whose work we saw:
Bosch - The Garden of Earthly Delights
Velazquez - Las Meninas
Goya - Saturn Devouring His Son
Caravaggio - The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist
Time for lunch.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
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