Madrid with Toledo and Segovia
Madrid is less historic than the previous cities that we visited in Spain. Madrid has been torn down and rebuilt several times over the years. Few structures predate 1500.
There is the modern Madrid (above) and the historic Madrid. We stayed in the old center of the city.
One of the biggest advantages for us in Madrid was our lodging. Before we left home, Sarah booked us for ten days in a four-room flat in an apartment building. We appeared to be the only transients in the ~30 family building. The apartment was serviced every three days by the hotel around the corner.
Statue of Madrid's crest:
A bear feeding on a strawberry tree.
Sarah (left) on the balcony and (right) at the apartment door on the internal balcony overlooking the atrium.
The building had an elevator.
Sarah appreciated the full kitchen and made good use of the apartment's washing machine. I liked having the ability to stretch out on the living room sofa being surrounded by space rather than being confined in a hotel room.
There was a queen bed in the bedroom and sleeping for four more on the living room pull-outs. I wanted to take in a few college students, but Sarah said no.
There was a queen bed in the bedroom and sleeping for four more on the living room pull-outs. I wanted to take in a few college students, but Sarah said no.
Just like home
The apartment was located about 20 walking minutes from most tourists attractions such as the Prado (east), Royal Palace (west) and the Red Light district. More about those later. It was about 5 minutes from the main plazas, Mayor (left) and Sol.A supermarket and the metro were around the corner.
We spent two days out of Madrid: A day trip to Toledo and a day trip to Segovia, both by train. More about that later.
Sarah is examining the "Km. 0" marker in Plaza Sol in front of the old City Hall.
Madrid is the capital of Spain for the same reason that sex is so popular:
It's centrally located.
The Prado
The Museo Nacional del Prado is a world-class art museum with about 150 well-known masterpieces in its vast collection. Well-known is a relative term as they were mostly not well known to me. I was looking forward to seeing Hieronymus Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights" and some other pieces, the rest was just art.
We've visited so many art museums in the past five years that I can almost immediately distinguish between a portrait and a landscape. Still-life is like a portrait but without people. I am sure that there is more to know, but 'art' might just be an elaborate put-on to keep some liberal arts graduates employed.
We spent a little more than a day at the Prado because there was so much to see and absorb and we also wanted to see the special exhibit of exceptional pieces from St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum which took a bit of time.
Reina Sofia
Reina Sofia
We spent much less time at the Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sofia. It's modern stuff. There are a bunch of Dalis and Picassos on display and a lot of other stuff. The big draw is Picasso's Guernica, which I saw in NYC decades ago. I wasn't impressed then or now. And he wasn't even there.
I am not that interested in seeing modern art museums as my grandchildren happily produce it for me on an almost daily basis.
The Palacio Real
The site of the Palacio Real de Madrid has been occupied since Moorish times. One can visit about 20 out of the 2,000+ rooms in this palace built for Phillip V starting in 1734, but he didn't live long enough to live there. It is the largest palace in Europe We took the tour, but also lucked out. There is an elaborate 'Changing of the Guard' ceremony which is only done one day a month and that day was during our stay. The ceremony was larger than any that we had ever seen, bigger than even the one at Buckingham Palace. It involved more than 100 horses, several hundred soldiers and a lot of wagons all moving to the accompaniment of a marching band, all in the dress of the 17 century.
A small section of the 10th-century Moorish wall of Madrid can be seen from here, which was the site of the Moorish palace. Location, location, location.
A lot of our time was spent wandering around seeing the sights, partaking in tapas and just enjoying being there. Some of it, such as Gran Via, is much like New York City's Fifth Avenue with upscale shopping. The 'red light' district' was less seedy than we expected and Sarah was not uncomfortable sitting at an outdoor table enjoying tapas and watching the action.
As Madrid was the last city of our backpacking trip and we would have a car in Ireland, Sarah felt semi-unrestrained in her souvenir-buying and filled up the two pieces of carry-on that we had originally packed in our backpacks just for this reason.
There are no signs of Madrid's ancient Jewish community. The street that the Jews were forced to run barefoot uphill to the church is still there as is the church, but only the guidebooks give its history.
Where the former Jewish section was, a few blocks from our apartment, is now a multi-ethnic working-class community with many restaurants. We ate African, Asian as well as Spanish meals in restaurants, but also did take-out of prepared foods from the supermarkets and ate at home.
TapasTapas is basically a snack. It is available all over Madrid. There is a newly refurbished tapas market (right) with more than a dozen vendors with various treats for about 1 euro. It gave us the opportunity to sample many different traditional Spanish foods without gaining too much weight. I was pleased to learn that there are many varieties of paella, some without seafood, snails or pork (which we do not eat). But it's not just Spanish foods that are available as tapas. We had a tapas 'baby' sub at Subway for a euro.
In Spain, Burger King's and McDonald's 'Dollar Menu' are called 'tapas'.
Tapas
and more tapas
Scenes around town:
Cervantes Statue. Miguel Cervantes is the most popular of Spain's writers, and the only one that I know of. We also saw where he lived in the 'Literary District.' What a coincidence!
What are these women doing?
It is the 'red light' district according to our guidebook, but who am I to say?
The reason that there is a lot of 'clutter' in the above photos is that I was surreptitiously taking the photos through the table's napkin holder.
Madrid is Europe's greenest capital.
Parque del Retiro (Park of the Retreat) (above & below), one of the most popular parks, was originally a royal hunting preserve.
Foucault's Pendulum at the Real Observatory. also in Retiro Park.
Many cities have observatories, but Madrid has the 'real' one.
The Temple of Debod was a gift to Franco from Egypt for Spain's help in saving the major temples from flooding. Like the others, this 4th Century Egyptian temple was threatened with destruction after the building of the Aswan Dam.
Maybe we didn't help as much.
Madrid Rio, the new park on both banks of Madrid's Manzanares River is miles long.
It opened last spring to rave international reviews.
It is on the former roadbed of the highway which is now underground.
There are playgrounds, restaurants and athletic facilities.
Boating, too.
<--- Neptune
Fountains
<--- Mythical creatures
Famous dead guy ---->
Toledo
Toledo is a medieval walled city on a hill. The wall is still there and the streets in the old city are narrow and winding. The city has two former pre-expulsion synagogues. Both had been made into churches and are still owned by the church, but function as Jewish museums.
 | |||
| Model of Toledo showing the wall, cathedral and Jewish Quarter. |
The Jewish museum in a pre-expulsion synagogue
A brief repast before returning to Madrid
Segovia
The main street into Segovia is crossed by an ancient Roman aqueduct. No mortar was used in its construction.
The city is surrounded by a wall
Brass plates in Hebrew in the pavement indicate the old Jewish Quarter
The former home of a pre-expulsion Jewish merchant is now the Jewish Museum
A Jewish neighborhood without Jews
Segovia is shaped like a ship and is surrounded by water. At the bow is the Alcazar.
It's not as old as it was built to look.
The cathedral, very elaborate for a small city.
A brief repast before returning to Madrid for a few more days of 'mop-up' before donning our backpacks for the last time (Sarah vows), grabbing our souvenir-laden carry-ons and heading for the metro to the airport shuttle bus - then on to the Emerald Isle.
posted by Allen and Sarah at 10:08 PM
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