Okay… back to vacation posting. Only this post about Madrid and one more about surfing and I’m finally caught up on our vacations (or “tours” as Chris calls them – he claims I want to see too many things for them to be relaxing)! Hopefully, I’ll get to do some random traveling while Chris is gone, but as of right now, there’s nothing on the calendar. Sad Amanda :(
Spain - Madrid and Toledo
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We arrived in Madrid via the high-speed train from Cordoba. LOVE the high speed train. It’s so much better than the slow, winding train. From the train station, we were able to take the metro to the Pureta del Sol, located just a few blocks from our hotel. Little did we know, we were walking into the middle of a mass protest against pretty much the entire Spanish government! When we attempted to come up out of the subway station, the crowds were so thick we couldn’t even walk up the stairs. Not deterred, we simply found another exit from the station. What we didn’t anticipate was that the other exit was on the opposite side of the square. Walking through the crowds with all our luggage was quite the challenge. Especially for a girl that really isn’t a big fan of crowds. We did eventually make it to our hotel. Exhausted and totally overwhelmed, we changed clothes and quickly found the nearest restaurant in the opposite direction of the crowds. By the time we finished our ridiculously cheap and tasty dinner, the crowds were spilling out of the square for several blocks in every direction. There was just no escape.
The next morning, we arose bright and early, hoping the square would be a little less crowded. We were greeted with hundreds of sleeping people camped out in makeshift shelters all over the square, but most of the crowds were gone, making crossing a little easier. Over the next few days, the protesters would improve their shelters, start a trash collection detail, set up water and food stations, plaster the square with posters, and generally organize themselves into a functioning little town within the city. It was pretty amazing to watch the progress over the course of our trip.
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We stopped for delicious pastries and coffee at a pastry shop on the square, and then followed a lovely Rick Steves walking tour through the old city. Along the way, we saw the first post office in Madrid, passed through the Plaza Mayor (major flash-back for me at this location), found a gourmet food market in a beautiful glass building, and walked past City Hall before ending our trek at the Royal Palace and its adjacent cathedral. We skipped the cathedral (we’ve seen plenty and this one didn’t even make the guide book) and went straight for the palace.
The royal palace was constructed by King Philip V in the 18th century. It has more than 2,000 rooms and is still used for state functions such as royal weddings. We knew there were no pictures allowed before we entered the building, but what I didn’t realize until we were inside was that 10 years ago, pictures had been allowed (there’s a collage from my first visit in the pictures tab). So... allow me to pull out my soapbox once again.
*Rummages around in closet, pulls out soapbox and climbs on top* Thank you camera owners who never learned how to shut off your flash. You have helped to further the degradation of countless works of art, tapestries, and other fragile historical pieces. Because you couldn’t open your owner’s manual for two minutes, places like the Royal Palace were forced to ban photography all together in order to protect the world treasures contained within their walls. Thanks to you, people who actually know how to use their cameras miss out on taking pictures of significant locations, such as the best preserved original palace interior in Europe. Hope you’re happy with yourselves. *Grumbles, puts soap box away and goes to buy a post card of the Royal Palace interior from the gift shop only to find there are none *
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It really is a shame that pictures aren’t allowed in the palace because it is beautiful; even more so than Versailles (at least on the inside). The fact that it is still a functioning palace, only adds to the sense of history present in every room. Our tour of the palace started at the grand stair case, a huge stair case that splits in two half-way up to the second floor. When official functions occur, a huge red carpet is brought out to line the stairs. Can you say fairy tale?
Another highlight, and a room I remembered well from my first visit, was the throne room. The throne of the current king, Juan Carlos, was in the room at the time, but every king and queen since the palace was constructed have had a custom-built throne seated in this room. A few other highlights of the palace were the porcelain room – walls and ceiling completely covered in parceling plates, the gala dining room – home to a really long table that can seat up to 144 guests and 15 magnificent crystal chandeliers, and the Stradivarius room – on display was a matching quartet of 2 violins, a viola and a cello, all made by Stradivarius 350 years ago.
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After completing our tour of the main palace, we ventured to the pharmacy to check out the thousands of pots, jars, and drawers that once housed the palace pharmacy (thank you modern medicine!). Next, we walked through the Armory. We were able to take a few photos in here, so you’ll actually get to see how amazing the collection was. My favorites were the fully armored horses complete with armored riders and the tiny little children’s armor constructed for Spain’s princes to practice looking like great knights!
We enjoyed a leisurely lunch of pasta and wine before headed toward our next stop – the Naval Museum. Chris doesn’t make many requests on these trips, so when he sees something he wants to do, we do it. The Naval Museum was one of these requests, and it turned out to be a very interesting site. The Naval Museum tracked the history of the Spanish Armada from its origins in the 15th century through today. On display were hundreds of model boats, maps, artifacts, and a huge collection of weapons brought back from Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Islands. Reading about the highlights of Spanish naval history, I was once again amazed at how events I once thought of as separate were in fact a jumbled mess of history. I wonder if any of the colleges with “campuses” here on base offer world history classes.
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Our next stop of the day was the world-renowned Prado art museum. I LOVED this place the first time I walked through it, and this time was no different. The wide variety of art on display ensures that everyone can find a piece to love. The museum map came with a scavenger hunt of sorts – all the most famous pieces were listed on the back of the map with their room numbers. Not wanting to spend all day walking through 18th century Spanish furniture displays and Flemish paintings (nope, still don’t like them), we mapped out a route that took us by all the highlights. We spent the next several hours, walking from room to room, listening to our audio guides, and absorbing the art! Our best find of the day was Velazquez’s The Maids of Honor. When we visited the Picasso museum in Barcelona, a series of Picasso’s interpretations of Velazquez’s painting were on display. It was quite the treat to see the original. Upon exiting the Prado, we took a seat on the stairs near the entrance to people watch and plan our next stop. We took pictures of five people with Rick Steves books in just over 7 minutes. Most certainly our highest concentration on any of our trips!
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Located just a few blocks from the Prado was Retiro Park, a 300 acre oasis of green in the middle of the city. Once open only to Spanish royalty, the park is now open to the public and is a favorite local meeting spot. We decided this would be a nice way to wrap up our action-packed day. We walked through the landscaped formal gardens then made our way to the park’s large lake. We sat on a bench and watched the police on horseback make their rounds while people paddled little blue rental boats around the lake. The best part, we were sitting! It turns out that the concrete pavement and marble palace floors were really taking a toll on our feet and legs.
Eventually, we returned to our hotel to change clothes and make our way to our evening attraction – another flamenco show. This show was much more formal and touristy (and not free). However, the dancers and the music were better and the show was much longer. We finished the evening with a stroll through one of the many nightlife hot-spots in Madrid, found a good looking tapas bar for dinner, and then returned to the hotel to collapse into bed. What a day!! I guess this is what Chris was talking about when he said I don’t give him time to relax on vacation!
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The next morning we made our way back to the train station to catch another high-speed train to the medieval city of Toledo. Perched on a hill and surrounded on three sides by the Tajo River, this city looks much as it did centuries ago when it served as the capital of Spain. Access to the city by car is nearly impossible – good thing, because we didn’t have a car anyway. Tourists were bussed into the city from several parking garages as well as the train station. We opted for the double-decker bus with an open top, as this bus’ route passed completely around the city before entering. We got some great panoramic pictures of the city from our perch on top of the bus.
Our tour of the city itself started at the Santa Cruz Museum. The museum was built in the early 1500’s and served as an orphanage and a hospital. No hospital I’ve ever been looked anything like this building! The two story main hall was decorated with beautiful carved stone arches and carved wooden ceilings. My guide book calls this style is Plateresque – once again, should have taken art history in college. I’ll have to add that course to the list. The museum collection includes many paintings by the famous Toledo resident El Greco as well as an extensive collection of Spanish pottery. I think El Greco is the only artist I remember learning about on my first trip to Spain. He paints hands in a very distinctive way, and for some reason that really stuck in my mind.
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After the Santa Cruz Museum, we took a round-about path to the Toldeo cathedral, walking along the old city walls and wondering through the narrow medieval streets. Like most of the other cathedrals we visited in Spain this one was built on the site of a former mosque following the Reconquista. However, in Toledo, the Roconquista occurred in 1085 instead of 1492. The cathedral wasn’t finish until 1495, so it closely (at least in my opinion) resembled many of the others. There was the requisite gilded high alter with imposing metal gate to keep out the riff-raff (like you and me), a beautifully decorated choir area, soaring ceilings, 500-year-old stained glass windows and imposing stone columns. One thing that separated this cathedral from the many others was the Transparente. In the 1700s a huge hole was cut in the ceiling behind the altar to allow in more light. The hole was decorated with statues of angles and a fresco of more angels was painted on the ceiling around the hole. It looks completely out of place in the church, but it is an amazing work of art none the less.
On our way to the next church, we stopped at the local market and bought the supplies for a yummy picnic lunch. We really need to do more picnics in the US. They are fabulous, cheap and easy. Who needs take-out when you can get a baguette, local cheese and some chocolate pudding? We even found fresh cherries to top off the meal.
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The next church we visited was the San Juan de los Reyes Monasterio. For hundreds of years, Toldeo has been the religious, if not always the political, capital of Spain. This church was originally intended to be the burial place of the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabel, but as they are now buried in a church in Granada, you can see how well that plan worked out. If I was Queen and got to pick my burial place, I would have chosen San Juan de los Reyes. The church itself was beautiful; a white stone interior, intricate carvings (including LOTS of the crest of Ferdinand and Isabel), and tons of natural light. However, it was the cloister that sold me. The lush green courtyard, complete with a blue spruce tree, was surrounded by two stories of delicate arches and peaceful walkways. So pretty!
Churched and museumed out for the day, we headed across the town’s old Roman bridge for one last panoramic view of the city before hopping on the bus and heading back to the train station. It was a Saturday so by the time we got back into Madrid, the protests around our hotel were in full swing. We walked as best we could around the edges of the crowd to the nearest Starbucks. Before our stop in Seville, neither of us had been in a Starbucks for nearly 9 months. A chocolate (or caramel) iced frappuccino is the best way to cool down after a long, hot day trekking through medieval streets and fighting through crowds of protesters.
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With the next day being our last day in Spain, we decided to go on a hunt for souvenirs. We had picked up a few small things along the way, but now that we wouldn’t have to carry them very far, we wanted a few bigger items. We hit the jackpot at El Corte Ingles. This huge, 6-story department store took up an entire city block, and the top floor was filled with souvenirs from all over Spain. We picked up a beautiful sangria pitcher and a several small items to send back to our relatives (including a set of castanets for each of our nephews – sorry Joy and Grace!). We also ventured into the building next door, also part of El Corte Ingles, to browse through the book and music stores. When all was said and done, we had been to Macys, Best Buy and Barnes and Noble all under one roof.
The next morning, we woke to a much smaller and less enthusiastic protest group. A few die-hards were going to stick it out until the end of the day, but most people were cleaning up their mess and heading home. And, yes, they were actually cleaning up their own mess! I think the square was probably cleaner after the protesters left than it was before everything started. That would never happen in the US.
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Our only planned stop of the day was the Reina Sofia museum. This museum houses Madrid’s modern art collection, including Picasso’s greatest work Guernica. This painting is Picasso’s commentary on the modern Spanish Civil war (1936-1939). Guernica was a Basque town in northern Spain and was the location of the world’s first saturation bombing raid on civilians. Picasso’s painting depicts that raid in his own unique style. While this painting is the must see, a large animal statues on the roof of the museum was our favorite exhibit. The giant statues are a cow, a pig and a sheep, painted showing their muscles and labeled with the various cuts of meat. Because the statue is on the roof, you get pictures with Madrid’s skyline and a quirky statue all at once!
To finish out our day and kill some time before we had to be at the airport, we walked back to the hotel, passing through the Royal Gardens (these are open to the public, but you do have to pay to get it) and wondering down some of the city’s pedestrian streets. Eventually, though, we did have to pick up our bags and hit the trail for the airport.
